What Your Training Should Look Like on Race Week. The Science

Race week can be tricky. You want to taper your training so that you are fresh and ready to execute a great performance but you don't want to lose fitness or feel stale. Today we dive into the science to determine how to taper properly and at the end of the video I give you some example taper weeks so you can get a good idea of how exactly to prepare for your next race.

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Studies used in this video:

[lechprotean]

I'm tapering for 3 years now. The results are underwhelming but I'll keep trying.

[rolemodel]

Me, a 4 hour a week hobby cyclist: "yeah, this video probably applies to me"

[kevinderung]

i find the most race success comes on rides when the others dont know its a race

[TheTinyCyclist]

Man, this Jordan Sands guy sounds incredibly fast and handsome.

[lcyarnelle]

Much like BHD, I taper every week in preparation for the coffee ride…

[poochie]

We need a T-shirt with the FTP formula by BHD

[samuelhodges]

I’m 5 weeks out from my A-race this year - Ironman Portugal - and this is a great video. I’m looking at a 12 day taper at the moment, restricting all my intensity to the bike and the swim only. Running is the anti-christ of recovery haha

[lcyarnelle]

Much like BHD, I taper every week in preparation for the weekend coffee ride…

[annielsen]

Next week is race week for me, so thank you for the perfectly timed video :D

[balazspandi]

What a timing! My main race is on th 2nd of October and i had no idea what to do on my taper days. Thank you Dylan!

[AlecZier]

BHD's formula for FTP is flawless.

I'm a hobbyist and don't race, but the information seems like it will be useful to make sure I'm fresh for the end of season club ride, a big charity ride, etc. Though after 800 miles in August, it's safe to say I would benefit much more from a structured program instead of piddling around :)

Thanks as always for the videos!

[BikeLifewithRob]

Good tips, I like to follow around 50% reduction about 10 days before race day after a slight overload week, and intervals ranging from 15 seconds to 4 minutes. Thanks for solidifying my philosophy!

[calebnapier]

Dylan, love your videos mate. Giving me a competitive advantage as I am new to the sport. Please upload more!

[leighgoodwin]

This is a very helpful video. The only complication can be other events in life (especially family life during summer months when kids have activities at weekends), and also it is often necessary to spend a day or so travelling to major sportives and on the travel days it isn’t usually practical to have normal or sometimes any cycling. Hence some pragmatism required, but I guess it’s the principles that matter - trying to keep high intensity interval sessions but lower volume in the days before the big A race event

[readikus]

Yet another fantastic video! I'm plotting a training plan for a 24 solo race in January (in cold, dark Scotland), and mainly basing it off your videos.

[redtestarossa]

I’ve ridden with guys who’ve just finished grand tours and they are FLYING immediately after …that’s after 3 weeks of hard racing!!

[bradendiaz]

Ur 3 days late, i have a race on sunday but thank you, Amazing content :)

[NeonGrayEdits]

Such perfect timing!! I’m 12 days from my A race. Great video

[Bench_mark_]

This was great video. It's nice to see my personal experience matches what you shared: I like to overload for A races, and then taper for week or so. Also keeping the intensity high, makes it so much easier on the legs to go race-pace, without feeling the shock of being stale. I kind of see taper like a warm up, you do some fast hard intervals/openers based on feel.

[scottswygert]

Solid advice! One thing that does not work in the overload period just before a taper: 4 hour ride in new aero bar setup.