Get Your Taper Right

In this episode, I explore a simple approach to your final couple of weeks before a big expedition as you 'taper' off your training. 

Episode Transcript:

​[0:00] Right. Hello, hello, ladies and gentlemen. So in today's episode, we are talking all about the final weeks of training before a big expedition

[0:10] and specifically how you can get your taper right before you head off on a big trip. Now, the taper is essentially exactly what I said before, the final weeks before you head off on a big event. And the taper is basically where you begin to pull back your training a little bit before you head off, where you begin to make things a little bit more relaxed and ensure that the body is feeling good. And while in theory, this can be pretty simple, in practice, a lot of people kind of mess this up. And a lot of people fall into the trap of doing one of two things. Number one is a lot of people will be like, well, I've got a trip coming up. I've got a couple of weeks ahead for me. I want to fit in everything I can. And they'll end up just training all the way up to their adventure and basically just putting in as much work as they can before they head off, which is all well and good, but that does run the risk of us kind of getting into our expedition feeling a bit fatigued and not great. On the flip side of things, some people are like, okay, I need to taper off. I need to give myself a bit of recovery.

[1:17] Then the last week or two, they end up doing absolutely nothing. And that in itself is a mistake because yes, you will get plenty of recovery, but it's not ideal for a number of reasons. If we do absolutely nothing, sometimes it can just, you know, end up having the body not feeling amazing, a little bit stiff, a little bit, you know, tight or whatever it may be. So essentially, the taper period is all about balancing out these things and all about finding the right level of exercise for you to make sure you are entering your expedition in the best possible way. And essentially, that's what we're talking about today.

[1:53] Now, when we're looking at our taper period, there's a few things we kind of want to keep in mind as we're looking at this type of thing. Now, number one is as we're entering the taper, we really want to be making sure we are consolidating our training adaptations. This is one of the most important reasons why we actually have a taper and why you actually want to make sure you're not just training up until your leave day. Now, what I mean by this is when we are training, when we're doing our cardio, when we're doing our strength training, when we're doing any type of training, the body doesn't get more fit, more strong, more endurance, more resilient when we're actually doing our sessions. The body gets more fit, more strong, more resilient when we recover from our sessions. And as we're going through a training process, we're constantly stressing the body out, pushing it forward, and really, really trying to get it in a good position. But there is a little bit of a delay between when we actually have our training session and when the training adaptations that we are seeking from that session actually kick into effect. So the idea behind the taper, or one of the ideas, is we want to make sure we're giving the body plenty of space that by the time we actually get on our expedition, all those training adaptations that we have been stimulating the body with have arrived, that the body is feeling good in this absolute peak of fitness. So that's one thing we want to keep in mind and one reason why we don't want to train all the way up to your leave date.

[3:23] Number two is when we're looking at a taper, we want to make sure that we are really giving the body plenty of time just to recover and not even thinking about training adaptations, about it getting more fit and more strong, but purely just recovering. Because through a training journey, after weeks and weeks and months and months of training, fatigue does creep up. And as you get to the final weeks of your training where everything's coming to a head, where you're doing the hardest sessions that you need to do.

[3:52] More than likely, you're going to be working through and managing quite a bit of fatigue, a bit of muscle soreness or whatever it may be. And we don't want that carrying over to our actual expedition. So during this taper period, we want to make sure we're giving the body plenty of space to properly recover so we can enter our expedition, enter our climb feeling fresh. And again, this is another reason why we don't want to train all the way up to the trip. So the other thing we want to keep in mind during this taper period is avoid getting sick. Now, a lot of people don't think about this, but I'll tell you, as being a coach for years and years and years and years, the amount of people who get sick in the final week or two before a big trip is phenomenal. And essentially, I think it comes from a few different areas. Like number one, as we said before, you're going through those hardest training sessions in the weeks prior. You're pushing the body, pushing the mind, dealing with fatigue, and just trying to push through. Number two, there's a lot of sort of stress during that time. Just before a trip, we've got pre-trip nerves. You're finishing up with work. You're finishing up with this and trying to pack and all of that. And there's a lot of stress.

[5:01] And then also number three is a lot of people just don't look after themselves during this time. And the body just sort of gets a bit of space from training and it's like, hey, now's the time to get sick. And we just are not looking after ourselves in the best way possible. So during a tapered period, as much as it may not be the number one thing on your mind, we do want to be aware that we're trying to do what we can to avoid getting sick. And when we're looking at this adjustment of training, what comes into this is number one, we don't want to be pushing things and pushing things and pushing things to the last day, because we want to make sure the body is recovering and not tipping over to getting sick. But we also want to balance that out with small amounts of exercise can be beneficial for the immune system.

[5:44] And moderate and light exercise can be beneficial. So when we're at this crucial point where a lot of people get sick, we want to make sure we're still doing something so we are complementing this. And then number four, what we want to keep in mind with when we're looking at this taper is we just want to make sure we are maintaining some element of training. So there's not a massive gap between your last training session and your actual expedition. And this is the mistake if some people just do nothing for a week or two before a trip. You know sometimes that can be okay but you know sometimes this can lead quite a bit of a gap between your last session when you're actually climbing so we want to make sure we're doing a small amount of things just to make sure we're giving the body some stimulus to maintain things and make sure there's no drop off of fitness or strength before you go and also on top of that we want to make sure we're managing stress as i said this last period can often be pretty stressful for a lot of people last minute packing last minute organizations finishing up with work saying goodbye to family or whatever it may be. And we still want to maintain some element of training to help manage stress because exercise is really beneficial here.

[6:50] So they're kind of the things we want to keep in mind and why the taper is important. The consolidation of those training adaptations, making sure we're fully recovered, making sure we're looking after our health and making sure we're maintaining our training adaptations and managing stress. All of those things you will get out of a good taper.

[7:07] Now with that being said, let's talk about how we can actually go about this. In all honesty, there's many, many, many different ways of going about this. There's no right or wrong way of this. And a lot of people will have personal preference around how they approach this. But what I'm going to do is I'm going to talk you through a really, really simple process that I quite like. I use this with probably 85% of my mountaineers. I find it works pretty well. There are a few people who we do different things, but this is kind of for the majority. So essentially, this is how we go about it.

[7:39] Typically, as we sort of said before, our training will tend to peak two weeks before you go on your expedition. So typically what I look at doing is two weeks before you head out is that's when we do our longest training hike. So our longest hike with our heaviest pack weight, the most challenging thing there. Two weeks before people head off, that's kind of the peak of our training and where we hit things. And after that, that's when the taper begins. And then when we have two weeks of kind of pulling things back. Now, essentially what we're looking at here in these two weeks of taper is we're going to be doing one week of moderate training and then one week of very, very easy training. So it's not going from 100 to zero and going from this really, really hard week of training to absolutely nothing, but it's this really, really hard week of training, kind of easiest week, very easy week. That's what we're looking at.

[8:31] Now, the first week of your taper, very, very simple. And this is two weeks before you head out. Very, very, very simple. What I typically do is I'll just get my mountaineers to take what they did in the week previous, what they did in that last sort of peak week of their training, where they were fitting everything in and really, really pushing things. I will typically get them to take that week of training, keep the sessions pretty much the same, so still have some strength, still have some cardio, whatever they were doing in that week, keep it there. But essentially just make those sessions a little bit easier and a little bit shorter.

[9:03] So, for example, on the strength side of things, if someone was doing strength workouts, which most people will be doing, what I'll do is in this week, I'll get them to do the same strength workout they were doing, same exercises, typically roughly around the same weights and this and that. But what I'll get them to do is just reduce down the sets. So, what that means is if they were doing an exercise and they were doing three sets of that exercise, so they did the exercise and repeated it three times, I'll get them this week to kind of still do roughly the same amount of weight, but just do two sets. And every single exercise they do, everything's reduced down a little bit. The idea behind this is they'll still get a decent strength stimulus. They'll still get some exposure to moving that weight, whether it's strength or endurance, whatever they're doing. But because we're reducing the volume down, you're going to walk out feeling like you could have done way more. You're going to walk out feeling like, hey, that was way easier. And you're going to walk out feeling pretty fresh. There are many, many ways you can go about this with your strength, but I find that works pretty well. Keep the same session you did last week, but just reduce things down.

[10:05] Now for cardio, this is pretty similar as well. You know, You're just basically going to take whatever you did last week and then just keep it pretty similar, but reduce it down. If you're doing stair or heel climbing or a step of workout or a step session, whatever it may be, you might do the same session, but just reduce the length down by 25%. If you did 40 minutes of climbing last week, maybe this week you'll just do 30 minutes of climbing. Or if you were doing whatever, just reduce it down. Again, it's still a bit of a stimulus. It's still a bit of a training session, but it feels like you could have done way more because you did do way more last week.

[10:41] Or if you're doing, say, intervals and some type of interval training, you may say, hey, I'm going to keep the same session, but this week, instead of doing 10 intervals, I'm just going to do seven intervals or six intervals or something like that. Or you could kind of look at the same thing and just reduce the speed down a bit and just sort of say, hey, I'm not going to do quite as quick. Either option works, but basically you're just looking at pulling things down.

[11:04] And then on the hiking, or if you're doing longer running or whatever it may be, as we sort of said, before we go into this taper, you've kind of done your peak session, you've done your longest session, then for these last couple of weeks, you can either skip it or just do something really easy. And if last week you did like an eight-hour hike and that was your longest hike, maybe this week you'll just do like an hour hike or a two-hour hike or something like that. Or you can just skip it, whatever.

[11:29] So that's week one of your taper. That's our kind of medium training week. And that works out pretty well. by the end of this week you should be like yeah you know the energy is kind of starting to come back you know i'm feeling a little bit better i'm feeling pretty fresh now week two so this is your final week before you head off things get even more simple so here we essentially end up having a really really really light week of training again there's many many different ways you can go about this but what i quite like to do is i'll get my mountaineers to basically for each day aim to have a short, easy hack walk. So, what I mean by that is something that's literally only 10, 20, maybe 30 minutes at a max each day, just carrying the equivalent pack weight that you're going to be carrying on your trip. So, if you've got a 40-pound pack on your trip and that's your heaviest day, you might just do a 15-minute walk each day with that pack on your back. And then on top of this, each day, you're going to do a little bit of stretching, a little bit to self-massage. So the idea behind this is each day you're just getting a bit of pack stimulus, just keeping the body moving, keeping the body familiar with this, but it's super easy because you may be carrying this pack weight for six, seven, eight hours on your trip, but you're literally doing 30 minutes. So it should be easy.

[12:40] And the idea here is, again, not only is it helping the body recover, but this isn't time intensive. It's not going to add extra stress to your week. So when you're running around like a madman or a madwoman trying to get your last bits of preparation done and finishing everything up at work, this should be pretty doable to fit in. And ultimately, the end goal of this is by the end of this week, you're kind of jumping out of your skin with energy. You've kind of got that nervous, restless energy and you're like, yeah, I'm ready to roll. That's what we want. So you're not getting to the end of this week where you're like, oh, I'm tired and this and that. I'm kind of like, you know, I'm ready for the trip, but I'm feeling heavy. No, what we want to do is feel fresh, feel ready to roll and game on. And that's kind of it. You have your one week of medium training, one week of easy training and ready to roll. Very, very, very simple.

[13:27] Now, that's the basics, and that works out pretty well. You know, there are a few situations where this may change, and there are a few situations that you'll often face where, you know, this approach may not work or just may need to be adjusted. You know, the most common thing here for mountaineers is if you're going on a really big expedition and maybe you have a big period of acclimatization or something coming up, there may be a significant.

[13:51] Delay from your climb date when you actually start your expedition and your travel date. So for example, maybe you are in Australia and you're going over to Nepal and you're flying out at the start of the month, but you don't actually start climbing for two or three weeks after that or whatever it may be. In that situation, it kind of doesn't make sense to have all of this recovery time and this and that if it's going to be four weeks until you start climbing or something like that. So we want to be sort of smart here. So you may need to shift it. In this situation, you may just sort of cut out that final easy week of training. Or, you know, in some situations, if you do have a significant delay and it's like two or three weeks from fly out date or leave date to when you actually begin, you may just train all the way up to the end date. So that way you still get a bit of a stimulus before you go. And then you have a couple of weeks of recovery before you do anything serious. You know, this will kind of change around a little bit depending on how we go.

[14:49] Now, the second situation where this may change is ultimately most people, when you finish your peak week, like that last week of hardest training. Most people are pretty tired. They have a lot of fatigue and they are ready for a rest. But occasionally, people will finish that week and they won't just be tired, but they will be absolutely knackered. And they'll be like, oh my gosh, I've got nothing in me. They'll sort of gone from not only just fatigue, but like rock bottom and they're feeling rubbish. In that situation, if you come out of that week feeling rubbish, then it may be very worthwhile looking at that medium week I mentioned and making that a little bit easier and just respecting your body's recovery. And maybe you might just do two or three or four days of really casual stuff to kind of help you up. And then maybe two or three days of medium stuff before you go into a really easy week. So you may kind of just want to adjust that and ride around if you're absolutely knackered. It does happen because.

[15:52] We definitely want to make sure you're fully recovered by the time the trip comes, and we don't want you just being absolutely down in the dumps. That's another option.

[16:01] And then the only other situation, well, the one that springs to mind at least, and this does happen quite a bit, is if you did get sick the week prior. So what I mean by that is in that peak week of training, your last hard week of training where you're like, yep, all my hard work, this is the hardest sessions, I'm going to push it all here.

[16:21] Every once in a while, someone will get sick here and they'll pick up a cold or pick up the flu or they'll get gastro, whatever it may be. And they're in this situation where they're like, well, I'm not training this week. I'm kind of okay after this, but now I've sort of had a week off and then I've got two weeks of taper. So that ends up being three weeks of kind of no training, which may not be ideal. So in this situation, it may be a case of sort of saying, hey, for that medium week, maybe that ends up being a little bit more of a normal week of training and we kind of push things a little bit more just so you can get that last little bit of stimulus and it's not a massive gap between your last hard session and your climb. But then you also need to balance that out with the fact of just not overdoing things. And if you've just been sick and then you're trying to have your hardest week of training, that's a whole nother story. So it may be a case of just sort of saying, I've had a week of being sick this week, which should be technically my medium week. Maybe I'm going to choose one or two days where I really, really push things and the rest is going to be a taper or whatever. So, you know, you need to pick your battles there and adjust around. But they're typically the three different situations which change that process. But, you know, most people can figure that out around personal preference or whatever it may be.

[17:34] So that's kind of a really, really simple process for the taper. The final thing I'll kind of say is in these last weeks, as I said before, so, so, so many people get sick. And I think it is just the accumulated fatigue of all that training, all the extra stress and this and that. And on top of that, just the body actually getting a bit of space. And when you can stop and recover and the body's like, all right, now it's time to get sick. So you just want to make sure you're doing everything you can during this time to make sure you actually don't get sick. So number one, look after your sleep, do everything you can to make sure you're getting enough sleep before you head off. No matter how crazy work is, no matter how crazy your final preparations are, get plenty of sleep.

[18:12] Number two, like a lot of people during this time, they'll be like, hey, I'm going on a climb, I'm going on an expedition. I'm just going to empty out the pantry. I don't want to do more groceries and this and that. So what ends up happening is you will end up getting a lot of takeout and you'll end up just sort of not having great meals, whatever it may be. And that's fine. You do what you need to do, but just whatever you're eating, just make sure you're having relatively healthy choices. Make sure you're still getting in plenty of veggies. Make sure you're not having majorly crazy saturated fat stuff. Make sure we are having something relatively good. And we need to balance that out with, yes, take out may be convenient or whatever it is, but try to do what you can. Stay hydrated during this time. Plays a big, big role. Manage stress where you can if you're super, super stressed out with this creep coming up and you got super, super stressful with work coming up, you know, do what you can just to manage that. Take some time to stretch, to relax, read a book, listen to some music, whatever. And then finally, just avoid sick people. If someone's sick near you, get away. If people are sick in the office, work from home, whatever it may be. Avoid sick people as much as you can because you don't want to get sick during this time.

[19:22] So, there we go. That's probably enough on that subject today. Hopefully that does make sense because this taper period, as much as a lot of people don't really think about it, a lot of people don't really put a huge amount of thought into it. If you can kind of get this balance right between still doing stuff and still making sure the body is feeling fresh and feeling good, but also respecting that recovery process, it can really, really go a long way. And it can be super, super useful for any mountaineer leading into their expedition. So if you have a big trip coming up in your sites, maybe factor this in, have a think about how you're going to approach this and how you're going to go. And it can honestly go a long, long way. So with that being said, that's probably enough from today's subject. I really do hope you've enjoyed this. I hope it helps a few people and we'll talk to you very, very soon. Have a lovely day, everyone. And we'll talk next time.

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