Life of an Age-Grouper

The significance of tapering The focal point of a taper period or tapering is to ready the body, mind and spirit for a peak performance on race day.  This period of training fits roughly between your last Build period and race day.  The significance of tapering is to freshen your body, mind and spirit by ridding it of accumulated fatigue.  As fatigue vacates the body one should start to feel rejuvenated, energetic, sharp, snappy and excited to race. If one does not understand the significance of tapering, like most new endurance athletes, then ones athletic performance could be handicapped. Most new athletes or those making endurance sports more than just a hobby have a difficult time benefiting from tapering.  I believe that the major obstacle preventing athletes from benefiting from a taper is the way in which they view their fitness.  More often than not athletes associate their fitness levels with how hard they train or the level of fatigue they hav...

The last couple of days have been spent on Shelter Island with my wife celebrating our 2 year anniversary. To be honest, when planning our anniversary weekend I had a little anxiety about not being able to train the weekend prior to my race. However, the only reason I am able to dedicate so much time and pursue my passion is because of her so, taking a couple of days off means nothing. In addition the timing couldn't have been more perfect since I was feeling a low level of fatigue. Three days rest and relaxation was exactly what I needed. I could write an entirely new blog entry about my anniversary on Shelter Island but let me just say it was extremely relaxing and I had an amazing time with my wife. Oh, and we biked around Shelter island for 2.5 hrs. (she biked for 2.5 hours on rolling hills . . . hmmmmm. . . .are you thinking what I'm thinking?) On our way home I began to slip back into reality and think of the week ahead. Four days of work and light training was a...