tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2375743119306394670.post9019810961200789223..comments2023-05-30T09:15:26.291+01:00Comments on Trossachs Trail Runner: Final weeks before the West Highland Way Race : Tapering vs Tunning inRobert Osfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16960356368117573952noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2375743119306394670.post-19198043348966951602014-06-07T13:04:06.165+01:002014-06-07T13:04:06.165+01:00Thanks the comments and link to article on Leisure...Thanks the comments and link to article on Leisure Sickness. I suspect there is big overlap in causes between Taperitis and Leisure Sickness.<br /><br />W.r.t cortisol I suspect that at different points in a Taper we'll see different mixes of hormones at play, as your say as anxiety builds before the race it's likely the increase on average. Lack of sleep and lack of exercise is also likely to reduce the amount of growth hormone release - again the closer the the race the more I expect this would be at play.<br /><br />Less exercise and carbo loading is also likely to reduce Autophagy so might go some way to contributing to colds.<br /><br />--<br /><br />W.r.t studies on taper, I have read a few papers/reviews of papers and the approach to taper that seemed the most compelling w.r.t results was a short cliff edged taper, where training in the last week is cut back almost entirely but short race pace runs used to maintain the correct level of muscle tension. I haven't come across any studies looking at Ultra requirements - normal races are run faster than the average training pace, while ultra's are run at lower.<br /><br />Ultra's are also unusual in that it's so critical that aerobic fitness and in particular fat burning capacity. VO2max is known to decrease less quickly than aerobic fitness so I suspect the change over point between recovery/building of muscle strength and loss of fitness is different for different races, with longer races stressing aerobic fitness more and VO2max less. This is why I believe that falling back to a maintenance level of training is important during a taper.<br /><br />Aerobic fitness is unlikely to degrade much over a week so cutting back significantly in the last week is probably safe.<br /><br />--<br /><br />One thing I didn't raise in my post is the prospects for adaptation to heat. If we only ever work up a sweat during training then cutting training will impact heat adaptations. If the race is in hot conditions then this may well be a limiting factor. Hot taper has been found to be effective in both cold and hot races, but most effective in hot races. I suspect part of effectiveness of the hot taper is that it avoids the detaining of heat adaptation.<br /><br />In the these last two weeks I'll specifically try to maintain/build the heat adaptations by running when it's hot, having hot baths and plan to visit the swimming pool with it's sauna.Robert Osfieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16960356368117573952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2375743119306394670.post-29111852726661089452014-06-07T11:56:49.951+01:002014-06-07T11:56:49.951+01:00One further point, with regard to taperitis: mayb...One further point, with regard to taperitis: maybe in some cases it is an example the phenomenon known as leisure sickness. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leisure_SicknessAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2375743119306394670.post-10412472698975624312014-06-07T11:38:28.598+01:002014-06-07T11:38:28.598+01:00Thanks for an interesting account of your experien...Thanks for an interesting account of your experiences of tapering and your thoughts on the cause of problems during the taper. <br /> <br />There is good evidence from systematic studies a taper can improve race performance, but the extent and nature of the taper that is best for each individual is likely to depend on several factors including the individual’s intrinsic ability to recover rapidly and on the degree to which the training was exhausting. As for the cause of the increase in niggles during a taper, I think that these niggles are mostly a matter of heightened awareness in many instances. However in at least some instances there might be an increase in vulnerability to symptoms due to hormonal or immune system changes. If so, I would expect that increased stress due to anxiety, and associated increased cortisol release, is more likely to be to be the problem than decreased cortisol due to decreased physical stress from training.<br /> <br />I agree that maintaining a positive mental state is likely to be important. There are individual differences in the best way of achieving this.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2375743119306394670.post-29359739420495446882014-06-04T08:39:04.128+01:002014-06-04T08:39:04.128+01:00Thanks Dave, I hope the recovery is going well ;-...Thanks Dave, I hope the recovery is going well ;-)Robert Osfieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16960356368117573952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2375743119306394670.post-90024847984321150732014-06-04T08:38:35.013+01:002014-06-04T08:38:35.013+01:00HI Sarah,
I used to believe in the value of tradi...HI Sarah,<br /><br />I used to believe in the value of traditional taper and didn't even know about "taperitis" and expected to feel better with the lower mileage. What I found it is that it wasn't uncommon for me to fall for colds, get progressively stiffer and measurably less efficient (looking at my HR/pace & Calories/mile) as the taper progressed. It's only after encountering the symptoms did I find out that that others suffered as well and this isn't anything unusual. I believe this rules out the idea that the idea that the symptoms are significantly psychosomatic in nature for all runners.<br /><br />I would also caution from latching on to any one explanation for physiological and psychological issues that we come across. Our bodies and mind are so complex and intertwined that there is very rarely one reason, instead a cocktail of interacting factors is usually in play. Our hormones affect our mental state, our mental state affects our hormones - they are never separate and one never dominates over the other all the time. Our hormones effect how energetic we are, how we repair our bodies and respond to illness. What we do physically and how we think affects hormones on so many levels, knowing that there is this mix of influences can help us to do better.<br /><br />This is why I finished saying "BE POSITIVE", rather than "think positive" - keeping active during the taper and doing the right type of physical activity is just as important for maintaining physical and mental well being as being adopting positive thinking. Negative thoughts are only negative if you don't do anything positive about them, if you can work out the reason for those negative thought and fix the underlying problem then you no longer have any reason for them. <br /><br />There are of course chronic mental conditions like depression that make it very difficult to turn around negative thoughts, but for the last few weeks before a big ultra I really do hope that the athletes aren't straddled with this. For sure it'll make for the toughest taper and race imaginable.<br /><br />Curiously ultra athletes after Ultra sometimes report feelings of depression. It can take so much our of you physically and mentally, and your daily routine before and after an Ultra can be so different that perhaps this isn't too surprising. This is a whole other topic though, but perhaps the common element is that in a traditional taper the daily activity is different than in the preceding months just as it is after an ultra in recovery. It's these differences that might tweak the soup of hormones and mental thought processes that affect our well being.<br />Robert Osfieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16960356368117573952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2375743119306394670.post-38785175070596302122014-06-03T18:36:51.201+01:002014-06-03T18:36:51.201+01:00Great post.
I think taperitis might be a lot mor...Great post. <br /><br />I think taperitis might be a lot more psychological than you're giving credit to. If you "believe" in the idea that every time you taper, you get ill, then it should come as no surprise when you're feeling out of sorts come taper time. In psychology, Emile Coué did a lot of work on this - his theory is that where the 'subconscious' mind and the 'concious' mind are in conflict, the sub-concious will ALWAYS win. From what I've had explained to me, but as a disclaimer I haven't followed up the quoted research to back it up, the part of our brain where the emotions and decision-making take place, the amygdala, is located within a section of the brain which has no involvement at all with logical thought, it's strongly operated by emotions. If it is presented with a strong enough imaginary visualisation, it has no idea it's only imaginary, and your 'fight or flight' decisions are dealt with through your emotions based on the messages it's receiving. So if you firmly create a visualisation/emotional belief of tapering being terrible, feeling under the weather and so on, that feeds the sub-conscious (and the amygdala), and then even if you say out loud "this time will be different!" it's too late - you already -believe- it will go wrong, and Coué's theory is that deep down, you will then MAKE it go wrong.... if that makes sense. The sub-conscious/imagination wins out. <br /><br />Of course, it could all just be a crock of sh*t. I have friends who absolutely hate the taper period, and I have friends who very firmly believe there is no such thing as 'taperitis', and they all perform just as well come race day. :-) x xSarahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13373272715768843175noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2375743119306394670.post-61024629962640375002014-06-03T07:57:33.860+01:002014-06-03T07:57:33.860+01:00Thought provoking. Best of luck for the race:-DThought provoking. Best of luck for the race:-DDave Thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18376692780376101803noreply@blogger.com