Whether you’re lining up for a gravel race, gran fondo, triathlon, road event, or even just a big ride you’ve been building toward for months, how you manage the final week can make or break your performance. After all the early mornings, long rides, and structured training blocks, the taper is your opportunity to let the fitness rise to the surface and show up fully prepared—both physically and mentally.
A well-executed taper helps you shed fatigue, sharpen your form, and step onto the start line feeling fresh, focused, and ready to perform. It's not just about doing less—it's about making the most of your training by letting your body recover, adapt, and peak at exactly the right time. In this blog, we’ll break down the key elements of a successful taper so you can maximize all the hard work you’ve already done and show up on race day at your absolute best.
A proper taper starts well before the final week leading into your event—it begins with how you structure your training in the final few weeks of your build. The most demanding sessions of your training block should typically fall around 10 to 14 days before race day. These workouts are where you push your limits, build peak fitness, and create the final bit of training stress your body needs to adapt and grow stronger. The timing is crucial: you want to finish this phase with enough of a training stimulus to elevate your fitness, but early enough that your body can fully recover in time for race day.
This final push is often called a "peak week" or "overload week," and it’s where you earn the gains that tapering helps to reveal. Think of it like loading a spring—during the taper, you allow that spring to recoil and unleash its power on race day. Get this part right, and the taper becomes a fine-tuning process, not a desperate scramble to feel fresh. It's also important to resist the urge to overdo it here—more is not always better, especially when you're already fit. Trust in the process and your training plan: this is where the work gets done to make race-day performance possible.
At its core, tapering is about reducing the accumulated fatigue from weeks or months of consistent training, allowing your body to fully recover. This is what brings out your peak performance. The taper period usually involves a significant reduction in training volume—often by 30–50%—depending on the athlete, the event, and how fatigued you are coming out of your biggest training block. That said, a good taper doesn’t mean becoming completely inactive. You still want to include some structured sessions to maintain neuromuscular sharpness and keep your routine familiar, but the overall load should be much lower than your usual schedule.
Equally important is what you do outside of training. Recovery doesn’t just happen on the bike or during workouts; it happens during all the other hours of the day. This is the time to prioritize sleep, reduce life stressors where possible, and become a bit selfish about rest. One of the golden rules during a taper is: why stand when you can sit, and why sit when you can lie down? Even reducing time spent on your feet during the day can help preserve energy and support muscle recovery. Listen to your body, embrace the downtime, and trust that less is more in this final phase. Rest is not laziness—it's performance preparation.
Tapering doesn’t mean coming to a complete stop—it means being strategic about how you reduce training load while maintaining the edge you’ve built. During the final week before your race, it’s essential to include shorter, sharper bursts of intensity to keep your legs activated and your neuromuscular system firing. These efforts are typically much shorter than your peak training intervals—think 30-second to 2-minute surges at race pace or slightly above, with plenty of recovery between them.
The goal isn’t to add fitness during this week, but rather to remind your body what it feels like to go fast, without creating lasting fatigue. Cutting intensity altogether can leave you feeling sluggish or “flat” on race day, as your body may lose its readiness to respond to high effort. Strategic activation sessions—such as a few openers 2–3 days out, or some high-cadence efforts within a light ride—help prime your system so that when the gun goes off, you're not just rested, but race-ready.
Nutrition during taper week is just as important as your training and rest. With your training volume reduced, your body has the opportunity to naturally begin topping up glycogen stores—especially if you continue to eat as you normally would. This is a subtle but effective way of carb loading. Because you're burning fewer calories during taper week, keeping your regular intake means those extra carbohydrates have a better chance of being stored in your muscles, ready to be used on race day.
It’s also important not to let the shorter workouts trick you into under-fuelling. Even though the sessions are less intense or shorter in duration, your body still needs adequate nutrition to recover, adapt, and maintain energy balance. Stick to your usual fuelling routine, including post-ride meals and snacks, to keep your system running smoothly. For more structured carb loading guidance, check out our full blog post on how to carb load effectively for your race. When done right, your nutrition in the taper can leave you feeling energized, not heavy or depleted—ready to hit the start line with full tanks.
Hydration is often overlooked during taper week, especially when training volume drops and the weather feels mild. But staying properly hydrated is just as crucial as fuelling and resting. Your body functions best when fluid and electrolyte levels are topped up, and taper week is a great time to ensure you’re fully hydrated before race day—even before you start your pre-race hydration plan.
Make a conscious effort to drink water consistently throughout the week. If your race is in a hot or humid environment, or if you’re a heavy sweater, consider adding electrolytes to your fluids to support optimal hydration. Dehydration—even a small amount—can negatively impact your performance, so it’s worth being proactive. Think of taper week as not just reducing training stress, but also fine-tuning the details that will set you up for success.
One of the most overlooked parts of a taper is managing mental and emotional stress. In the final days leading up to a race, it’s easy to overthink, second-guess your training, or feel a surge of nerves. But this is the time to chill. Lowering your overall stress levels helps your body recover and prepares your mind to perform. Make an effort to create a calm, low-stress environment during taper week—at work, at home, and in your daily routines.
Sleep is especially important. While it’s common to have a restless night before race day (thanks, pre-race adrenaline), what really counts are the nights leading up to it. Aim for consistent, high-quality sleep in the 2–3 days before the event. Set a routine, keep your evenings relaxing, and don’t let last-minute nerves disrupt your recovery.
Most importantly, trust the process. The hard work is done. You’ve built the fitness, followed the plan, and now it’s time to let the taper do its job. Staying calm, confident, and relaxed allows your body to peak—so you can show up at the start line feeling fresh, focused, and ready to go.
A well-planned taper doesn’t mean just winging it—it helps to have a clear structure that balances recovery with activation. Here’s an example of how to approach the final 7–10 days before your event:
Nailing your taper is about more than just doing less—it’s about doing the right things at the right time. It’s a delicate balance of reducing training load, maintaining sharpness, and prioritizing recovery so you arrive at the start line physically fresh and mentally focused. From strategic training and activation sessions to proper fuelling, hydration, rest, and stress management, each piece of the taper puzzle plays a role in your performance.
Remember, the work is already done. The taper isn’t where you gain fitness—it’s where you reveal it. Trust the process, believe in your preparation, and allow your body to reach its peak. Race day is your opportunity to put it all together—and with a smart taper, you’ll be ready to show up and perform your best.
