The thing to remember is that, in the crudest terms, to train is to stress the body through exercise, before allowing it sufficient time to recover and rebuild itself in a stronger form. Without sufficient rest, training is pointless.

Tapering should occur in the final phase of training before a major goal.

During this period the volume of work is slowly reduced as your objective approaches. Although you will still be doing quality training, the aim is to ensure that you arrive at the start line with your body working optimally.

A full taper is something that should be attempted only a few times a year, as it involves a significant reduction in training volume, but part-tapers of shorter terms can be used on a more regular basis.

With one week to go, training is finished and it is highly improbable that you will generate more form in this period through more training. It is, however, very easy to compromise your condition in this final week by trying to do too much.

During the taper week you should start to feel fresh and alert and have an increasing sense of well-being, so hard training would be both no problem and psychologically satisfying to one’s ego. However, you must resist the urge to do more than has been planned for the taper period. In this phase, less is definitely more.

A typical taper week involves about 60 per cent of the usual intensity and volume of training and exercises that are more about technique at high powers than overloading the body.

This short period is where all your hard work can be lost through needless mistakes. We’ve seen it happen many times at World Championships and other events, when all the details haven’t been worked out and people start running around at the last moment like headless chickens.

To give you an example of how to attempt to avoid such a predicament, here are a few of the questions looking to seek answers to well before a race:

Here is a sample of a typical day, if the start was at 4pm, would look like this:

•   8am: breakfast.
•   10am: one hour on bike usually on the circuit with some small efforts.
•   11:30am: sleep or read, put race numbers on, pack race bag
•   1pm: light lunch of pasta, omelette and snack.
•   2:30pm: arrive at start area, sign on and get the official start time, checking how long it will take to get to the start line from the warm-up area. Return to bus and lay out race kit; have a read to stay relaxed.
•   3:20pm: get ready for warm-up.
•   3:30pm: get on rollers for 20 minutes progressive warm-up (see Warmups below),
•   3:50pm: finish warm-up, towel down, put helmet, glasses and mitts on.
•   3:52pm; roll to start.
•   4pm: race.

Obviously, this is an example, but a structured approach is sound for any discipline and it definitely reduces the possibility of disaster.

Use a static trainer for warm-ups. This useful piece of equipment allows two things:

•   Visualize the race route and focus on how you are going to tackle it physically, mentally and technically, without interruption or undue distractions
•   Undergo a repeatable and controlled warm-up every time, regardless of the surrounding terrain or weather. There is also no significant wind-chill factor on a static trainer, allowing warm-ups that are short and effective and keeping energy reserves for the race.

This is your ‘sporting career’, so take charge of it. Make yourself responsible for planning, organizing and delegating what has to be done Never assume that someone else will do it.

•   If you have the chance, memorize the race route, or key parts of it
•   Give yourself time to plan. Get used to making notes and timetable so everyone knows what their responsibilities are.
•    Good communication is a key element in any strategy. For a professional rider, regular contact with key personnel is crucial and, during the final few days before a main goal, a daily meeting is essential.
•    Practice your warm-up so you are comfortable with it on the day.
•    Plan in time to fix disasters.
•    And finally, if possible, have two of everything, making sure you’re prepared to use the reserve item if the need arises. Good luck. 

Morale is a small word that has a huge effect on performance. By implementing the above strategies, you’ve already gone a long way towards removing a lot of the things that can dent a positive mental approach.

Another maxim, is to try to treat difficult situations – be it a last-minute mechanical failure or adverse weather conditions — as a challenge as opposed to a problem. After all, the only other option is to quit and then you definitely won’t succeed.

It also helps either have someone on hand to remind you of these things when necessary, or alternatively to write down just a few statements of your own, that will help to focus you on the task in hand and put those statements somewhere prominent, perhaps where you will be warming-up before a race.

*Some excerpts from CS July 1999 by Chris Boardman