Tapering off before an event

Just to add a little more to the subject... in terms suited to my simple understanding the purpose of tapering is to make sure that your muscles are fully topped up with glycogen - the energy they use as their first source.

The reason for tapering is that you've been doing so much training the reserves are depleted and you need to build them up and that the event will need to use them. The most intense training period may be the one leading up to the taper so they need to be replenished. Laurent Fignon used to go out a week before an event and take no food so that he ran himself into a hunger knock.

So I would distinguish between general rest and tapering. Yes, as the advice above says, make sure you have a day or two off before the event so you aren't fatigued. But feeling your muscles isn't in itself a bad thing.

The other thing is that general advice is to reduce volume not intensity. So if you've been doing hilly sessions or turbo workouts, cut the duration by about a third but don't completely stop them.

I've got a three day stage race starting next Saturday. My week would normally be:
Friday - hard ride or race - 120-140km
Saturday - medium/hard - 70-80 km
Sunday - rest
Monday - Interval sprints - 40km
Tuesday - hard tempo ride - 50km
Wednesday - moderate rolling ride - 60km
Thurday - swim

But this week I am doing:
Friday - hard ride (hills)- 120km
Saturday - medium, steady - 60km
Sunday - rest
Monday - Intervals - 30km
Tuesday - swim
Wednesday - tempo ride - 40km
Thursday - off
Friday - travel / easy ride

So I've cut from 350km to 250km in total and I'm still doing the hrd sessions but have shortened them by about 25%.

Good luck, and enjoy it most of all.

I'd rest for one, preferably two days before an event, depends on whether your legs feel fatigued,

take a day off. that's if you ride every day. if you don't, it shouldn't be a problem

I'm doing that ride aswell. It should be a cracking ride and the climb up Deepdale into Kingsdale is ace . My plans are a 200km Audax round the Yorkshire dales this Sunday followed by a 35 mile round commute all week. Then a days rest. Horses for courses though.

Mmm, I'm over-cautious and would go the other way - take it easy this weekend and just do a few rides mid-week.

All depends on your age and how fast you recover. When you do a 50+ (miles or KMs?) what are you like the next day?

And when you've had breaks in training what have you noticed?

I tend to find after really hard and sustained training it can take 10 days before I'm really ready to do another block of work.

For 130km I wouldn't worry too much about tapering.

It's maybe appropriate if you've been doing a LOT of intense training, and more so for multi-discipline events like triathlon.

But I wouldn't think your training falls into that category.

You've been training regularly so just do most of what you would do - maybe 80%, just to make sure you aren't tired.