The taper began with gentle mobility and light stretching, followed by three three-minute straight-arm planks. The effects of a long hike forty-eight hours earlier—three and a half hours and roughly one thousand metres of elevation—were still clearly present.

Controlled, not completely fresh

The first hold was calm, without deep shaking and with nasal breathing throughout. The second remained stable and contained, with no real struggle.

Fatigue became more noticeable in the third set, although no important tremor developed. The final part was controlled but not completely relaxed.

Fatigue outside the plank muscles

The strongest residual signals were in the glutes and in a general sense of depletion rather than a local collapse of the upper body.

That distinction supported the decision to keep the session short instead of testing whether the body could ignore the cost of the hike.

Choosing not to run

I also decided not to add a run. More exercise would have satisfied the desire to stay active, but it would not have served the approaching maximal test.

Longer stretching and gentle mobility closed the session and kept the day aligned with its real purpose: unloading.

THE TAKEAWAYA taper is effective when it responds to the fatigue that actually exists, not to the training we wish the body were ready to perform.