You know how some people can look really busy, but in reality they aren’t doing squat? Right now I’m dealing with the opposite.

This weekend is the climax, the peak, the crest, the tiptop, the get-up-and-go time for conference competition of indoor track and field. The Cyclones are hosting the Big 12 Conference track meet in the Rec Center on Friday and Saturday.

With the big meet in sight and months of training behind us, a certain strategy has emerged. This plan is music to the ears of an athlete who has endured treacherous workouts and withering weight sessions. It’s almost an act of beauty, bringing relief to sore shins, strained knees and tight hamstrings.

Tapering.

The idea of tapering is that during the regular season and off-season training, athletes work their bodies very hard. So hard, in fact, they are not fully rested when competition time rolls around. No matter how good a runner feels going into a meet, weary legs and tired arms may keep them from performing at their absolute best. When big, important meets come up, they cut back on their day-to-day workouts. By limiting what energy they put out in practice, they have more to put into their race or field event at the meet.

My coach claims that tapering is “active rest,” which sounds about as logical to me as jumbo shrimp or military intelligence. I guess it’s active because I’m doing it on purpose. Due to tapering, our practices of late consist of short and quick workouts with lots of walking around in between brief (but extremely fast) periods of running.

If you see the track team wandering around the Rec Center during practice looking as if we aren’t doing anything, don’t be alarmed — we’re resting. Actively resting, that is.

Hopefully, the plan works and our team will chase down some victories this weekend at the Big 12s.

Meanwhile, I see this active rest theory nudging its way into other areas of my life. Studying, for instance. We’ve all been cracking down hard on the books this semester, haven’t we?

(Okay, if you have to lie about this part to get the rest of the theory to work, I’ll give you a break. If you haven’t studied yet this semester, we’ll count your incredibly sincere intentions to study as a substitute for actual work getting done.)

Anyway, let’s say we’ve all been preparing for our upcoming midterm exams with much excitement and vigor. According to the tapering theory, it’s time to simmer down, kick back and cut back. Put down that book! Ignore those lab reports! It’s taper time, and we all need a little purposeful active rest.

If you put this theory into action, I would highly recommend explaining the idea to your professors. Otherwise they may misinterpret your behavior for just plain laziness. Assure them they aren’t alone in their confusion, and that many people fail to understand the delicate process of tapering.

To the casual observer, you are indulging in ordered-out pizza and Sega games instead of working on your paper. Those of us in the know recognize the signs of people truly tapering, storing up energy to score highly on their exams next week. What a sight to see masters at active rest making personal sacrifices to better their academic achievements!

Rest is a vital part of performance, so don’t ignore the need for it in your life. The next time you think you are spreading your energy too thin, keep the tapering theory in mind. Refuse to buckle under pressure; simply retreat into active rest.

Don’t just do something, stand there.

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Joanne Roepke is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Aurora.