I wonder if there is a message for all of us with the effects of a long taper on injury incidence: If the taper is a once a season variety, then the stresses involved will be higher than anything experienced in training, unless you specifically prepare for this (and 95% non-rested training max isn’t going to cut it).
Regarding rounds, there are things you can do to prepare. Charlie has mentioned a number of 60’s with long rest to prepare for rounds. I also do a few workouts like 4X60/300-200-100 on back-back days (this type of thing is from Verkhoshansky) and also 4X60/4 hours/4X60 in the same day (from Asafa following the rounds in a championship with a WR 10-14 days later). I do these things for the effects on the workouts that follow, but they do have the effect of training one’s hamstrings to handle the effect of multiple rounds.
None of this quite prepares the athlete from the high stresses from a rested performance. Some things I can think of:
(1) Short cycles in training, where each cycle is followed with a race performance from a smaller taper, which should get close to the maximal rested performance.
(2) Plyometrics. Not high-risk efforts like depth jumps close to testing, but safer efforts like CMJ and Box Jumps to provide stress greater than normal training.
(3) I hate to mention it, but training with the wind or slight downhill: Slight overspeed, but nowhere near important races. This type of thing has been discussed fairly recently vis-a-vis the Jamaicans as a way to increase stiffness (I’m actually doing the type of complex workout they do at LSU this weekend–intentionally 6 weeks before Mt. Sac, so I can recover for the main season if I get injured–which I do precisely once a year now).
Thoughts, anyone?