Perfecting the Marathon Taper

We are less than two weeks out from The Boston Marathon & the jitters will only amplify as your taper sets in.

Remember, there’s more to lose than there is to gain in the two weeks before a marathon. Anything you do during this time should be aimed at cultivating freshness and enhancing readiness, not developing fitness or feeding insecurity.

The aims of any taper are to progressively (non linearly) reduce accumulated physiological and psychological stress of daily training AND restore training tolerance to further enhance training-induced adaptations.

Here are our top three marathon taper tips:

1. Maintain consistency of your typical training week. Do not do anything wildly different. Run on the same day, at the same time and in the same model shoes.

2. Reduce overall volume (20-30%) and keep intensity high to maintain sharpness. It’s a good idea to wear your race shoes during any speed work during your taper.

3. Eat as you typically would. In the spirit of consistency, don’t eat any more or less or differently than usual during your taper—especially the night before the race (your higher CHO meal should be breakfast the day prior, not dinner).

Your most important weapon on race day is between your ears and a proper taper provides increased security and confidence. Don’t be an idiot.