Tapering
The history of the taper:
It's interesting in reviewing the history of running that years ago athletes were not aware of the importance of rest, or what is now called a taper. The only information they had 100+ years ago was personal experience, or lack thereof. It wasn't until around 1955 that the concept of pre-race rest began to be discussed. We can begin to look at the science of tapering to get a better foundation of best practices.
- The first notable study on tapering was in 1992. The main take-away from that study was that a high intensity taper produced the better result. Over a week, all training was 500 meter intervals starting 5 days out. It tapered from 5 intervals to 1 interval.
- In 1994 a study was done with a group of sub-elite runners who reduced their daily training volume from 10K down to 1.5K over 7 days. During the taper, training was done as 400 m intervals at 5K race pace. Results showed a 2.8% 5K performance improvement in a time trial. Further, results showed that simply reducing volume by up to 70% DID NOT have the same effect. The key seemingly is to do very little training but most or all of it at race pace.
- In 1999 a study looked at a two week taper and gradual reduction in daily training. They found the most effective taper was to reduce training by 50% by day 3 of the taper and 75% by day 6, and then a gradual reduction over the final 8 days.
Let’s talk about the why of the taper:
1. Increase glycogen stores
2. Repair micro-tears in muscles and connective tissue
3. Increase mental freshness.
4. Decrease the chance of injury and sickness
5. Increase red blood cells and total blood volume
All of these add up to decreasing fatigue without losing fitness and allowing all the hard training to be realized on race day. Without a taper we will line up for a race in a fatigued state. This is sometimes done on purpose as a training tool but for your goal race you want to be as fresh as possible. If we just stop and rest for the duration of a taper we risk showing up feeling flat, tired and heavy legged. The cause of this is due to muscle tension which is the optimal length for force production. I won’t get into it today but possibly for a future article. Just know that doing something is important as long as it’s not too taxing. Remember the goal is to reduce training so your body can adapt and repair itself before a full effort like a goal race.
This leads us to the how in tapering:
It's a tough one to really dial in but to get you to race day in full confidence and ready to go, here are some useful strategies and guidelines you can try. A perfect taper might look a bit different for different athletes and even the same athlete may experience the need to vary the taper.
The Traditional 5K Taper (can be adapted for distance up to the half marathon):
- Shorten your final long run - the weekend before your race
- Do one final interval workout 4-6 days before the race, keeping with the same intensity as usual but with less volume (reduce by 1/3 to 1/2 of normal interval reps)
- Generally reduce mileage on your runs for the rest of the week
- 2-3 days out from race day include a set of 8-10 strides at the end of the run.
- Short easy run the day before the race - we call it a shakeout run and it’s usually about 15 minutes.
Traditional Marathon Taper:
3 Weeks before Race Day -
-Reduce overall mileage and reduce volume of quality workouts by 20-30% but keep effort levels normal for everything.
- Finish off the week with a "long run" that is 50% shorter than the previous week's long run
2 Weeks before Race Day -
- Reduce overall mileage and volume of quality workouts by another 20-30% but maintain normal effort levels.
- Finish the week with a run that is 40% shorter than the previous week's long run.
Week of the Race -
- Reduce mileage to 25% of normal volume.
- On Monday, include 2-4 miles at marathon pace during the run.
- Completely rest for 1-2 days before the race.
- Increase carbohydrate intake to be 70% of your caloric intake for 2-3 days before race day.
These are great general guidelines and can always be individualized for specific athletes to hone in on their best personal strategy.
The hardest part of the taper:
For most people the difficult thing about the taper is feeling like you are losing fitness. This sometimes leads runners to ‘breaking the taper’ they may try and get that last hard run in during the taper or not rest on prescribed rest days.
This is a HUGE mistake as it will indefinitely leave you feeling tired and doesn’t give your muscles the chance to repair themselves. As stated above doing a little bit is recommended with appropriate rest built in. It’s important to adhere to the taper to help you get to the start line feeling fresh and ready to race.