1 Week Until Vegas: Time To Taper!

My leg feels a bit better today. I was able to get a short massage yesterday and she really worked some of the kinks out of my hamstring. Both of my hamstrings are very tight, the left one more so than the right. In fact, they’re so tight, they are pulling the back of my pelvis down forcing the front of my pelvis up. I got some more stretches to do, and was told to keep alternating between ice and heat and take some epsom salt baths. Like I said, I’m feeling better and hoping that this will all be behind me come race day on Sunday. I’m staying positive now—and that can only help.

Whether or not I race on Sunday, it’s marathon week at Get Fit Slowly so I’ve decided to write about running every day. Sorry for all you non-runners out there. Please come back when the week is over. Better yet, read anyway so that I can impart my love of running to you and you can get the itch to run as well. I’m always looking for some new running partners.

What is a taper?

I’ve been training hard, harder than I’ve ever trained in my life, for the past 9 weeks. My mind and body are tired and they need a break. It’s time to taper. My original taper called for a decrease in mileage from 60 to 30. But last week, due to my hamstring, I was only able to run 13 of the prescribed 30. And this week I’m not running at all before the big day on Sunday. This is not the ideal taper, but I think it will give me the best chance for success in Vegas.

For some people, the idea of reducing your training just prior to racing might seem counter-intuitive. Runners are a competitive bunch who feel like they should always be doing more. But the science behind the taper says otherwise. It’s been pretty well established that most training adaptations occur during periods of recovery. In order to have positive physiological effects from training, it’s really important correctly time alternating periods of stress and recovery. Tapering allows a runner to reap the benefits of their final stressful period of training. Tapering is analogous to a car “topping off” it’s gas tank so that it can drive as far as it possibly can. For me, that “topping off” distance is 26.2 miles.

How does one taper?

The jury is still out regarding the duration that a taper should be. I think it’s because everyone is different. Some people can handle a greater training load than others. Also, some people recover more quickly. But the general consensus for length of taper seems to be one to three weeks. The trick is that you want to be rested and recovered, but you don’t want to lose fitness. The most common method of tapering is to dramatically reduce your mileage (anywhere from 60 to 90%) but NOT to decrease the intensity of your workouts. For example, My 60-mile week had 10 miles of hard running and 50 miles of easy running while my 30-mile taper week was supposed to have 5 miles of hard running and 25 miles of easy running.

Most marathoners undergo some sort of tapering process as part of their final race preparations. Tapering gives both the mind and the body a break so that you can perform your best on race day. If you’re a runner, do you taper before your big events? How do you taper? I’d really like to hear from someone who doesn’t taper and why they think it may be a bad idea. Here’s to embracing the taper!