Peak Performance: Tapering Secrets for Race Day Success

Tapering is gradually reducing training volume while maintaining intensity in the final weeks before a race. This allows the body to recover from fatigue and stress while retaining fitness and sharpness for race day. Most experts agree on a taper period of 3 weeks for a marathon, and proportionately less for shorter races. 

This is a how-to episode that addresses three tapering secrets in the order one would typically focus on them. However, my recommendation is to keep all three in mind throughout your taper.

#1. Maintain Intensity and Reduce Volume

You want to reduce your mileage by 20-25% during the taper. For many runners, this would be something like 40-50 miles at three weeks out, then 30-40 the following week, and 20-30 for race week. Then, and this is important, make those reduced miles quality miles by maintaining intensity.

The overall taper effort should be enjoyable. Make this a playful period, a celebration of your hard work, and a preview of how you will perform on race day. The intensity keeps your mind and muscle fibers fresh. The reduced mileage allows muscles, joints, and connective tissues to fully recover.

Examples of reducing volume but maintaining intensity are trimming your marathon pace tempo run from 6 to 4 miles, or possibly a pair of 2-mile tempo segments with a 1-mile jog between them. The goal is to lock in the feeling of running at the tempo pace without taxing the body more than necessary.

#2. Replenish and Refresh Your Body and Mind

The body and mind work together as one. You cannot be sharp on race day if you are mentally fatigued. Since a marathon is more mental than physical, be intentional about relaxing your mind during the taper.

Get to bed earlier and take naps. Practice some yoga and meditation. Race anticipation can create anxiety, but that anxiety can be managed by giving your mind and body what they need, hydration, nutrition, rest and sleep. Focus on those functions and protect your mental state by doing what gives you confidence.

Finally, be sure to practice easy body movements to lubricate tissues and encourage blood flow that circulates nutrients and flushes out metabolic wastes. For more on this, check out this podcast’s Episode #11.

#3. Visualize and Rehearse Race Strategy and Readiness

This is the ultimate secret to your racing success. The months of training are nothing more than potential gains. You must take the additional steps of translating them into real gains with planning.

This is what professional runners do. They practice daily visualization to put their minds at ease, imagining different scenarios and how they may play out. The science is clear about this – our minds don’t distinguish between visualization and direct experience. So, if more experience is valuable, you can get it with visualization.

How do you want to feel on race day, strong, fresh, and confident? One way to practice this is to view your taper workouts as sections of your race. For example, slow miles reflect the beginning of the race, tempo miles the middle, and faster intervals the closing stretch. 

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