COACHING RUNNERS We recently wrote a blog post that focused on what to do the night before your race, but what about the days or the few, short weeks leading up to it? You might not have heard the word “taper” before when talking about training, so let’s break that down before we get into what the taper “crazies” are!
A taper is a period of time before a race where the biggest priority is to give your body time to recover and prepare for race day. What it’s not is just a few days or a week or two of doing nothing! Your body still needs some tune up, but this is not the time to be adding more of everything, it’s about starting to do less- less mileage, less intensity, maybe less days running, lighter strength or even none the week of the race… we’ll keep explaining!
The ideal length of a taper will depend on what distance race you are getting close to, your training volume over the course of your block, your experience, and how much fatigue you are feeling going into the taper. The goal is to show up on race day feeling ready to race feeling fresh having rested and recovered. Some races might be in the middle of training blocks for other races, but we’ll leave those cases out of this and spend another post talking about that! For a 5k, taper can be a short, 3-6 day reduction of mileage where you want to avoid an exhausting session right before race day. For the 10k, about a week is an adequate taper. You’ll still want to maintain some short, controlled intervals to prevent your legs from feeling heavy. If you are nearing a half marathon, a 1-2 week taper works for the majority of recreational runners. You’ll reduce your mileage, cut those long run distances, and lessen any intense speed session if you have been doing speed workouts in the buildup. A marathon taper is about 2-3 weeks as training builds up substantial fatigue that the taper helps progressively recharge the athlete for race day.
The taper is a crucial time period, but after weeks or months of a training plan, taper can be a tough time period for some runners. It may feel strange, or out of routine, to start suddenly doing less. Rather than feel relaxed, some find themselves starting to question many things, hence the taper crazies. This describes the bundle of anxiety, self-doubt and sometimes weird physical sensations that we give too much attention to when what we really need to do during this time is just trust in our training and stay confident that race day has the opportunity for us to control what we can control and show up ready for whatever is ahead for us that day.
Curious about what could be classified as taper crazies?
Here are a few experiences some runners might describe their time in the taper crazy phrase:
We get it! Your routine is changing leading up to the race and now you have more time off running and less workouts, which leads to possibly more time over-thinking how it will all go. Take a deep breath and remind yourself that all of this overthinking is not the most relaxed way to approach race day with. All of your hard work is in and this is not the time to make up missed miles or do last-minute hard workouts. You want to show up fresh, not more fatigued or burned out.
Instead, focus on preparing (not panicking), trusting in yourself and your training, and keeping your mind occupied with positive things (or things completely unrelated to running to distract yourself!) as you get closer to your race day.
This is the time to focus on your needs leading up to your race, making the necessary preparations and logistics prepping, and planning out your carb-load. Don’t compare your race goals with anyone else’s. Social media can sometimes make us compare ourselves and doubt our preparedness. If you work with a coach, have a pre-race call to help you feel the most prepared and confident you can be. You can only control your preparation, so if spending time away from social media will prevent you from panicking, take that time! Don’t try anything new on race day, so have all of your race gear and gels prepared as you get race-day stuff ready. Depending on the distance of your race, your carb-load is a very important aspect that you can control. Have your travel mapped out. Prepare whatever might help settle your anxieties.
You’ve completed weeks or months of hard work in your training. You are not going to all-of-a-sudden lose all of that fitness just because you’re running less now in your taper. The point of this time is to gradually reduce all of the fatigue accumulated in training while preserving that fitness you’ve built so race day it can be showcased on race day. You won’t build new endurance in this time, but you will be giving your body time to recover and recharge if you follow your taper plan. Trust in yourself to also trust in your training plan.
Positive distractions may help! This time where you aren’t running as much as you used to be is a great time to give a little more attention to what maybe was put to the side for weeks or months. Not every moment in your taper needs to be about running or your race- good distractions may just be the best thing for you. Stay positive, focus on what you can control, and maybe spend some time finding a mantra or reflecting on this training block and what you feel proud of (not what you think could have gone differently). Confidence means showing up despite the possible nerves. Spend some time preparing how you are going to mentally stay positive if things pop up on race day.
Taper is productive training, even if you might not feel like it. Some love the taper, some don’t at all. Regardless, race day arrives, and you want to be ready for it in the best way you can.
Trust the work, trust yourself, and embrace this period to recharge to feel ready to go on race day.
