Marathon Taper and Race Week Mileage?

I think week 14 should be closer to 40 miles,it adds nothing to your race and could leave you tired,I'd also cap the long run at 10 unless it is early in the week.Race week is about right.

3 week taper off of 69 miles max seems like a lot. I would be very worried about actually de-training a bit. I would probably look to peak 4 weeks out with a hard M pace workout of 12-14 miles. 3 weeks I would probably go like 65 with a slightly easier M paced workout, 2 weeks 60ish with even easier M pace workout and week of I would probably run 25-30 excluding the marathon w/ 3 miles at M pace or something.

highhoppingworm wrote:

3 week taper off of 69 miles max seems like a lot. I would be very worried about actually de-training a bit. I would probably look to peak 4 weeks out with a hard M pace workout of 12-14 miles. 3 weeks I would probably go like 65 with a slightly easier M paced workout, 2 weeks 60ish with even easier M pace workout and week of I would probably run 25-30 excluding the marathon w/ 3 miles at M pace or something.

Yeah i was worried about detraining. Marathon pace workouts happen weekly from the start anyway starting at 3 miles at MP excluding wu and cd miles peaking at 8 miles at MP for 3 weeks straight before the taper where the miles decrease.

I have run one failed marathon so take what I say with a grain of salt. I would not feel comfortable trying to run a marathon on a peak workout of 8 miles @ M pace...

You might want to rethink your plan a bit.

It's a system for me and less of a "peak" workout. So many details I haven't mentioned in the plan including a track interval day different than the MP pace one. I'm confident that it's enough :)

I generally use a 80%, 60%, 40% strategy. I borrowed it from either Pfitzinger or Daniels, can't remember which one.

Week 4: Sunday is last 20+ run, usually around 22-23

Week 3: Roughly 80% of peak mileage, long run around 17-18 miles

Week 2: Roughly 60% of peak mileage, long run around 12-13 miles

Week 1: (Race week) - I do a MAX of 40% of peak mileage for the six days leading up to the race. I never plan this week in advance and only run the way I feel. If I don't feel fresh I will not hesitate to do less miles that day. At this point, you can't do anything to help your race performance but you can do a lot of things that can hurt performance.

trollin' along wrote:

I generally use a 80%, 60%, 40% strategy. I borrowed it from either Pfitzinger or Daniels, can't remember which one.

Week 4: Sunday is last 20+ run, usually around 22-23

Week 3: Roughly 80% of peak mileage, long run around 17-18 miles

Week 2: Roughly 60% of peak mileage, long run around 12-13 miles

Week 1: (Race week) - I do a MAX of 40% of peak mileage for the six days leading up to the race. I never plan this week in advance and only run the way I feel. If I don't feel fresh I will not hesitate to do less miles that day. At this point, you can't do anything to help your race performance but you can do a lot of things that can hurt performance.

This is way closer than the 53 miles the week before race day the other guy suggests.

20% reduction in taper will only lead to being tired at the end,2 weeks before has no impact on your race,in fact you would probably be better doing zero miles than 53,its time to relax and let your body heal.

One thing to add. Keep your eyes on the prize and don't let disappointing races or workouts discourage you.

During my last marathon buildup I did not race for about five months. I decided to do a few races at the end on relatively dead legs just to get into the racing mindset. Three weeks out I did a half marathon at 5500' altitude in 1:36:30 (7:21 pace); two weeks out I did a 10-miler at 5500' in 1:10:20 (7:02 pace); and one week out I did a 5K at 6000' in 20:40 (6:39 pace). Seven days later I did a marathon at sea level in 2:59 (6:49 pace).

Two weeks out I could not hold 7-flat pace for 10 miles; two weeks later I held 6:49 pace for 26 miles. My 10-mile splits were 1:07:08 and 1:07:58. The altitude had some effect but not that much. If you train hard for several months you will have some lingering fatigue during your taper. You may not even feel it until you try a race or hard workout. Despite the crappy races I went to the starting line confident I could break 3:00. You will not magically feel good once you start the taper and this is a good thing. It will help prevent you from overdoing it once you start feeling refreshed. I usually don't feel truly "ready" until the final 5 days or so.

Birkoboy wrote:

I think week 14 should be closer to 40 miles,it adds nothing to your race and could leave you tired,I'd also cap the long run at 10 unless it is early in the week.Race week is about right.

Ditto.

Thanks guys!! It seems that the taper duration i have is about right. I added 4 more miles in race week from 18 to 22 but won't sweat it if I don't feel like it. And i'm making sure to not cut too much of the volume too quickly.