How do you like to taper for a marathon?

I've been following this pattern for so long that I can't remember where I first saw it. It might have been Pfitzinger's book but I'm not sure.

3 weeks out: 80% of maximum mileage

2 weeks out: 60% of maximum mileage

Race week: 40% of maximum mileage (Mon-Sat, assuming a Sunday race)

If I take a rest day, which I rarely do, it is always on Friday. I actually like to run easy the day before rather than taking it off.

Keep the quality but reduce it's volume by roughly the same percentages as above.

highhoppingworm wrote:

Just curious as to how people approach the period leading up to the taper and the taper itself.

I am admittedly very inexperienced at the distance but for this go-around I am following this rule on 70-80 miles a week.

-3-5 weeks out are high mileage week with lots of hard long runs/workouts

-2 weeks out cut mileage 5% or so with a harder workout 10 days out and a lighter workout 7 days out

-Week of aim to run the same mileage as the previous week (including the race) and do a very light workout to to get some turnover 4 days out

Everything I've read indicates you need to cut mileage more than 5% per week, for optimal performance. Some rare people may do better with that, but I don't think it's the norm.

I do a structured 3 week taper, cutting mileage 15-20% each week, keeping workout intensity the same. For my current cycle (race, early March) I plan to do:

Peak week: 85 miles

Taper wk 1: 70 miles

Taper wk 2: 54 miles

Race week: 36 miles + race (26.2)

(Pfitz 70-85, 18 wk)

Sometimes I cut extra mileage out in the 3-4 days before the race if I feel like I need it. Some of my best races were when I ran very, very little in the 3-5 days prior to racing.

Exercise physiologists will tell you that as long as you've trained consistently leading up to your taper, you'll gain much more from the rest in performance (+3%) than you'll lose in detraining (minus 0-1%).

Calculate what a 2-3% improvement in your total marathon time is. It's big.

Do a good taper. It really does work.

I've come to not really believe in a hard taper. Very easy to screw it up, and I don't buy the supposed big improvements. Especially see this with people who peak at 50 mpw and basically don't run the final week, then run horribly.

Instead, I taper the long runs and hard workouts starting 3 weeks out, with a serious volume taper only 3-4 days out. So it looks like Full volume, 85% volume, 50% volume (excluding the race)

GettingFasterDude wrote:

Peak week: 85 miles

Taper wk 1: 70 miles

Taper wk 2: 54 miles

Race week: 36 miles + race (26.2)

(Pfitz 70-85, 18 wk)

That looks like where I got my taper from. I thought it was Pfitzinger. Those percentages are 82%, 63%, 42%, which is almost identical to what I do.

Marathon 1: 83, 64, 51, 19 + 26.2. Last big long run 3 weeks out. Last hard MP workout 17 days out. Some MP and maintenance work up until 1 week out. MP strides every few days during race week. I ran around 2:53:30 (certified but pancake flat course)

Marathon 2: 90, 62, 66, 36, 16 + 26.2. Last big long run 18 days out. Last moderate MP work 12 days out. MP strides during race week. I ran 2:58 on a non-legit, downhill course at altitude.

Marathon 3: 73, 54, 25 + 10K race, 47, 10, 26.2. Last big long run 4 weeks out. Last big MP session a few days after that. Last moderate MP work 9 days out. Almost no running in the week before the marathon due to travel. I ran 2:53 at Boston.

So I've gotten decent to good results both from highly controlled tapers and from just adapting to whatever the race and travel schedule demand. In general I've done well with a big taper, but my marathon training has included big workouts followed by plenty of recovery. If you're 48-52 and have running physiology and a training pattern like mine, it might work for you, too.

For me: Biggest mileage weeks are from 4-8 weeks out. 3 weeks out is still a long run with some quality. 2.5 weeks out is a threshold workout with decent volume. 2 weeks out is 30k/2 hours. Up to you on if you need quality or not at that point. 10 days out is a 6 mile tempo or 12k progression. Easy 12-14 1 week out. 4-5 days out 5k of work -- can be threshold or right at goal marathon pace. Ok with it being straight or broken up.

From 3-2 weeks out: ~85-90% volume. From 2 weeks to 1 week out ~70% volume. Race week is something like 30-40 miles then the race so maybe 50-60% volume including the race.