Week before a marathon

Oh, c'mon. You look like an experienced runner and have questions like a novice. You should know better than any anonymous poster who might be 4h jogger.

Regardless, keep it easy- the least amount of running you are comfortable with, no hard workouts- maybe one short and really in control one on Wednesday (say 3-4 miles of "quality"-MP), don't over-eat, eat carbohydrates the last 3-4 days- up to 80% of your calorie intake, eat familiar foods, stay relaxed and confident. Sleep a lot, drink water- galons of it. 36 hours before the start, try to avoid food with too much fibre- you don't want to shit yourself on 20th mile. Skip lentils, dairy and too much veggies. Have a beer the night before, if you're used to it.

The last really long run should be no closer than 21 days before the 'thon. Do one 14-15 miler 14 days out, it won't hurt you. All hard running should be limited to 10 miles in volume/for any particular session 3 weeks out. Keep the frequency of your runs, but shorten them. Don't cut more than to 65% of the previous highest volume the week before the last. The final week was already mentioned.

I had run my best when I did over 60miles( including the race) in the final week. I was feeling stiff and out of shape when I did less, but thats highly subjective.

It's just plain silly to give hard and fast rules, as only experience will tell you what'll work for you.

Personally, I find tapering too much doesn't work at all for me.

I prepared for my best marathon in this fahion:

- last long run: two weeks before the race

- last speed sessions: 6x1K on the Tuesday before the race, pretty much flat out, but still in control. Then, 40mins tempo run on the Thursday at half-marathon pace

- the day before the race, 30 mins jog, including a K in 2:58

- Total mileage in the last week (not including the race): 60M

As you can see, all these seem to contradict the previous poster's guidelines... Yet 5 previous marathons taught me what would work for me and, with PRs of 15:36 for 5K and 32:10 for 10K, I think I came pretty close to my max ability on the marathon when I ran 2H24...

My philosophy is also, contrary to what most people would suggest, to try and set PRs for 10K, 10M and the half-marathon in the course of my preparation. I am usually in my best shape ever when I prepare for a marathon (as I don't usually train that much), and at lest, if things go badly in the marathon, I'll have other PRs to show for all the hard work.

Just my two pence's worth of advice...

Pretty much agree with 2H24Jogger... find out what works for you...

If you try to follow somebody else's formula, you'll end up performing sub par. The mental aspect is as important as anything else. If you've tried and tested your formula and believe in it, then switching to someone else's system is not likely to yield great results.