
How to Nail Your Marathon or Ultramarathon Taper
Just over a week ago, I ran the Hellbender 100 mile ultramarathon.
Now, I could talk for hours about the race experience, but today, I want to focus on the days leading up to the race.
The two weeks when everything begins to shift from build-up to wind-down.
It’s called tapering. And if you’ve followed any sort of training plan for a longer distance race, chances are you know exactly what I’m talking about.
Tapering seems like an easy enough concept — reduce your training to rest up for race day.
And at its core, that’s all it is. But like with anything in running, dig a little deeper and you discover there’s a way you can do it that will maximize its effects and leave you better prepared for race day.
Over the past several years of coaching runners to their first marathons and ultramarathons, I’ve noticed people come in with a lot of incorrect expectations about tapering. You know…
Then, I get to eat vegan pizza and drink beer for two weeks straight-type of expectations.
So before I get into what a proper taper should look like, let’s go ahead and get this out of the way…
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