How to manage your taper
What I've learned & how I approach things.
In the last article I talked about how I changed my taper approach between UTMB 2023 and CCC 2024. In this article I'd like to dive deeper into the taper. Discussing how you can adjust your taper to get the most out of yourself come race day.
There's a general rule for tapering: Gradually reduce training volume by 30-50% each week during the final 2-3 weeks leading into race day. This reduction allows the body to recover, rebuild, and recharge, to set yourself up to ‘peak’ for race day.
But general is what it is, very general...
There are other things to consider to get you ready:
Individualising the Taper
Every athlete responds differently to tapering, so the process must be personalised. Some athletes thrive with a sharp reduction in training, while others need more frequent, light runs to maintain sharpness. Factors like age, training history, injury history, and stress tolerance will all influence how an athlete adapts to a taper.
Race History: To give your all in a race you need to show up both physically and mentally. A hard race can really take it out of you. If you do manage to pull up and get into training then it may be the case that a longer taper into the next race is needed. This is of course speaking from experience which was a massive take-away from what I learnt between Western States and UTMB the previous year (as talked about in the previous Substack article).
Training history: Athletes with a large aerobic base may benefit from a longer taper (up to three weeks) compared to those newer to endurance running who might only need 10-14 days.
Length of build: Similar to training history, but focused on the most recent block of training leading into a key event. A long build can require a longer taper to freshen up. This is opposed to a shorter build where the body is still readily absorbing training and the taper can be left closer to the event.
Age and recovery: Older athletes typically require longer recovery times and may benefit from a more extended taper with less intensity in the final week.
External stressors: Work, life and general stress play a massive part in the whole freshening up for race day equation. This really needs to be taken into account when tapering. Not to mention warding off the taper flu (a flu like symptoms that may pop up as your body goes into restoring itself and the immune system becomes compromised).
Concentrate on sleep, good nutrition and putting in place practices to destress.
The Balance Between Volume and Intensity
Reducing training volume is essential, but how much should intensity drop? While mileage should be significantly reduced, intensity is usually maintained to keep the legs primed. Ultramarathon runners can benefit from maintaining some higher-effort, shorter sessions within their taper.
Why intensity matters: Keeping intensity in the taper preserves coordination and keeps the body race-ready. However, the intensity should not cause undue fatigue—short intervals or strides can be enough to maintain sharpness without burnout.
Keep up mobility work: Like the reduction in running volume, you will likely be reducing strength work, usually about 10 days out. But with the reduced strength work and training load, your body may stiffen up as the muscles repair themselves and elasticity decreases. Therefore keep up mobility with dynamic stretches, easy exercises, even yoga, if that’s what you’re into.
Psychological Effect of Doing Less
Some people respond better to a taper than others. I believe the trick to a taper is to just embrace it. Some people begin to worry about losing fitness and your brain can start to play tricks on you. It can be normal to become hyper aware of how your body feels. Small aches or tightness that might have gone unnoticed in the thick of training can now feel more prominent. If this is you, try to lean into a positive mindset that the taper is needed and will work.
Trust the process: You’ve already done the work. Remind yourself that this phase is part of the recovery cycle. Engage in relaxation and activities that calm you, sleep more and try to reduce mental stress. Know that when race day rolls around you will be ready.
Listen to the Body
In my opinion the best thing you can do three weeks out from your event is reflect on how you're feeling. Listen to Your Body, Not the Plan. The most critical element of tapering is the ability to listen to your body. While a coach may outline a detailed tapering plan, it’s essential to adapt based on how you feel day to day.
You should consider how your training has felt over the last few days to a week. How are energy levels, motivation levels, stress levels? If motivation is low but everything else high. It may be time to button things off. Have that conversation with your coach or with yourself.
If your training has gone well, you're going to get a lot more benefit from turning up to the race well-rested, than half-cooked.
That is a key take away and it will show in your results, especially your consistency of results.
It’s not an exact science and there’ll be plenty of learning along the way. But the goal is always to give the best account of yourself on race day. That means having a good helicopter view of your entire preparation but also being able to be really aware of how you feel in that last 2-3 weeks.
Happy training, happy tapering, happy racing.
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