Advice on final weeks of training

[Mike Davis]

Prior to my injury I was running 60+mpw for several months.
Since September when I got off the crutches I've been just running whatever feels good in both speed and distance coupled with lots of days off. This progressed to 3 months of 30mpw(Dec-Feb), 1 month at 40mpw and now I'm looking at 50mpw for the final few weeks before the Eugene marathon. I'll also have the opportunity for a few high altitude runs two weeks from now while I'm on a motorcycle trip.
How long should I taper for this marathon? Or should I consider just running through it? I've done pretty well so far just taking 2 days off before the resolution series races. I PR'd in every distance, although my margin of improvement did shrink in each race as the distance increased.

[Jon Allen]

Mike- given that your previous races were on 60+ mpw, and you're just coming back from injury and are at lower mileage, I don't think you should taper much or expect a PR.  Taking 2 easy days before the race would still help, though, and be sure to come back slowly to not re-injure yourself.  Best of luck.

[Mike Davis]

Thanks Jon. I appreciate the input, but I think the details of my message may have been a little unclear. I have actually PR'd in 5, 10, 15, and 20k since my injury. I took over a minute off my 5k time in January while still recovering at 30mpw.
I've been running/recovering for 7 months now and I'm feeling stronger and faster than ever. My marathon PR is only 3:47 so I think it's safe to assume I will see another PR in Eugene, and if conditions are good, I plan on finishing under 3:20.
I've never done a proper "taper" before a marathon and I want to go into this one as strong and ready as possible.

[Jon Allen]

Ah, now I see.  Yes, if you want a proper taper... I would suggest reading the recent posts to Todd.  Then do what you feel is best.

[Mike Davis]

The link you posted on the Todd's thread came up empty. I did a search though and read several posts on tapering. It seems to me that my best bet would be to continue at 50mpw for the next three weeks and drop that to 40-45 the week before the race while keeping the intensity up. Since my two days of rest before race day has been working so far I will probably do that too, although it doesn't seem very popular.

[Jon Allen]

Mike- sounds good.  If it works for you in the past, keep doing it.  I think, except for injury, too much taper is not any better than too little.  Assuming, of course, that you don't go hog wild and really increase your training the last 2 weeks before your race.

[Sasha Pachev]

I like Jon's original idea of only 2 easy days before the race better. Dropping to 40 miles a week from 50 will have more of a hit on aerobic capacity than the extra fuel it will provide.

[Mike Davis]

I skipped my long run the week prior to race week and did 5 10's instead. I had planned on 30 miles during the early part of race week with 2 days rest before raceday and only managed to get in 2 10's, mon and thurs because of travel and bad weather.
Fri and sat were rest days as planned. I ended up exceeding my goal by 4 minutes and getting the BQ I was after. In hindsight I think I could have even shaved 5 minutes off that by talking less and eating more during the race. Not that I would change anything about this particular race. I am a very happy Boston bound blogger.
Thanks for FRB Sasha! I would not have achieved my goal without it.