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Craig Green
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« on: January 28, 2008, 04:30:42 pm » |
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I have a friend that I train with who is running the Hunington Beach 1/2 Marathon this Sunday. She is consistently running 35-40 miles a week: about 6 miles 4 times during the week and then another 10-16 miles on Saturday, with 2 days off (typically Friday and Sunday). She is trying to gear up to 60 miles/week for a spring marathon such as Ogden or San Diego Rock/Roll, so this is a good race to test fitness.
Anyway, she asked me today what to do in terms of tapering. I told her to go easy the last 3 days before the race, meaning just run lightly on those days to keep things loose. I am wondering if this is accurate.
She is about a 3:40 marathoner and 1:40 half-marathoner.
Any thoughts on tapering for the 1/2 marathon?
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Sasha Pachev
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« Reply #1 on: January 28, 2008, 04:46:31 pm » |
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I'd say forget the taper. You should taper if:
* You are sick and tired of training and you need a reason for a break.
* You really have something serious to prove at that race that is worth sacrificing the next one.
* It is a marathon.
* Your weekly mileage is high enough to make it so that cutting back does not result in a severe loss of aerobic fitness. I would put that number at no less than 50 a week. In other words, if a taper means less than 40 miles a week, do not taper at all.
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Michelle Lowry
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« Reply #2 on: January 28, 2008, 06:38:44 pm » |
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I would think that since this is not a key race, and she is planning on ramping up her miles, that she does not need to taper for this one. She can just make sure that she takes one of her two days off the day before the race, and to not run a speed workout two days out, and that would be enough precaution against wasting the race opportunity. I ran very sore my two marathons this summer, with hard workouts two days out from them, and did well in both.
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Jon Allen
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« Reply #3 on: January 28, 2008, 07:42:58 pm » |
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If she wants some taper, a mini 2 day taper like Michelle hinted at is good. Just take the last 2 or 3 days easier than normal.
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Paul Petersen
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« Reply #4 on: January 28, 2008, 08:28:38 pm » |
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Another way to do it is to keep total mileage the same, but split it into two runs. That will give the body a bit of a break, but still keep the training volume steady.
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Sean Sundwall
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« Reply #5 on: January 28, 2008, 09:16:08 pm » |
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Don't taper. I wouldn't run hard or super long the two days leading up to the race but don't taper.
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Craig Green
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« Reply #6 on: January 28, 2008, 10:27:22 pm » |
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Good advice, everyone. It looks like the general consensus is not to taper. I have passed the word along. It will be interesting to see how things go.
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James Winzenz
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« Reply #7 on: January 29, 2008, 08:37:53 am » |
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I would agree with that as well - I am running a 1/2 marathon this weekend as well, and although my overall mileage will be down a little bit (with the 1/2 as well as a warmup, I will probably have about 45 miles this week, instead of about 50), I am only planning on making the runs leading up to the 1/2 easy runs to make sure I am fresh.
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