Running Coach and 'WSER Queen', Meghan Canfield, talks us through the wisdom and tips on the taper before race day.
Congratulations! You’ve made to the taper. You have followed the training plan close to perfectly. You are strong, healthy, and ready to go the distance. But there are still 2 weeks to go! What to do!
It is time to rest, recover, and absorb all that training, i.e., taper, but it too, requires a plan. Without one, you risk jeopardising your performance that you’ve worked so hard towards.
What does a taper look like? It comes in many shapes and sizes, just as your training did, and needs to be specific for you and the distance of your event. A few broad generalizations are to reduce volume by a significant percentage (I like to use 40-50%) starting 2 weeks before the race but keep the percentage of intensity the same. Having some speed work during the taper keeps your legs ready for a faster pace. Strength training can continue for this week, but also, lose a set or two.
On the final week, reduce volume once again by another 40-60% of last week, and skip the strength training. At this point, if you didn’t run a step, it is doubtful that it will harm your race, although it may take a little time to get warmed up, so at a minimum get out for 20-30 minutes a few days, peppered with some short strides. Much of the running you do this week is to keep yourself from going bananas, worrying that you’re going to be out of shape by running less – all kinds of irrational thoughts can creep in. Fitness doesn’t decline in that short of a period of time, but the risk of going in tired is real if you don’t taper.
Besides reducing volume, all of life’s other obligations need to be put on hold. Just because you have extra time does not mean you should use it putting in your garden, shovelling gravel, or playing pickleball for the first time. Instead, read that book you’ve been dying to get to, call your mom, and allow yourself to sleep in.
What and how much you eat this week is also critical (as it is in training). Don’t cut back on calories because you’re not running as much. Keep eating normally, focusing on quality carbohydrates and plenty of fluids. As you store more glycogen you might feel a little spongy, but that is a superpower on race day. Just imagine your muscles storing more and more during the week, ready to bust one out on race day. Throw away the bathroom scale.
During your months of training, you have hopefully figured out what shoes work best, and you have a pair with low mileage on them. You have found the perfect hydration pack and practiced using trekking poles. Your clothing doesn’t chafe when it gets wet. You have dialled your nutrition and know what the race is offering and made adjustments to account for any products that don’t work for you. You packed your extra CurraNZ® to take every 4 hours during the event. You have worked out whether you need to use drop bags and roughly calculated how much time you will take between aid stations. If a headlamp is needed, you have charged it and have packed spare batteries – and you know how to turn it on. You have studied the weather forecast and have accounted for variations between weather apps. If you don’t sleep well the night before the race, accept it and move on. It isn’t likely to affect your race. On the morning of the race give yourself enough time to eat, digest, and use the loo.
Finally, be kind to yourself. If nervousness and performance anxiety push their way into your psyche, practice slow deep breathing and remind yourself that this is what you do for fun, and it is a privilege to be able to do so. Look around at all the other competitors and know that you belong to a special set of humans, willing to put in time and energy, to explore the world on foot, creating lasting memories.