Coopah How To: Nail Your Marathon Taper
Class of ‘25, we’ve made it. It’s now just three weeks until the 2025 TCS London Marathon, which means the hard work has been done, and its now time to start your taper so that you are feeling fresh and raring to go on Sunday 27th April.
But whilst some of you might be breathing a sigh of relief that the finish line is almost in sight, I also know that it can be a tough time for a lot of runners - our minds can go into overdrive, anxiety is sky high and it can feel like all our hard work over the last few months is slipping through our fingers (spoiler alert, it isn’t).
So with that in mind I wanted to share my top tips on how to make these next few weeks feel a bit easier, and ensure you go into race day feeling your best.
WHAT IS IT?
Firstly, for those that don’t know, the taper is that final period ahead of your race where your training load starts to reduce, both in volume and intensity.
This essentially means that those long runs will start to get shorter (you know you have reached ‘that’ stage of marathon training where 10 miles feels like a short run) and also reducing the intensity of your speed workouts, although it is still important to keep some intensity in there.
The reason we do this is basically to allow your body to adapt to all of the training you have been doing over the last few months. But not only that;
It allows your muscles, joints and ligaments to repair and recover so you have fresh legs for race day.
It allows your body to replenish your energy stores, so you can go into race week with a full tank and raring to go.
And perhaps most importantly it allows you to mentally recharge before your race. Marathon training is hard work, and juggling that alongside every day life can be really tough. So the taper is the perfect way to take a bit of a step back and go into the event with a clear mind.
REST IS BEST
The taper is not a time to be taking risks - if you are not feeling 100%, whether its a niggle that has cropped up, or perhaps you are feeling under the weather, I can’t stress this enough, at this stage of marathon training, rest really is best.
I can promise you, there is absolutely no point in pushing yourself over the next few weeks to get the miles in - the work has been done, and nothing you do now will have any real impact on your fitness for race day, but pushing yourself when you really should be resting could have a negative impact.
And do you know what, even if there is ‘nothing wrong’ but perhaps there is a day where you just feel exhausted, guess what - rest is best here too. If you are feeling more tired than usual, this is usually your bodies way of telling you to take a step back, before it forces you to, so it’s always best to listen to it.
Also, if you are managing a bit of a niggle, it is the perfect time to switch out pounding the pavement to using a bike or cross trainer to keep yourself ticking over, whilst not putting any additional load through your body.
NOT JUST RUNNING
Now I know for a lot of you, training for a marathon is more than enough to keep you busy, but if you are someone who also does other training outside of running, then guess what - you need to factor this into your taper too.
For example if you are someone who does a lot of strength training, as we get closer to race day you need to take the same approach with this. Start to reduce the volume - so whether that is the number of reps or sets, and then gradually start to decrease the intensity (weight) too. The last thing you want heading into the marathon is DOMs (delayed onset muscle soreness), in fact by the time we get to race week I would suggest just focusing on bodyweight and mobility exercises.
And if you need any more reason to do this, perhaps you can learn from my mistake. I ended up injuring myself two weeks before the marathon last year from pushing a heavy sled in the gym, which resulted in me having to pull out of the marathon. A mistake I certainly won’t be making this year, that's for sure.
FILL YOUR CUP
Marathon training is not easy, and chances are over the last few months you have had to make a few sacrifices to make sure you can fit in the training, so now that your training load is reducing, it’s the perfect time to make time for those things that perhaps you weren’t able to do before.
And these don’t need to be big events, it could be something as simple as not having to set an early alarm on a Saturday morning, or being able to join your friends for a coffee after parkrun instead of having to go and round up your mileage. Or perhaps it means actually being able to go out in the evening because you’re not exhausted and in bed by 8pm every day (although, personally I love an 8pm bedtime).
Also, by doing things that fill your cup, it will also help you feel loads better mentally during this time and allow you to focus on other things outside of the marathon. And from my experience, going into the race feeling refreshed and relaxed is definitely the way to go, in fact some of my best ever race performances have been those where I have taken this approach.
I know this period can be hard, but just keep reminding yourself of how far you have already come, and that in just three weeks time you will be celebrating crossing that finish line with 56,000 other runners.
You’ve got this!
Coach Jordan x
