Monday, October 12, 2009

Are you Tapering?

Congratulations on your training and hard work. You are in the home stretch towards a Marine Corps Marathon finish. In this home stretch, Tapering comes to mind.


Tapering


Tapering is the practice of greatly reducing your training load prior to the marathon. With less than two weeks to go before your marathon, you should already be tapering. Any run longer than 10 miles will most likely work against you at this point.


Tapering allows your muscles and soft tissue to fully recover before they have to propel you through your marathon at the best pace possible. There is scientific evidence showing that tapering yields large gains in performance, in addition to much anecdotal evidence. This is not to say someone should stop training altogether.


Cut the training load (distance and intensity) by at least half on the first week, and then cut it again the second week. When you do train, make them short sessions of high intensity. For example, a 2 to 5 mile run at a notch above your target marathon pace. This maintains the heart and leg muscle conditioning and does not create new muscle injuries from longer distances.


The biggest obstacle to tapering is going to be the mind. The mind of a runner screams at not running. And this makes runners grumpy. Still, tapering is well worth the sacrifice.


My favorite source for information on the science of running is Dr. Tim Noke’s Lore of Running. This Google Books link shows the book; search on Tapering for more information.

http://books.google.com/books?id=wAa9qq9kbncC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false


Try Runner’s World for other information about tapering: http://www.runnersworld.com/


Run less, and I'll see you at the race!


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