Half-Marathon Taper
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jhudalla posted 1 year ago.
How has your training progressed? What kind of running background do you have?
Weary is the path that does not challenge.
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Brad Nicholson posted 1 year ago.
i'm a long time competitive runner who runs 30-35 miles a week in training (5mi in intervals, 8 miles at race pace, 6 miles at tempo, and longer weekend runs of up to 2.5 hours).
i always feel that in my taper i either go too hard or too little and leave myself knowing that i could have ran harder.
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jsk85 posted 1 year ago.
I don't run at that volume, so I can't give you specifics...but the idea of a taper is to feel like you're doing too little, or going too easy. There should be easy training to help the muscles stay loose and really without breaking them down much anymore.
I'd probably do some shorter runs with race-pace intervals (400s or so) thrown in to get the HR up, but wouldn't push too hard.
I was always told, you know a taper is working if you're basically antsy and are just dying to get out and push a hard workout. You need patience and discipline to fight this urge, but the payoff raceday is worth it.
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jhudalla posted 1 year ago.
I'd say 2 weeks out take your long run down to 1 hr, 1 week out skip the long run all together and bring the intensity down on the runs of the week - doing nothing after wednesday other than a short 2-mile tempo run if you must. If you've been putting in that amount of work, you just need to trust your training and let your body rest and recover before the race.
Weary is the path that does not challenge.
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724 days
Brad Nicholson posted 1 year ago.
jdhulla, thanks for the advice. i always feel that i cock up the taper and it affects my race. i am going to do two more long runs, a 15 and 20, before i start my taper two weeks out.
What is the ideal 7-10 day taper for the half marathon? thoughts?