Marathon taper

[Deleted User]

I'm doing a marathon in just under 3 weeks. Completed 20 miles on Sunday, so now into the taper.

Having stuck to a novice training schedule fairly well, I'm now filled with doubts about the next 3 weeks.

I know to really cut back on the training, but some advice says to continue or even increase speedwork to keep sharp, whilst others say to do all runs easy.

Advice please!?

Hilly

What does your novice training plan say to do? If you've stuck with it thus far I'd follow through on the taper and forget what others are telling you!

There's a few ways to taper, the main thing is to not overdo things at this stage-all the work is done!

[Deleted User]

I've been doing the Hal Higdon novice schedule which says just keep the pace easy.

I'm sure you're right Hilly - I've stuck with the schedule so far and should continue to do so - I guess I'm just feeling anxious about whether I've done enough. This is all very new territory for me!

Hilly

Feeling nervous is natural and so is feeling you aren't doing enough running during the taper. Don't be tempted to do another session though just for that reason. It's the worst time of marathon training! I always feel I've lost fitness and am feeling fat from trying to eat enough in the days leading into the marathon.

Keep to your schedule, you have nothing to lose. As you say it's all new to you, so try to enjoy it and then analyse after.

Hope you have a good marathon-which one are you doing?

[Deleted User]

Its the Medoc Marathon - the mad one with 21 wine tasting 'dégustations' en-route.

I've followed the advice about consuming in training what you plan to consume in the race - surprisingly a couple of v. small glasses of red wine, taken with lots of water, doesn't seem to have an adverse effect. No plans to try all 21 though!

Hilly

Definitely sounds a 'fun' marathon to do, but agree 21 glasses might just be a tad too much!:o)

[Deleted User]

Sounds like my (hic!) kind of marathon STs. Not a lot you can do now to add to your fitness - the groundwork should all have been done. In fact by continuing to train hard you increase the risk of injury hence the importance of tapering back (reducing distances and intensity) to allow the body to be as fresh and repaired as it can be for the big day. Agree with Hilly that you should stick to the schedule you've been following as everything you've done will have been centred around this. If you decide to run more marathons in the future you can learn to adapt a schedules to fit in more with your own requirements and preferences. Good luck in your first marathon.

FiWiA

I have a question - it's my first marathon on 3rd October (Cardiff) and I've been training well. After ITB probs during my last marathon training (London) causing me to pull out this is my first one.

I have a 350 mile cycle ride to do between 6th and 11th September which takes a week out and my quandry is this. The 12th September is the Bristol Half. Should I run it as hard as I can (legs allowing) or should I do it at marathon pace, so in 2hrs?

Then should i taper? Basically, I'm panicking that I'm missing a week of running in exchange for cycling. Help!

[Deleted User]

M - that's unfortunate timing. The cycling might be considered useful low impact cross training (you'll be using different muscles but still maintaining cardiovascular fitness) although you still need to have those all important longer duration/endurance runs behind you. If you race the 1/2M it will leave you very little time (less than 3 weeks) to recover and fit in that all important last long effort before entering the tapering phase. If the marathon is important to you (more important than the 1/2M) I'd consider running the 1/2M at or near to marathon pace and then after a day or so of running at recovery pace you then fit in your final long run. This should allow a minimum of 14+ days in which to taper for marathon day.