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Taper
Well I made a mistake when booking warmup races. I got my dates mixed up and the Half I booked (Fleet) is 4 weeks out from the Paris marathon (My first). I thought it was 5 weeks out.
I'm trying to work out how to best taper my long runs. Currently doing about 35-40 a week. My longest run thus far is 18m (Sunday just gone)
Presently, I am planned to do this:
8 weeks out: Longleat 10k (This sunday)
7 weeks out: 20m
6 weeks out: 22m
5 weeks out: 16m
4 weeks out: Fleet Half
3 weeks out: 22m
2 weeks out: 10m
1 week out: 13m (Local Half - already signed up for before I signed up for Paris - treating as an LSR)
Race
The problem is, the Fleet half is actually 3 weeks out! So my proposed changes are as follows:
8 weeks out: Longleat 10k (This sunday)
7 weeks out: 20m
6 weeks out: 22m
5 weeks out: 16m
4 weeks out: 22m
3 weeks out: Fleet Half
2 weeks out: 16m
1 week out: 13m (Local Half - already signed up for before I signed up for Paris - treating as an LSR)
Race
My concern is that my longest run is 4 weeks out, and I'm sure its meant to be 3 weeks out. Will this make a difference? I've made the 2 week out long run a bit longer to make up for it but I'm concerned about that distance in the taper.
Any advice or recommendations?
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Comments
Quite a simple answer from me Matty. Don't run it flat out. Marathon pace at the most. People who race that close to their marathon tend to have one good race. The warm-up one or the marathon. Which one do you want to run well?
Could you do the Fleet half and then tack on some miles afterwards to make it up to a 22 mile run for the day, so no need to change your schedule?
Like the idea of tacking extra miles on after the fleet half though. How much do you reckon? Will topping up to 18 be enough?
If you're running the Fleet half at marathon pace, I would probably do a couple of miles slow warm up before the half, run the half at marathon pace and then maybe 5 slow miles afterwards, so you get a total of 20 for the day...
I quite like that - it's win win! Cheers
Blimey, looks like I've actually given some helpful advice! Maybe I have actually learnt a thing or two in the 5 years since I started running...
Indeed!
I read somewhere that getting in 4-5 x 20+ milers was good for Mara training, and it also fulfils that objective I was struggling to work into the schedule, AND it means every 3rd week is lower mileage. Only 8 weeks to go til I find out how successful it is.
Yeah, I've read a few times that you longest 5 runs should add up to 100 miles, but don't think I was anywhere near that for my first, although I went from nothing to my first marathon in 6 months, so was just happy to get round without stopping...
Have you got a target time in mind, or just happy to get round and know that it'll be a PB?