Taper Weeks for Upcoming Races & Training Plan Critique

Hi all,

I'm new around here & am looking for some advice about 2 upcoming races that are fairly close together with regards to tapering.

The first is a 5 mile on the 19th August & the second is a 10k on the 1st September. From my understanding ordinarily for a single race I'd cut my mileage by roughly 50% , but i was just wondering how to go about tapering with 2 races so close together. Would I taper for the first race, go up to normal mileage for the following week and then taper again?

In terms of my running history I used to run all of my runs flat out with a weekly mileage of 10-12 6/7 years ago (which is when I last raced!!). Since last racing my training has been inconsistent with weekly mileage varying from 0- 8 miles for several now.

Around 3 months ago I decided to get back into running more seriously & have spent hours researching training plans & the best ways of avoiding injury. I started off running 10 miles a week and have gradually built up to my current weekly mileage, which is 24/25.

My current schedule looks like this:

Day 1- Club track focused session (400m, 800m, 1000m repeats etc) (4 miles)
Day 2 (5 miles easy)
Day 3 (5 miles easy)
Day 4 (0.5 mile easy, Park run at Tempo pace 0.5 mile easy) (Every 4th park run I run all out to try to get a PB)
Day 5 (6.5 mile long run)

(I also add strides into 1/2 easy/long runs depending on how fresh i feel that week)

I know in an ideal world I would have 2 back to back easy sessions but with park run on Saturday, my long run on a Sunday & my club night on a Monday it seems unavoidable, unless I do a mid week long run, which I don't really want to do.

I also do 3 weight training sessions a week (1 of which is leg focused).

Due to the current hot weather my easy pace miles are ran anywhere between 10- 11:30 m/mile pace as i use heart rate as a guide.
Tempo run 07:33 regardless of HR (using Jack Daniels VDOT tables)
Club sessions are done by feel.

Recent Park Run PB- 22:14, although I ran a 21:40 last year.

My concern is having such a large gap between my slower end easy pace and my tempo pace, although in the current heat I feel if I push closer to 10 m/mile pace the easy run turns into more of an up-tempo, which is not really desired. Please help!!!

If people could offer their opinions on my current plan it would be greatly appreciated. Realistically I think I will stop increasing my weekly mileage at 30 due to time constraints. When I do this will I continue to see benefits in terms of my race times as at this point I will not be increasing mileage or intensity?

I hope this isn't too much of an information overload!!

Any help/ advice would be greatly appreciated!!