How to Taper for a Half Marathon

A taper is a period of time in which you reduce the intensity and amount of training you do leading up to an important event. For a half marathon, you should consider tapering in the two weeks prior to race day.

When you train, you are putting stress on your body. This stress is only useful if you allow your body the rest it needs to adapt and grow stronger. When you are out on a long run or doing a hard workout, you are not actually getting any stronger in that moment. Instead, you are providing your body with the stimulus it needs so that it can rebuild itself stronger during periods of recovery.

What this means is that after increasing your mileage and maybe incorporating some speedwork in preparation for your half marathon, you need to allow your body a period of time to adapt and gain the benefits of all the hard work you've put in. At the same time, you definitely do not want to lose any fitness. The goal is to keep your legs fresh without becoming a complete couch potato. This balance of allowing adequate recovery and maintaining fitness is where the magic of the taper comes into play.

Most runners will get the most benefit out of a 10 - 14 day taper. To determine the start day of your taper, you can count backwards from race day by this many days. Exactly how long you taper for and the specifics of what it entails will vary between individuals depending on fitness and experience, among other factors. If this is your first time tapering, we recommend you begin with a full two week taper.

The longest run of your training should occur about 14 days out from your half marathon. This will probably be about 16 - 18 kilometres long but will vary depending on the plan you're following.

You will begin your taper after this long run, but your training should not change too drastically. Instead, you will want to think of decreasing your mileage and intensity to about 60% of what you did in your biggest week.

• Your total weekly mileage should be about 60% of what your biggest week was. Don't decrease the number of runs you do, just make each run shorter.
• If you have been doing any weekly intensity (speedwork) runs, you should still do this workout - but decrease the amount of time you spend running hard so that it's only about 60% of what you would normally do.

Your main goal this week is to keep your legs loose and fresh while keeping energy levels high and your mind calm. Your total weekly mileage should drop to about 40% of what you did in your biggest week (not including the mileage of the race).

• Decrease your mileage to 40% of what you did in your biggest week, not including race day.
• If you normally include intensity, you can incorporate a couple efforts about 5 days out from race day. If you do not normally do speedwork, do not start now!
• Use your extra time to focus on getting race day logistics dialed in, eating good quality nutrition, and enjoying the experience!