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Taper for a Half Marathon? (Read 12495 times)


Man in Tights

    I'm running a HM Sunday after next.

    Question is what distance do I run next Sunday.

    Hal Higdon suggests a 12 mile which  thinks a bit strenuous. 

    I've done five12 mile+ runs over the last month or so and feel I'm ready. I was thinking more in terms of a 10 mile just to maintain form.


    Advice is welome




    harkath


      The question is how many miles per week are you running now? 12 miles is okay to run SLOW  before a half as long as you cut back on your other mileage in the week.
      L Train


        10, 12, it probably doesn't make too much difference.  I don't really believe in a HM taper, and I've always done best when I run relatively long the week before.  I'd be more inclined to go with 12, assuming you are otherwise healthy.  And I personally wouldn't cut back the other mileage in the week, except for the day ot two before.

         

        WMRunner


          I agree that it doesn't make much difference if you plan to go 10 instead of the recommended 12.  Your goal is to be fresh on race day, so simply put, don't run farther than you need to in order to achieve your goal. 

           

          If it were me I would probably run about 90 min with about 60 min at goal race pace.  Then I would run Tuesday and Thursday....about 4 miles each day, with half of those miles at goal race pace.  Then, on Saturday a very easy 3 miles or so.

           

            Narsi,  I asked this same question before a HALF Marathon a few months ago and got some great responses that you might be intereted in..

             

            http://www.runningahead.com/forums/topic/c54c57567d0842b6b9f81e4b62bba79b

             

            I didn't taper enough and I think I had a pretty bad HALF Marathon as a result.   A few weeks later I ran a second Half Marathon and ran a much better race because had a better taper and felt I was rested and ready to do...so here is what I did for my second Half Marathon (for what little it might be worth -- but it worked a lot better for me for the second Half Marathon).

             

            I ran 10 miles at an easy pace on Sunday.  

             

            The week before the Half Marathon I cut my mileage in half......if i normally ran 6miles for a day, then I ran 3 and all at an easy pace...Last two days before the race, I only ran 2 miles each day.......however during the week, I would throw in a few striders just to remind the legs about faster running.

             

            This was the strategy I used for my second Half marathon and it worked pretty well for me...

             

            NOW I have only run 3 Half Marathons in the last 3 or 4 years so take my advice with a grain of salt, but this strategy worked pretty well for me the second time around after really blowing it a few weeks prior by not really tapering much.....

             

            Champions are made when no one is watching

              Age old question and there is no one answer for all. 

               

              I looked at your log and you run an avg of 30+ (low end of 30) miles a week with your longest being 12-13 miles.  I would say that running 12 is too long the week before your race. 

               

              But you know your body better than the rest of us, so listen to it, know what your recovery is.

               

              I did 2 HMs this past year.  The first one I followed a taper plan from one of the books and ran terrbily, had tapered way too much.  The 2nd I semi-followed a more expereinced plan, but actually ran more miles and with more intensity but switched a couple of days,  I like to run the day before I race. I knocked 4 minutes off my time in bad weather conditions 

               

              So review the advice, but put it into perspective of knowing your own body.

               

              Larry

               

              PS -  By the way, if you go into the groups section and look it up, there is a group of us that keep in touch.  It's called  Half Marathon Trainers

              LPH

              "Today I broke my record for most consecutive days lived!"

              runnerclay


              Consistently Slow

                10, 12, it probably doesn't make too much difference.  I don't really believe in a HM taper, and I've always done best when I run relatively long the week before.  I'd be more inclined to go with 12, assuming you are otherwise healthy.  And I personally wouldn't cut back the other mileage in the week, except for the day ot two before.

                Advice from anyone running 200+ miles a week  should be taken with a grain of salt. Your mileage is close to mine.  I tapered for a half and beat my predicted time. Enjoy the run.

                Run until the trail runs out.

                 SCHEDULE 2016--

                 The pain that hurts the worse is the imagined pain. One of the most difficult arts of racing is learning to ignore the imagined pain and just live with the present pain (which is always bearable.) - Jeff

                unsolicited chatter

                http://bkclay.blogspot.com/


                SMART Approach

                  9-10 w/ 4-5 miles at goal pace effort at your miles per week. This should be your last tough work out. I generally run my last long run 9-12 days before half marathon race and do some goal pace work 7 days out.

                  Run Coach. Recovery Coach. Founder of SMART Approach Training, Coaching & Recovery

                  Structured Marathon Adaptive Recovery Training

                  Safe Muscle Activation Recovery Technique

                  www.smartapproachtraining.com

                    Advice from anyone running 200+ miles a week  should be taken with a grain of salt.

                     

                    Now that's funny.  Only or RA does having more experience make a person's advice have less perceived value.

                    Runners run

                      Advice from anyone running 200+ miles a week  should be taken with a grain of salt. Your mileage is close to mine.  I tapered for a half and beat my predicted time. Enjoy the run.

                       

                      I dont follow the logic here at all.  The people that have the most experience and run the most are usually the people with the best advice............If I were you I would listen to the 200+ MPW people (and take the 30 MPW people's advice with a grain of salt)....

                       

                      I would also take this quoted advice with a grain of salt......

                      Champions are made when no one is watching

                      xor


                        I don't taper for halves.  And I pulled two half PRs this year and felt strong in both.  I would be completely comfortable running 12 a week before running 13.1.  If anything, I might take it a bit easier *for a couple days* before the race.

                         

                        Couple of things for perspective: Taper can mean reducing your weekly miles and/or your long run.  The long run piece of that equation is a bigger deal for people going longer than a half.

                         

                        Now... I also don't taper for many fulls... but the difference is that I accept I'm not doing it "right" for a full and I do taper for fulls I plan on racing traditionally.

                         

                        (in fact, my two half PRs came six days apart.  Meaning, that second PR was set six days after running a 13.1 all out.  I did not spontaneously combust and ran it faster.  However, this is where taking advice from someone should be viewed with the "where are they coming from" lens. I was running 70ish mpw at the time. This helps me recover faster.)

                         

                        xor


                           

                          Now that's funny.  Only or RA does having more experience make a person's advice have less perceived value.

                           

                          I certainly wouldn't say that it should have less perceived value, but in questions like this, I think it does affect the frame of reference on both sides.  I'm currently running 80-105 mpw.  70 mpw is a cut-back week. The concept of a "12 miler" to me right now is "an everyday training run".  I have to be careful how I respond to questions about what a 12 miler is going to do when the question is in reference to someone running substantially lower mpw where "12 miler" means "long run".

                           

                          I hope my experience helps and the experience of longer-term faster runners certainly helps me, but it is definitely something worth pondering.

                           

                          (to sum up: I can definitely respond to abstract concepts, but when it comes to questions specifically related to mileage, I have to work a lot harder to ensure I'm doing it in a way that maps to the person asking the question)

                           

                             

                            I certainly wouldn't say that it should have less perceived value, but in questions like this, I think it does affect the frame of reference on both sides.  I'm currently running 80-105 mpw.  70 mpw is a cut-back week. The concept of a "12 miler" to me right now is "an everyday training run".  I have to be careful how I respond to questions about what a 12 miler is going to do when the question is in reference to someone running substantially lower mpw where "12 miler" means "long run".

                             

                            I hope my experience helps and the experience of longer-term faster runners certainly helps me, but it is definitely something worth pondering.

                             

                            (to sum up: I can definitely respond to abstract concepts, but when it comes to questions specifically related to mileage, I have to work a lot harder to ensure I'm doing it in a way that maps to the person asking the question)

                             

                            Sure but if anything the more miles a person is running, the more they can benefit from a taper--not the other way around.  Someone running 30 miles a week probably will not benefit from tapering at all.  I do agree though that it's important to define "taper."

                            In general I like Tchuck's advice the best.  I don't usually intentionally adjust mileage for a half but I do try to time when my last hard workout is leading into any race.

                            Runners run

                            xor


                              Yes, that makes sense. 

                               

                              And I suppose I was trying to say a similar thing as tchuck too, buried in lots of other words.  I'd keep the miles and just make sure I wasn't doing something supah hard in the few days before the race.

                               

                              L Train


                                 

                                Sure but if anything the more miles a person is running, the more they can benefit from a taper--not the other way around.

                                 

                                This is what I meant.  As a low mileage runner the taper doesn't have much benefit to me.  It just costs me miles.  I would run a workout as part of a longer run 7-10 days out, and maybe some strides during the week.  I guess to some extent this might depend whether this is a "goal" race or not.  If not, then run right though it. 

                                 

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