Forums >Running 101>Last minute tapering advice
Joggaholic
I just found out about a race happening on 1/27, which is a little over 3 weeks from now. It is either a 10k/30k race. I'm very tempted to enter it even though I haven't been training specifically for any races at all. It allows race-day registration so I can put off making the decision until the last week (due to weather, work schedule...etc). I have never raced these 2 distances so I will have guaranteed PR, but I still want to race it as best I can. I know there's little I can do in 3 weeks to train specifically for them, I just want to make sure I dial-down my normal weekly routines to taper properly. My normal week is track intervals on Monday, a ~13 miles long run on the weekend, and several random (mostly easy) runs over the weekdays to make up ~40 mpw with 5 to 6 days of running. My current thought is to taper only for the last week:
weekend: ditch the long run and run 3-6 miles easy
mon: ditch the interval and run 3-6 miles easy
tues-thurs: < 5 miles easy
fri: rest
sat: a couple miles easy
sun: race
Is that a sufficient taper, or too much/too little? I think it may be ok for 10k, but I'm not sure about the 30k. I don't know how to "scale" marathon tapering schedule to these distances. I suspect I may be better off doing the 10k since I have not been doing any longer distance tempo runs, plus tapering is probably lesser of a concern for that short a distance?
Thanks for any suggestions/advice!
All of that sounds right to me! Then again, Jeff will pop on and say I don't know anything and my writing isn't comprehensible, so take whatever I say with a grain of salt!
If you've never run the 10K why don't you just do that and not worry about the 30K?
I think 10K's are a pretty good race myself. Not so short and fast than you are dying the entire way, and not long enough that you are completely whipped the next day and need a week to recover.
Only thing I would add to your schedule if it was me, would be to maybe throw some strides into your Saturday run, and maybe make the weekend long run an 8-10 miler or something so you still keep your mileage up a bit vs. all the way down to 3-6. You'll still have a full week to recover before your race.
That's my thoughts. Not worth much though!
Age: 50 Weight: 224 Height: 6'3" (Goal weight 195)
Current PR's: Mara 3:14:36* (2017); HM 1:36:13 (2017); 10K 43:59 (2014); 5K 21:12 (2016)
If it's not a goal race (and it sounds like it's not) then I wouldn't taper at all.
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