It is upon us, race weekend. To many runners in Singapore and indeed to me the Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore is the highlight of the year. The culmination of the running season. Christmas and New Year is around the corner and its will soon be time to party. But before that, there are 42 some km to run.
The past 16 weeks for most runners taking part in Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore, with a training plan, have seen them pile on the miles. Running tempo, fartleks, negative splits, repeats and hills. They would have train their bodies to adapt to efficiently use glycogen stores and oxygen, recycle lactic acids and be stronger and faster for this weekend. It is time now to taper, replenish glycogen stores, prepare kits and simply to enjoy the weekend.
This week I am writing about, tapering, eating and drinking for the race and your race kit. First lets talk taper.
Tapering is the when you reduce the training intensity prior to race day. For longer endurance event, like the marathon, a good taper is 3 weeks prior to race day. In this 3 weeks tapering period, you gradually run less and rest more.
run less
rest more
Many runners train intensely right up to the day of the marathon in the mistaken notion that they might lose their fitness if they were to reduce the intensity and mileage. Studies have shown that it is the rest during this taper period that makes runners stronger and perform better during the race. In fact aerobic capacity do not change at all.
In an article on tapering, Runner’s World reported a review of 50 studies by Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. Intensive training and high running mileage deplete muscle glycogen, enzymes, antioxidants and hormones. The higher levels of rest and reduced running during taper restores muscle glycogen, enzymes, antioxidants and hormones. Muscle strength improves during taper as well. All this, results in a 3% increase in performance during the race. This equates to anywhere from 5 to minutes in your marathon timing.
An important part of tapering is rest and recovery. Running less in these 3 weeks of tapering will allow the body time to repair muscles, and replenish glycogen levels. Making you stronger and prepared for the race.
Recovery can be active or passive. Passive recovery is simply doing nothing, just rest and sleep. Active recovery may involve cross training, stretching and massage. Stretching and cross training should not be at high impact or intensity during tapering. Massage may take the form of deep tissue massages or foam rolling.
At this stage, after 13 weeks of intensive training, so close to your goal, you would want to do everything to ensure success and avoid everything that would jeopardise success. The devil is in the details so a good marathon training plan will always include a taper. Being so close to the goal, you do not want a small nut on the floor to trip you up. So do not let tapering be that small nut on the floor.
Here are some general points to note during tapering.
- Last long run should be @ 32km 3 weeks before race day.
- Reduce mileage by 30%
- If you opt for a deep tissue massage, have it done after the last long run. Certainly not on race week. Deep tissue massage, due to its nature may result in tissue breakdown. Your muscles will need time to recover from it. 1 week is not enough time.
- Avoid hills and speed workouts as this type of training may lead to muscle tissue damage
So my personal taper programme will look something like this:
Week M-3 (3 weeks before race day)
- previous week was my last long run
- reduce tempo run distance by 15%
- reduce long run distance by 30%
Week M-2 (2 weeks before race day)
- reduce tempo run distance by 15%
- reduce long run distance by 30%
Week of the marathon
- 5km runs at race pace.
Tomorrow we speak about eating and drinking on race week. Should we differ from eating and drinking on any other training week?
Today’s management and leadership lessons is that the devil is in the details. Take care that the smallest of details and do not derail your plan. Nuts on the floor can scupper your goal.