Running tip: Tapering phase before the marathon

Highlights: Before the marathon run, the so-called tapering phase is important: i.e. the regeneration phase before the competition. The aim here is to improve form with a reduced amount of training in order to start with the best possible fitness on the day of the race. In the following, I describe the most important moments and measures, how I also teach them in the running coach training and implement training plans. I wish you every success in this success in your marathon training and I hope to see you at the Frankfurt Marathon.

Before the marathon run, the so-called tapering phase is important: i.e. the regeneration phase before the competition, which determines your form on the day of the race. With this timetable, they prepare themselves in the best possible way.

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Marathon in Frankfurt am Main: The timetable for preparation must be right

Photo: DPA

You may have already read some articles about endurance running, tempo training and regeneration in marathon preparation and feel well informed about how to design your marathon training. But be careful: the last two to three weeks can be decisive for your form on race day. During this time, as a marathon runner, you can still do a lot of things right, but you can also do a lot wrong. We are talking about the tapering phase.

In running, tapering refers to the regeneration phase before a competition. The aim here is to improve form with a reduced amount of training in order to start with the best possible fitness on the day of the competition. In marathon training, the body is initially heavily stressed by high mileages and intensive running units, and the energy stores are also exhausted.

In the final tapering phase, the training load is therefore gradually reduced, muscles, ligaments and tendons can regenerate better and glycogen stores are replenished. Strength and confidence increase. In the following, I describe the most important moments and measures, how I also teach them in the running coach training and implement training plans in the running campus.

The last long run

In marathon preparation, the last long endurance run (LALA) is ideally run three weeks before the marathon. This weekend was supposed to be the last long endurance run, which is usually also the longest in the marathon preparation. This long run can be 35 kilometers long.

The hardest tempo workout

About 10 days before the race, interval training usually reaches its peak. The sum of the race pace kilometers run reach their peak value during this training. For example, typical interval training may include 3 x 6 kilometers at marathon race pace. Before that, you warm up and then run out, so you can easily add up to two hours of training time.

The last tempo workout

On the Tuesday or Wednesday before the race, a final, short tempo stimulus is set, this at the so-called sub-distance pace. 3 x 1,600 meters at half marathon race pace (HMRT) is very popular. These few fast kilometers are not strenuous, but are experienced as highly motivating. This feeling accompanies you until the day of the competition.

The weekly scopes

If, in the marathon preparation, the fourth-to-last week is assumed to be 100 percent, which is – as described above – the week with the last long endurance run, then the training kilometers are reduced to about 85 percent in the third-to-last week, to about 70 percent in the penultimate weeks and to about 40 percent in the competition week, not including the race on the weekend here. Despite maintaining the quality of the training, in particular the tempo training described above ten days before the marathon, the recovery is noticeably starting due to the reduction of the weekly volumes.

Nutrition: Carbo-Loading just before the competition

The diet around Marathon is worth at least two more articles, can only be presented by me here in a very condensed way. In the previous week of the marathon, you should eat particularly carbohydrate-rich from Wednesday onwards, for example with baked potatoes, wholemeal pasta, wholemeal rice, wholemeal bread, etc. From Friday, this carbohydrate-rich food, known in the endurance sports scene as "carbo-loading", will continue, but the fiber will be reduced.

Jacket potatoes instead of baked potatoes, cleaned rice instead of whole grain rice, baguette instead of whole grain bread, durum wheat pasta instead of whole grain pasta. Overall, less fruit and vegetables than is generally recommended in everyday life.

At the competition breakfast, the main thing is to avoid experiments, not to eat too much and rather lightly, to chew breakfast particularly well in order to facilitate digestion and absorption of energy. Furthermore, it is important to compensate for the loss of fluid measured overnight and ideally not to absorb anything in the last two to three hours until the starting signal.

The tapering phase is a crucial time to maximize the training effect and get your body and energy stores in top shape for the marathon. With a deliberately planned tapering phase described above, you ensure that you are prepared in the best possible way on the day of the race and can reach your full potential. I wish you every success in this.