Hi all, after some advice re tapering please for the Liverpool Half. I'm currently running with club twice a week (group four) and doing a long run at the weekend (13 miles). When should I start dropping down and what to? I was hoping to get another two long runs in the next two weekends, would running 13 miles the weekend before be an issue? I did my first half marathon last September,however I was injured beforehand so didn't run at all for the two weeks before meaning I didn't have taper weeks. I'm hoping to get sub two hours. No injuries or niggles at the moment (I've just jinxed myself by saying that...) Any advice much appreciated! Thanks, helen
Hi Helen,
the principles of training in order to improve are as follows:
first you push yourself (this is called Overload), then you have a period of recovery to allow the body to adapt to that overload. This means that the next overload you can push yourself a little more and then you recover and adapt again, and so on. The period of overload, recovery and adaptation takes about 2 weeks. Thus any overload within 2 weeks of a race will mean that the body does not adapt in time for the race. Thus nothing you do in the 2 weeks before a race will lead to any particular improvement for the race and in fact the opposite might be the case ie you risk not being properly rested on race day. This is why it is recommended to have a taper period of 2 - 3 weeks for endurance races particularly full and half marathons. My advice would be not to do a 13M run the week before the race. Instead I would do about 7M. If you are desperate to do 13M then make sure you do it at a slower pace than usual so that the reduced intensity of the run means less of an overload and more chance of a full recovery for race day.
