Tapering

The majority of the hard work is done! The final few weeks will include one more “key” session if you’re doing anything over a marathon and two – three “key” sessions for shorter distances. Otherwise, the majority of your training is done. Your fitness will be near its peak, and you will need to recover, so you can activate those fitness gains you’ve been working hard on in the previous weeks and months.

The Three Points of Note

1. Less is more now. There is no need to “push through” because the risk of overdoing it is far greater than the reward of gaining 1-2% of fitness.
2. The training may start to taper off, but you can’t lose focus. Over the next four weeks, you should feel like you have more time (and energy) available. You should use this extra to work on your physical wellbeing; self-massage, yoga, technique sessions can all help.
3. Diet, with less training, comes less energy output. After weeks and months of ultramarathon training, you would have developed a certain level of hunger to match your energy output. Now that you’re dialling back the training your hunger will remain elevated for a week or two as your body expects another onslaught. With this in mind, you’ll need to watch what you eat.