Last week marked the peak in my training--20 hours of running. I’ve slashed a full 50% off my training volume this week. The idea of cutting back this close to a race can appear counter-intuitive but in the endurance world, it’s a well-known strategy called tapering. I turned to Active Expert, Gale Bernhardt for guidance in outlining my remaining schedule to ensure I fully benefit from all my hard work done to date.
Gale: “There are lots of ways to structure the workouts in your taper weeks. One way is to apply the percentages above to your long runs and fill the remaining hours during the week with whatever is left. I'd keep the Friday, Sat., Sunday structure that has gotten you to this point and just scale those runs back. Run commuting may become a problem just due to distance and time. Fill in with the bike to keep your legs from too much pounding.”
Week 5/12: 8 hours preferable, no more than 10 for sure.
Week 5/19: 14.8 hrs (80% of max)
Week 5/26: 9.25 (50% of max)
Week 6/2: 1.8 hrs (10% of max: Run 30-40 minutes Monday, Bike 45-60 Minutes Tuesday, Run 20-30 minutes on Wednesday with Thursday and Friday off. The run, bike, run days are mostly aerobic and can include a few 20 second accelerations (not all-out fast) with lots of rest.)
I’m following Gale’s advice and structured this week around a SD100 group training run on the second loop of the race course Saturday. Plus, it’s supposed to be a scorcher this weekend so I can get more exposure to heat training.
This week is National Bike to Work Week and it’s been good getting back on the bike and the short break from the run comes as a relief after last week's volume. Here’s the week breakdown:
Week 5/12: 8 hours preferable, no more than 10 for sure
Mon: OFF
Tues: Bike, 1hr15
Wed: Bike, 45m
Thursday: Yoga, 1hr
Fri: Bike, 1hr15
Sat: Run, 6hr (Cuyamaca State Park)
Sun: Swim, 1hr (La Jolla Shores)
Month-to-date:
Active Toby's Adventure Blog
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May 15, 2008 8:33 AM
Active Sara
in response to: Jay Silvio
Active Sara
in response to: Jay Silvio
Lookin good Toby! 
Excited for you.
May 15, 2008 1:22 PM
Joshua G
Joshua G
Toby - enjoy your experience.
Have fun and Good luck
Toby,
Enjoy the taper period. Make sure you eat well and get plenty of sleep. If you're like me you'll need to stock up on rest because you'll be too excited to sleep in the last few days leading up to your run. One thing that really worked well for me during my marathon taper was keeping one day of speed each week. I would put in a hard tempo run or interval session at about 75% of the normal distance but at a higher than normal intensity.
Again, best of luck!
Jay