When you are training for your marathon, your last long training session must ideally be 3-4 weeks before your marathon race. In the final month prior to your marathon it is practically impossible to get any fitter because your entire body is close to it’s peak condition.
Although it goes against the grain from the running you have been performing, this taper time period is a time for you to rest and permit your entire body to recuperate.
You should now start to reduce your weekly mileage by close to 25% per week, based on the running plan that you simply have selected to use.
Ideally, you should try to finish and simulate race pace within your longer runs to make sure your body gets used to the tempo that you simply anticipate to finish your marathon with. To simulate race tempo, the best way is to calculate your race pace for 400m and run at this tempo on the 400m tack. Simulating your marathon experience like this will embed inside your entire body what it feels like to run at race tempo.
The primary aim nevertheless should be on resting your entire body. You will no doubt really feel like doing other physical activities such as gardening, walking the dog or going shopping because of the additional time that you simply have on your hands. This really is normal but will take you away from all of the difficult miles that you simply have finished over the last couple of months.
To combat the urge to do many more physical activities, you have to think of activities in advance to fill in the extra time you have got in your hands. Some suggested activities consist of reading a great book, surfing the internet or renting some DVD’s.
Your taper period is also an ideal time to catch up on your rest.
The more rested your body, the much better you will perform. In order to get much more sleep, the best idea would be to wake early so that your entire body feels tired by late afternoon. Then simply allow your self to go to bed early in preparation for the marathon.
You also need to stay hydrated over the taper period of time. The temptation would be to not drink as a lot drinking water over this period because your body isn’t running as full-on. Do not be fooled. You must try to consume a minimum of 8 glasses of water spread relatively evenly over the day during your taper time period. This can ensure that you keep your entire body in a fully hydrated situation.
Carry on to adhere to your running plan over the taper period. When you are 1 week away from your marathon, there are some special precautions and preparations that you simply need to consider, for example carbohydrate loading and stretching.
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