Coach Chat on Tapering

The LA Roadrunner coach's tip for week 5 was about tapering. A Taper Week is when we do less mileage. Not zero miles, but maybe half what we would have done the previous week.

I read somewhere that before we had smartwatches that monitored everything, there was an easy way to find out how refreshed you were. That was to record your resting heart rate first thing in the morning and put it in your training journal. If your resting heart rate is low, then you're ready for another hard effort. However, if your resting heart rate is high, it is indicative that you may need another recovery day. And I never really took the taper week seriously, until this time.

Mission Inn Run 2024 Training Journal
Day	Wk	Date	Dist (mi)	Duration (H:MM:SS)	Pace (min/mi)	Split (run/walk)
S	x	8/18	4.5	2:03:43	26.7	walk only
T	0	8/20	2	0:50:00	25	walk only
R	0	8/23	4.8	2:15:00	28	walk only
S	0	8/25	4.78	1:03:58	13.4	run only
T	1	8/27	3	0:42:05	13.8	run only
R	1	8/30	2.2	0:30:07	13.6	run only
S	1	9/1	4.5	1:10:00	15.3	hill walk / run
T	2	9/3	3	0:45:00	14.25	walk / run
R	2	9/5	3	0:41:13	13.5	run only
S	2	9/8	3.2	0:43:08	13.4	run / walk
T	3	9/10	1.3	0:26:57	20.75	walk only
R	3	9/12	2	0:34:29	16.5	walk / run
S	3	9/15	3	0:42:30	14	run / walk
T	4	9/17	2	0:31:40	14.8	walk / run
F	4	9/20	2.75	0:37:32	13.7	run only
S	4	9/22	3.35	0:44:05	13.1	run / walk
T	5	9/24	4.4	1:18:24	17.8	walk only
R	5	9/27	2.6	0:36:47	14	run only
S	5	9/29	4	1:08:00	14.5	run / walk
T	6	10/1	2.8	0:41:22	14.3	run / walk
F	6	10/4	2.5	0:35:51	14.2	run / walk
S	6	10/6	2.63	0:38:58	14.8	run only
T	7	10/8	2.7	0:39:39	14.5	run only
F	7	10/10	3.37	0:45:52	13.5	run / intervals
S	7	10/13	7	1:47:55	15.4	run / walk
T	8	10/15	3.75	0:51:35	13.8	run only
F	8	10/18	active recovery			walk only
S	8	10/20	6.2	1:21:52	13.2	run only

All the rows highlighted in yellow were intentionally either intervals or hills. Okay, so maybe it wasn't a real taper. In the week preceding my race, I did 85% of the miles I did the previous week. But I did feel more rested on race day. When you're training, your hormone levels drop. All hormones. And when you rest, your hormone levels come back up. So that you can start pushing again. And you repeat this cycle repeatedly. The LA Roadrunners training plan has a taper in week 5, week 9, week 13, week 17, week 21, and weeks 24-26.

Mark Lane-Hobert is an educational psychologist who studies motivation and mindfulness. He is also a runner. He put together a 26-week devotional to follow along with marathon training. It's in a Google Doc right now, which is no-cost.

Marathon Training Devotional