Nov 6, 2024
Training Tips by Runzy Director of Coaching Joe McConkey
Trust During the Taper
The last week or two before your marathon can be an emotional rollercoaster. You have put in the hard work and are getting excited about the race, but there also may be some doubts creeping in about your readiness. Here are a few reminders of why to stay calm, stay confident, and continue to trust in yourself during the taper.
Trust Your Training - The physiological adaptations that have occurred from your long runs, hard workouts, and volume, stay in the body for many weeks afterwards. Even though during the taper you are not running as much as you were in peak training, trust that your fitness will still be there for you during the last 10K.
Trust Your Body - If you are feeling something might be off, i.e. one calf is slightly tighter, the right side of your lower back is not happy on the foam roller, your left quad is stiff, trust these sensations. They are not phantom feelings and are worth a little bit of TLC these last few days. Spend a bit of time with light stretching, providing targeted self-massage (https://www.bostonrunningcenter.com/tsm.jpg), providing a heat pad, topical oinment, etc, as every effort might be just what it takes to have smooth sailing come race day.
Trust Your Instincts - After you have taken care of your pre-race nutrition, selected your apparel, organized with any support you might have on the course, and are standing at the start-line waiting (and waiting) for the race to start, there is not much else you can do. Stay relaxed and when the gun goes off trust your marathon instincts. Data, body feelings, noise, people around you, all will be flooding your senses constantly. With a relaxed and confident demeanor, allow each of these stimulants to come at you knowing you will accept and respond smartly to only those that matter. Spend 5-10 minutes each night during the last 3-5 days visualizing yourself on the start-line and running through the course and through these stimulants. See yourself responding, in a way you will be proud of, to all of the good and bad feelings you might experience (yes, visualize the bad too!).
