Tapering Question for Runners

E

elsie3

Cathlete
For you marathoners, do you do more or less leg work during your taper?

I know the point of a taper is to cut down your mileage and not to cause any more micro-tears to your leg muscles. But I was wondering about leg workouts. Would it be beneficial to increase plyo and leg endurance workouts as I decrease my mileage, or is that counter-productive?

Thanks for your insight.
 
No, do not increase your leg workouts. You don't want to run the risk of an injury during your taper. No more plyos than usual. You don't get to avoid taper madness by increasing your other cardio;)

sorry. I know, it sucks, right?

Alisha
 
Everyone is different. I am actually running a 10 mile race on Sunday and I just finished my last run for the week, but I will still do one Hiit or PLyo workout this week...however, after Wednesday I do more Yoga and slow steady State, and Saturday will just be Yoga. I would actually keep the Plyo/Hiit once a week, since You are doing a marathon, maybe not do it the week of. I don't run much during the week anymore, and found that adding in different workouts have improved my times/speed in a race. I know I have mentioned this before on a thread. I just got another PR in a 5K this past Saturday...and I only run 2x a week. let's see how well I do this Sunday...I am hoping for a new 10 miler PR.

Good Luck!!
 
jdimascio said:
Everyone is different. I am actually running a 10 mile race on Sunday and I just finished my last run for the week, but I will still do one Hiit or PLyo workout this week...however, after Wednesday I do more Yoga and slow steady State, and Saturday will just be Yoga. I would actually keep the Plyo/Hiit once a week, since You are doing a marathon, maybe not do it the week of. I don't run much during the week anymore, and found that adding in different workouts have improved my times/speed in a race. I know I have mentioned this before on a thread. I just got another PR in a 5K this past Saturday...and I only run 2x a week. let's see how well I do this Sunday...I am hoping for a new 10 miler PR.

Good Luck!!
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Congrats on your new PRs, Jenn! You are an inspiration. I particularly like how you run 2x/week, as I get into trouble if I try to run too often. Good luck on Sunday and let us know how it goes, will you? I know you posted a sample rotation back in January, but would you mind sharing what your workouts ended up looking like? Have you considered posting a Cathe/running rotation? That would be fabulous!!! (It it's not too much work for you).

Alisha, "taper madness" is so true. I start my taper next week and am trying to get mentally prepared. I'll listen to both of you and not increase my leg work--good advice. But I do think I'll keep my HiiT & Plyo until the last week.

Any other advice is welcome and appreciated.
 
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Thanks, Elsie!!

What marathon are you training for?

My race is tomorrow and I pulled a muscle in my back, so I will still be running, but not sure how I am going to do. It was a stupid accident and it actually only hurts when I am not moving...go figure. So, I'll let you know. And I actually will try to come up with a running rotation. After this race I am going to slow down a bit on my runs, but still twice a week. I'd like to focus on shorter races for awhile, I kind of like the idea of showing up, running hard for 20 minutes and then be done!! 5K are so hard, but I think it's nice to add variety in your races.

Good luck with your race whenever it is!!
 
I PR'D in my 10 miler today. My back wasn't really hurting me and I felt pretty good. I finished the race in 62:54...I was shocked, but I think it proves that you don't need to run a lot to run better/faster. I seriously believe that you need to crosstrain, and just make sure that you get long runs in once a week (as long as you are training for longer distances).

Good Luck, Elsie!!
 
jdimascio said:
I PR'D in my 10 miler today. My back wasn't really hurting me and I felt pretty good. I finished the race in 62:54...I was shocked, but I think it proves that you don't need to run a lot to run better/faster. I seriously believe that you need to crosstrain, and just make sure that you get long runs in once a week (as long as you are training for longer distances).

Good Luck, Elsie!!
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Well, I don't know if it proves that, I would imagine like many runners, when you started you logged many miles, and many miles per week. According to the training plans that I have read beginning, intermediate, advanced runners all log more than two days a week, and it is only when tapering that the mileage goes down. For competitive marathon runners the mileage is much more than you would run in just 2 days, even with those being the long runs.

Curious to know how long you have been running, and how much mileage you logged in the beginning and as you became competitive. It's just what I read. Congratulations, that's pretty fast. As I recall Kathryn on the scale of walkers you're pretty fast too!
 
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I completely agree with you 112toGuru....I have run 16 marathons and never ran less than 4 days a week. But jdimascio and Elsie seem to be a different breed!

Elsie...I would back off legwork 4 weeks out from the marathon, nothing heavy just endurance if you think you need it. But you ran your 1st marathon without much running and more weight work so do what worked best for the last one...:)
 
My times finally got better when I ran less....I don't think it was a fluke, but ever since I started doing this I broke out of the plateau and started dropping minutes. I was never a fast runner...i am beating runners that used to beat me. Yes, I have been running for years, so I finally found something that works for me and hasn't caused overuse injuries too. It may not work for everyone, but it's working for me. When I trained for a marathon, I only ran 3times a week. As long as I got that long run in (got at least up to 26 miles) I was good to do. Maybe some of it has to do with muscle memory, but I am almost 40 and every race I run I usually pr. I truly believe in cross-training!!! You are neglected muscles when all you do is run.
 
Thank you everyone for your helpful replies and support!

jdimascio said:
I PR'D in my 10 miler today. My back wasn't really hurting me and I felt pretty good. I finished the race in 62:54...I was shocked, but I think it proves that you don't need to run a lot to run better/faster. I seriously believe that you need to crosstrain, and just make sure that you get long runs in once a week (as long as you are training for longer distances).

Good Luck, Elsie!!
Click to expand...

Jenn,
YES!!!!! I'm so proud of you! I was so crushed about your back and then got to read about your new PR--nice emotional turn-around for me.

I'll be running the Ogden Marathon (Utah). It's a gorgeous course and slightly downhill most of the way. I'm getting really excited. But I'll be running leg 19 of the Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay in June--very scared about that one! I just found out my leg and was looking at my last run on the website--3.4 miles straight uphill.:eek: I'll be in the mountains for Memorial Day so I'll be able to do some hill training. I'm just trying to be wise about recovering enough from the marathon.

Thanks so much for considering posting a running rotation. I feel like I'm a Cathelete who happens to run, not a runner who happens to cross-train. Whenever I add too much running, I get into injury trouble--plus I REALLY miss my Cathe workouts! So I love your approach to training. It's very motivating that it also works so well for you.
 
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