How to taper for a race

The short answer

In the week or 2 before a race, cut your training volume by about half and keep the intensity and the number of sessions. In the taper meta-analyses, that pattern gave the best race results, usually an improvement of a few percent. Heavy leg lifting comes out in the last few days, because its fatigue can last into race day.

What the research found

A taper is a planned drop in training before a race. Its job is to clear the fatigue you have built up while keeping the fitness that came with it (Mujika and Padilla 2003).

A meta-analysis of 27 studies in competitive athletes found the best results from a 2 week taper that cut training volume by 41 to 60%. Intensity and the number of sessions stayed the same (Bosquet 2007). A newer meta-analysis of 14 studies in endurance athletes reached the same answer on volume. Tapers that cut volume by 41 to 60% while keeping intensity and frequency improved time trial performance (Wang 2023).

A review of the taper research puts the usual gain at about 3%, with a range of 0.5 to 6% (Mujika and Padilla 2003). For a 25 minute 5K, 3% is about 45 seconds.

Cut volume, keep intensity

Easy runs and rides get shorter, and so does the long session; about half is the middle of the range that worked best.

Keep some running or riding at race pace or faster, with fewer repeats in the hard session.

Keep the number of sessions, or cut it by no more than 20% (Mujika and Padilla 2003). If you run 3 times a week, you still run 3 times in race week, each run a little shorter.

How long to taper

Bosquet 2007 found the best results at about 2 weeks. Wang 2023 found time trial gains from tapers of 7 days or less, 8 to 14 days, and 15 to 21 days, and suggested 21 days or fewer overall.

The reviews do not fully agree. Mujika and Padilla 2003 describe volume cuts of up to 60 to 90% and tapers from 4 to more than 28 days, and favor a gradual cut over a sudden one, while Wang 2023 found both worked.

For a 5K or 10K, a 7 day taper is a common choice in coaching. The meta-analyses leaned a little longer, so the 7 day length is a coaching choice rather than a trial result. In coaching practice, longer events like a marathon or a long day on the bike often get closer to 2 weeks.

Tapers that followed a harder block of training did better than a plain taper (Wang 2023).

These trials used competitive athletes on high training loads. On 3 to 5 hours a week, the size of the gain is less certain. Cutting volume while keeping some speed is still a sensible way to arrive at the start line fresh.

A sample race week

Say your 5K is on Saturday and you usually run 3 times a week, with lifting on 2 other days. A 7 day taper, laid out from coaching practice, could look like this:

• Saturday, a week out: your long run, about 65% of its usual length.
• Sunday: rest or an easy ride.
• Monday: a lighter leg session, with fewer sets and nothing new.
• Tuesday: an easy run, shorter than usual.
• Wednesday: upper body and trunk only.
• Thursday: a short tune-up, a few minutes at race pace after an easy warm-up.
• Friday: rest, or a short easy jog with a few strides.
• Saturday: the race.

You still run on your usual days and still touch race pace, and the total time on your feet drops by close to half.

What to do with lifting in race week

A single heavy leg session can lower endurance performance for hours to days afterward (Doma 2017). That fatigue is worth keeping well clear of race day. Strength also holds up well over a short break. In elite athletes it lasted up to 3 weeks with no training at all (McMaster 2013). A week with lighter legs, or none, costs you very little.

A common way to lay out the lifting, from coaching practice rather than a trial:

• 5 to 7 days out: a lighter leg session, with fewer sets and nothing new.
• The last 4 days: upper body and trunk only.
• Race day and the day after: no lifting.

Leave out anything your legs are not used to. New exercises and lowering-heavy work, like split squats and Nordic curls, tend to leave the most soreness.

Race week on the 5K / 10K plan

The 5K / 10K plan builds to your race date and ends with a lighter 7 day race week that keeps some speed, with a tune-up 1 or 2 days before the race and easy running around it. The 7 day length is practice-based, and the principle behind it, cutting volume while keeping intensity and the number of sessions, rests on Bosquet 2007 and Wang 2023. The rules and their evidence levels are on the method page.

Your strength plan adjusts around the race as well, as the article on strength in race season explains.

For riders

The same principles apply on the bike. Shorten the rides and keep some efforts at race intensity, on your usual riding days. On Strength for Cyclists, after a race your legs rest, with upper body and trunk only for a few days. If you race most weekends, the article on strength in race season covers how to hold your strength through a long run of races.