The taper: cut the volume, keep everything else

The last three weeks before an ultra are where fit runners lose races. Some keep training because the plan says they are behind. Some stop almost entirely and turn up flat. Both are the same mistake: the taper is a training block with its own rules, and they treated it as an absence of training.

What the research supports

The meta-analysis that pooled 27 taper studies in competitive athletes found one shape worked best: about two weeks, training volume cut by 41 to 60%, with frequency and intensity left alone. Performance gains of a few percent are typical. Longer tapers came out worse in the same analysis, which is why three weeks is the ceiling I use and only for the longest races or the most fatigued athletes.

Why runners over 40 get it wrong

• Nerves. The last long run felt bad, so they add one more big session. That session is the one they carry into the race.
• Guilt. A lighter week feels lazy, so the easy runs creep faster. The easy runs stay easy; that is the whole point of them.
• Fear of losing the edge. They drop all intensity. A few short strides or a handful of race-pace minutes keep the legs sharp without adding fatigue.
• Sleep debt. Older athletes tend to carry more of it, and the taper is when it gets repaid. Bed earlier, not more running.

Two weeks or three

Two weeks covers most 50 km and 100 km builds. Three weeks suits the hundred milers, the stage races and any athlete who arrives at the taper already deep in fatigue. The tell is the last big weekend: if it takes four days to feel normal again, you need the longer taper. I decide from the check-in data, not the calendar.

What changes in the last week

1. 7 days out

   Last run of any real length, under two hours, easy. Kit and fuelling rehearsed one final time.

2. 4 days out

   Short run with strides or a few minutes at race effort. Legs should feel springy, not tired.

3. 2 days out

   Short and easy, or a walk. Eat normally, a little more carbohydrate, no new foods.

4. Day before

   Twenty minutes easy with three strides, or rest. Feet up. Race plan written and read.

5. Race day

   Start slower than feels right. The taper gave you speed you do not need yet.

What I watch

• Resting heart rate and HRV drifting back towards baseline as the fatigue leaves.
• Easy-run pace at the same heart rate, which should quietly improve.
• Sleep, reported and measured.
• Mood. Taper restlessness is normal; a flat, heavy athlete in the last week usually tapered too little, too late.

Race-specific tapers, including the heat block that has to fit inside the last fortnight, are in the race guides, starting with the Marathon des Sables. The over-40 picture is in the guide.

Evidence level: the volume cut, the two-week duration and the maintained intensity and frequency are from Bosquet and colleagues' 2007 meta-analysis of 27 studies in competitive athletes. The day-by-day shape above is coaching practice. Individual responses vary, which is why I taper from the data rather than a template.