As noted earlier, tapering is highly specific to the individual. You will need to find what works for you based on your experience. But there are some general guidelines to follow during your tapering phase.
When planning your workouts, reduce your overall training volume with these steps:
- First decrease your training volume without changing the frequency of your workouts.
- Reduce training volume the most at the beginning of your taper and then gradually level off the decreases.
- Maintain the type and intensity of interval workouts — whether LT cruise intervals or VO2max intervals — but reduce the number of intervals.
- Maintain or reduce the frequency of the interval workouts.
During the training phase, you also should focus on getting adequate — and even extra — sleep. Be sure to eat well and stay hydrated.
Here is a sample taper week based on the previous lesson’s training plan demo:
The training week reduces volume to just over 3 hours, while providing two rest days. It includes some LT cruise intervals to keep the runner sharp, but the number of intervals are reduced from what the runner would normally do. The endurance long run is also shortened.
