Trust the taper….But don’t trust your thoughts!

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Just a short training focus today… a brief reminder to all runners about to race….  Do not trust your thoughts during the taper! The taper is vital, and you need to follow your taper plan completely, but for a lot of tapering runners, as they get nearer their target race, the mileage drops and nerves set in. This generally means one of two things…

 

  1. Your runs feel great. You are nailing the taper runs, feeling bouncy, running smoothly, and the little chimp on your shoulder is chatting away “wow! This feels easy. Maybe I should review my target pace. Maybe I should go a little bit faster on the day. I’m clearly fitter than I thought I was!” Do not be fooled! You are well rested, you may not be carb loading yet, but if you are eating well the decreased load is replenishing your glycogen stores. You may be getting more rest as you are not running as much. Lots of things going on – embrace the fact the taper is working and you will be in a good place for race day, but don’t change anything! Review your entire block of training as that tells you far more about your pace than your taper does, and consult a coach or experienced runner that you trust if you want a second opinion (try not to consult Facebook!)

 

  1. Or maybe you’ve gone the other way – you feel rubbish and your runs have gone to pot. Your legs may feel like lead, a short distance at race pace seems insurmountable and your Garmin is telling you you’re unproductive (although why are you listening to your Garmin – you know it is fickle and untrustworthy!) Stop and take a deep breath. Remember why you are running during the taper – it is to keep your legs turning over and to practice running at marathon pace (regardless of how it feels). You are under high pressure with the impending race and the expectation that you should feel great in the taper. It doesn’t always work like that and it doesn’t usually mean anything for your race. Don’t panic!

 

 

 

Above all, please remember, you cannot predict your race performance how runs during the taper feel – unless something major happens (like a proper injury, not maranoia induced niggles!). Judge your potential race performance on your training and above all STICK TO YOUR TAPER PLAN. Unless you are very logical, completely unaffected by pressure and nerves, or have consulted an experienced runner or coach who you trust, do NOT deviate from your planned taper.

 

Good luck for the taper and if you have any questions, please post below.

 

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What to do to prepare for your marathon (and avoid taper madness….)

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What to do to prepare for your marathon (and avoid taper madness….)

 

Getting close to your target race? Started to taper and getting slightly paranoid? Here’s a few ways you can spend your time constructively preparing for the race. Resting, recovering, and carb loading (if appropriate) have to take priority, but you can also do some mental preparatory work ready for what is to come. Here are some top tips to help you make the most of taper time…

 

  • Rest
    This has to be a priority. Keep any strength and conditioning work that doesn’t tire you out, but reduce weight sessions (lower intensity, lighter weights and shorten duration) or replacing with stretching, mobilisation and foam rolling. Whilst taper time is a good time to get the things you’ve been putting off during training done, don’t over-exert yourself. Now is not the time to completely renovate the house or dig out the garden. Don’t risk being under recovered or potentially injuring yourself.  This blog explains more why rest and recovery is needed: mhhealthandfitness.co.uk/coaching-tip-tapering-for-a-marathon/

 

  • Eat well.
    Your body needs to use this time to repair and replenish your glycogen stores. Keep nutrition on point – protein, carbs and healthy fats, don’t change too much, and certainly don’t try and cut back. Your pre, during and post run fuelling will be slightly less as the duration and intensity of your runs decreases, so no need cut back further. As you get nearer the race, consider your carb loading and fuelling strategies carefully. This blog may help you: mhhealthandfitness.co.uk/fuelling-a-marathon-carb-loading-and-race-day-nutrition/

 

  • Prepare your race kit and check your pre race plan.
    Make sure you know what you need, what you’re wearing etc. Try it out on your runs during the taper period. If you need accommodation or parking, are they sorted?

 

  • Write down your reasons for running:
    Knowing your why, and being able to access it when you’ve been running a long time and are tired, can really help when it gets tough. There’s a lot more on this available – now might be a great time to access the Coaching Talk mindset videos available in MH Runners Club: www.mhrunnersclub.co.uk

 

  • Work on mental techniques:
    Hopefully you have been working on mantras and other techniques during your runs to get you through tough patches during the marathon. It really helps if you have practised these during long runs and races in the training period. But it’s not too late if you haven’t, you just may need more reminders to use them during your race as they won’t come automatically. You could try printing them out and making a wrist band with reminders on, or writing them on your arm. There are lots of ideas for in race mindset, but some favourites of my clients include:
    Creating memory miles – some people dedicate every mile or a mile for each of the last six to someone they love. This can help focus your mind and give you motivation to make that mile as good as possible.
    Fine tuning a mantra – whatever mantra you choose (aggressive, relaxing, positive, bossy) make it work for you.
    Reflecting on previous runs – looking back on the runs you nailed previously will help increase your feeling of belief that you CAN do this. Writing them on post it notes and sticking them in visible locations around the house may help.

There are lots of other strategies available, get researching and select a few (not too many, don’t overwhelm yourself) that resonate with you.
Visualise a local run – run the same route over and over locally (3-6 miles is perfect) so that when you have that far to go in the race, you can re-picture your home route in your mind and know you don’t have far to go.
Dismiss negative mental chatter – practice rebuffing any negative thoughts that cross your mind. For example, your brain tells you “I’m too tired….” Your response could be “Of course, its a long race, but you’ve done this before and nothing actually hurts. I’m just going to get to the next water stop and then do a form check”

 

  • Research the route.
    If you haven’t done this race before, work out where the water stops are and how this coincides with planned gels, look at key points on the race to help you break it down. What notable landmarks etc are there on route? Can you look out for them and check them off? At London I love to tick off Cutty Sark (around 10k), Tower Bridge (around 12 miles) and the Docklands (18-20 miles) and then I know I’m on my way home!

 

  • Make a new playlist
    Some people don’t enjoy running with music, but if you do, now is the perfect time to make a playlist of your favourite music. You may even want to make a specific playlist for the last few miles.

 

 

  • Relax! You’ve done the hard work, the race is the finale, the icing on the cake!

 

And very briefly, definitely don’t do any of these….!

Don’t worry about phantom injuries and niggles (of course you still need to get real ones checked out);

Don’t have a sports massage the day before;

Don’t do extra exercise to “take your mind off it”;

Don’t panic if running feels hard or go the other way and adjust your marathon pace because you now feel super rested and fit!

And optional extra – don’t drive everyone insane with incessant marathon talk (although this may be unavoidable and is possibly they least damaging!)

 

There’s probably loads more… what do you do, and what have you done that you now know you shouldn’t do, during the taper? Share below to keep us all busy!

 

Join the Club at MH Runner’s Club

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Want to know more about running or personal training?

Contact me today to ask any questions or to book your FREE consultation.

Email me at martinhulbertpt@gmail.com or contact me via Facebook Messenger

Martin Hulbert

Running Coach & Personal Trainer Leicestershire

MH Health and Fitness Online Community

MartinHulbertRunCoaching

#MHrunnersclub

 

 

Why you shouldn’t feel you can maintain marathon pace in training.

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If you have ever targeted a specific time in a marathon, you have probably had the thought “how on earth am I going to maintain this pace for 26.2 miles?”. If so, you are definitely not alone. It may be that your marathon pace is too fast, and you need to pull back, but more likely, it could be the fact that these worries are normal, and you shouldn’t feel you can maintain marathon pace in training. Here’s why…

 

  1. Cumulative fatigue. Your long run or pace section doesn’t occur in a vacuum. It will usually happen at the end of a heavy week of training, and the tiredness and stress (physiological and psychological) from not just that week’s training, but all the training in the block before will contribute to you feeling like the pace is unsustainable. In fact, your marathon plan may even aim to make you more tired before a long run, to get you practise running on tired legs. Cumulative fatigue is a vital part of marathon training, but it is difficult to quantify so often gets overlooked. However, come marathon day, if you’re training correctly, you will be well rested and tapered for the actual race and run on far fresher legs.

 

  1. Reduced glycogen stores. Related to the above point, your normal weekly training runs will have helped reduce your glycogen stores, which affects both your physical performance, but also your mindset as your brain uses glucose too. Hopefully you’re topping up on carbs regularly and fuelling runs longer than 90 mins during the run, but you will not have had the rest and full carb loading that you will (hopefully!) undertake prior to race day, so it will impact on your performance. Don’t worry, you’ll carb load in the days before the race (which along with resting will top up your glycogen stores), and on top of that, fuel well in the morning and try and take on board 40-60g carbs an hour during the actual race.

 

  1. No race support. On your long and paced training runs you won’t have the amazing race atmosphere, the adrenaline rush at the start, any possible crowd support, other people to run with or race, no drinks stations and other support, and no finish line to count down to. You also have to make decisions on route choices, road crossings, etc, which also causes more mental fatigue. It all makes a huge difference!

 

 

So, if you don’t feel you can maintain the pace in training, how do you know its your marathon pace?

 

The best way to be confident of this is to base it off your training. Even though you haven’t run the full distance at pace in training, you should have tested out your proposed pace for some miles (8-14 miles ideally) during your long runs or steady runs during the week. How did it feel? Comfortably hard? It may feel too hard for 26.2 miles but you should feel reasonably confident of completing another 2-4 miles at that pace in any run where you practice marathon pace.

 

Another way of confirming marathon pace is to run a tune up race. A typical one would be a half marathon 4 weeks out from your target marathon. You can then use an online calculator to work out your equivalent marathon pace (or double it and add 10-20 mins). However, the calculator estimates vary considerably – the best way by far will be to get an experienced running coach to write your training plan and review your paces throughout, or ask a coach to review your training logs and suggest a suitable pace.

Above all, remember, if you can hit the paces in training segments, don’t let that little voice in your head tell you that you can’t hold it for 26.2 miles. You’ll be rested, fuelled and pumped full of adrenaline, so believe in your training and go for it!

 

How are you feeling about your current marathon pace? Please tell us in the comments below…

 

Join the Club at MH Runner’s Club

Do you want a personalised training plan?

Want to know more about running or personal training?

Contact me today to ask any questions or to book your FREE consultation.

Email me at martinhulbertpt@gmail.com or contact me via Facebook Messenger

Martin Hulbert

Running Coach & Personal Trainer Leicestershire

MH Health and Fitness Online Community

MartinHulbertRunCoaching

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