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Tapering Your Training

When cutting back your training before important races, keep some quality. Going from regular multipace training to nothing but easy runs will leave you feeling flat come race day.

A really hard workout the week of an important race won’t improve your fitness in time for race day, so there’s no point in risking lingering fatigue from it. Try something like 400- or 600-meter repeats at race pace five days before a key race as a way to further ingrain what that pace feels like into your muscle memory. Two days before the race, do a session of striders to keep your central nervous system revved up and your running form working through its full range of motion.

BrlanMetzler