As race day gets closer, your long runs start getting shorter and your weekly mileage begins to drop.
This is the marathon taper, and it's one of the most important phases of your training.
When should you start? How much should you cut? Should intensity and frequency come down too? This guide explains how to adjust your training during the taper, walks through a three-week example and shows how to use your training log, recovery data and your own feedback to keep the taper on track.
What Is a Marathon Taper and Why Does It Matter?
A marathon taper is a planned reduction in training load before race day. You cut volume and adjust your schedule to shed accumulated fatigue while holding on to the fitness and adaptations you've built.
The goal is to reach the start line fresh and ready. Research has found that tapering before competition can significantly improve endurance athletes' time-trial performance and time to exhaustion.
How Long Should a Marathon Taper Last?
Most marathon tapers last two to three weeks. A study of training data from more than 158,000 recreational marathon runners found that steadily reducing weekly mileage over the final two weeks was linked to better race performance than a less consistent two-week taper. Runners who followed a strict three-week taper also saw a significantly larger estimated finish-time benefit than those on a strict two-week taper.
To set your taper length, start with your existing plan: note when the taper begins and how many weeks it runs before race day. Stick with that schedule rather than switching at the last minute to a different approach you've read about.
How Should You Adjust Training During a Marathon Taper?
During a marathon taper, you gradually reduce weekly mileage while fine-tuning intensity, frequency and long-run timing. A common approach is to cut overall volume, keep some familiar intensity and your usual running days, and finish your last major long run well before race day. How much you adjust, and when, depends on your training background and your plan.
How Much Should You Reduce Your Mileage?
Use the step-down in weekly mileage from your peak week to race week as your guide:
- High-mileage group (over 90 km/week): 22% ± 12%
- Medium-mileage group (65 to 90 km/week): 28% ± 12%
- Low-mileage group (under 65 km/week): 31% ± 13%
In plans with a three-week taper, mileage dropped further on average from the second taper week to race week:
- High-mileage group: 46% ± 17%
- Medium-mileage group: 54% ± 16%
- Low-mileage group: 50% ± 24%
These figures describe what existing training plans do, not experimentally proven optimal targets. Weigh them against your own training background and plan, and remember that race-week mileage excludes the marathon itself.
Should You Maintain Running Intensity During a Taper?
For the most part, yes. Keep some intensity while you reduce overall volume. Hold on to familiar sessions from your plan to keep your speed sharp, and trim their distance, duration or number of reps.
Work from your existing plan: shorten familiar workouts as needed, and save new high-intensity sessions for your next training block.
How Should You Adjust Running Frequency?
Most runners keep their usual number of running days during a taper and reduce the volume of each run, bringing total volume down gradually.
If you normally run five days a week, keep running five days and shorten each run's distance or duration. Whether to drop a running day depends on your plan and your individual circumstances.
When Should Your Final Major Long Run Be?
Your final major long run usually falls three to four weeks before race day. Exact timing and distance depend on your experience, overall plan and recovery, and should leave enough time to recover before the taper starts. You can also learn more about how to recover after a long run to better understand the recovery process following your final major training run.
Some plans include shorter long runs during the taper. Keep them as scheduled and let their distance come down gradually as race day approaches.
What Does a Marathon Taper Schedule Look Like?
A three-week taper plan shows how training volume steps down before race day, and how long runs and intensity are adjusted along the way.
The table below uses an example peak-week mileage as the baseline to show how weekly mileage, long runs and training focus change across the three weeks.
| Phase |
Example Weekly Mileage |
Long Run |
Intensity and Frequency |
| Example Peak Week |
45 mi (about 72.4 km) |
Complete your final major long run |
Follow your existing training plan |
| Taper Week 1 |
31–36 mi (about 50–58 km) |
14 mi (about 22.5 km) |
Maintain familiar training intensity and your usual running frequency while reducing the volume of individual workouts |
| Taper Week 2 |
21–25 mi (about 34–40 km) |
10 mi (about 16.1 km) |
Continue with familiar training intensity and running frequency while further reducing the volume of individual workouts |
| Race Week |
15–20 mi (about 24–32 km) during the six days before race day |
No regular long run |
Focus on short, easy runs. Take a complete rest day two days before race day. The day before race day, you can choose to do a very easy 20–30-minute run. |
Keep in mind that these mileage percentages and long-run distances are examples and are not fixed guidelines for all runners.
You can use this plan as a reference for understanding the structure of a three-week taper. Compare it with your own training schedule to see whether your weekly mileage is gradually decreasing, whether your final major long run is complete, and whether you've allowed enough time for recovery during race week. If your existing training plan already includes a taper, prioritize following that plan and adjust your training volume and recovery based on your current training condition.
Common Marathon Taper Mistakes
During a taper, it's normal for your training volume to gradually decrease. As race day approaches, suddenly increasing your mileage, making up missed workouts, or copying another runner's plan can all disrupt your taper schedule.
1. Adding Mileage or Intensity at the Last Minute
Some runners worry that they're not running enough as their training volume decreases, leading them to suddenly add more mileage or high-intensity workouts.
However, a taper is a planned reduction in training load. Having a weekly mileage total that's significantly lower than your peak week doesn't mean you've lost the fitness you've built up. To determine whether your taper is on track, consider its duration, your existing training plan, and your recent recovery rather than looking at mileage alone.
If your original plan has already entered the taper phase, avoid suddenly returning to your regular training volume simply because you're worried about running too little.
2. Trying to Make Up for Every Missed Workout
Missing a workout doesn't mean you have to make it up over the next few days.
Whether you need to adjust your upcoming training should depend on your existing plan, how close you are to race day, and your current training load. This is especially important during a taper, when trying to make up missed workouts can disrupt your planned reduction in training volume and add extra training stress.
Rather than automatically adding the missed mileage or workout to your next run, review your upcoming schedule first and decide whether any adjustments are actually necessary.
3. Copying Another Runner’s Taper Plan
Another runner's pre-race taper plan can be a useful reference, but it may not suit your training needs. Even when preparing for the same marathon, runners can have different training backgrounds and recovery needs.
When reviewing someone else's plan, consider these three factors:
- Training background: Compare your weekly mileage before tapering, the number of days you run each week, and the distance of your recent major long runs to see how similar your training backgrounds are.
- Taper structure: Look at how many weeks before race day the other runner starts tapering, how their weekly mileage decreases, and how much training they schedule during race week. When comparing mileage reductions, make sure the calculations use the same baseline, such as the peak weekly mileage before tapering.
- Differences from your existing plan: Compare their schedule with your own and consider whether following it would require changing your current mileage, long-run distances, or workouts. Avoid adding training load or trying unfamiliar workouts just to match someone else's plan.
Even if your training backgrounds are similar, you shouldn't copy another runner's weekly mileage or specific workouts directly. You can use their taper structure as a reference and decide whether to make adjustments based on your existing plan, how fatigued you feel, and your recovery.
How to Monitor Training Load and Recovery During Your Taper
You can monitor whether your taper is progressing as planned by looking at your training load trends, recovery-related information, and how you feel after each workout.
1. Check Your Training Load Trends
First, review your recent training load trends against your training plan.
Suunto sports watches provide training load data and trend views to help you understand your recent training. Through the Progress and Training views, you can access information such as Training Stress Score and long-term and short-term training load.
Suunto watches for marathon training to learn more about the training and performance features available for runners.
These metrics can help you understand changes in training load over different time periods:
- TSS (Training Stress Score): A measure of training stress calculated based on the duration and intensity of an individual workout. It describes the training load generated by that session.
- CTL (Chronic Training Load): Chronic training load, calculated as a weighted average of TSS over a longer period.
- ATL (Acute Training Load): Acute training load, calculated as a weighted average of TSS over the past seven days. It is used to track current fatigue levels.
- TSB (Training Stress Balance): Training Stress Balance, which reflects the difference between CTL and ATL and is used to describe fitness status.
During your taper, compare your recent training load with your original plan to see whether your actual training volume is gradually decreasing.
2. Use Recovery Information to Understand Your Response to Training
As your training load gradually decreases, you can also use recovery-related information to understand how your body is responding to recent training.
You can monitor changes in HRV, sleep, and other recovery-related data during your taper to get a better understanding of your recent recovery. Learn more about how HRV can help you understand recovery and how to interpret changes in your HRV over time.
For example, if your training load has decreased as planned but you still feel fatigued for several consecutive days, you can look at your recent HRV, sleep patterns, and other recovery data to better understand your recovery status.
3. Add Your Own Training Feedback
In addition to objective data, your own feedback matters.
The Feeling feature on Suunto sports watches lets you record how you feel after each workout.
For example, pay attention to the following:
- Several consecutive runs feel harder than usual.
- An easy run at the same intensity feels more challenging than it did before.
Consistently recording how you feel during training can help you understand your subjective response to your taper schedule and decide whether any adjustments are needed based on your existing plan.
4. Review Your Taper Plan Alongside the Data
Finally, bring your training logs, recovery information, and personal feedback together and compare them with your existing taper plan to assess your progress and how your body is responding.
If your actual training deviates significantly from the plan or your fatigue continues to increase, review your upcoming training schedule and consider whether adjustments are needed.
If you're looking for a watch to support your running training, explore Suunto running watches to compare available models and their features.
