The Rest Is Easy

If you look closely at the training schedules in the two previous chapters, you might have noticed that I have you doing less work as your goal race nears, not more. That’s especially the case in the marathon schedule—your last long run is three weeks before your marathon. Whatever happened to use it or lose it?
Preparing for a top effort isn’t like cramming for a test or meeting a deadline at work. It takes time for your body to get the benefits of a training session. The day after a long run, you feel tired. But two weeks later, you feel stronger. The longer your race, the more important tapering is. In the marathon, tapering is especially important because of the whole glycogen-storage issue. When you taper, then obviously you’re not draining your glycogen supply as much. But because of your long runs, you’ve tricked your muscles into thinking that they had better be ready anytime, anywhere to fuel you for hours. So even though you’re barely running, they’re still suspicious that something is up, and they keep stockpiling glycogen at a high level. This gives you a larger gas tank on race day.
Notice what I said—you’re barely running. That’s a lot different than not running at all. If you follow the tapering plan in the marathon schedule, you’ll maintain the benefits of your hard work. Once you become fit, you don’t have to do as much running to maintain that fitness, at least for awhile. So in the three weeks before your marathon, you can, and should, gradually reduce your training.
Do your longest run three weeks before the marathon. The following week, do no more than 75 percent of your usual weekly mileage. The week after that, do no more than 60 percent of your usual weekly mileage. And the week before the marathon, do no more than 50 percent of your usual weekly mileage.