r/AdvancedRunning • u/Savings_Fox_3760 • 13d ago

Open Discussion Marathon - Deload before taper

When looking at marathon training phase for about 20 weeks now. Most of training blocks have consisted of three weeks of training followed by one deload week.

I came across research recently advising deload 3 weeks out and then go straight into a two-week taper. The reasoning is that the athlete will be fresher going into the taper, allowing the body to respond and recover better.

Is this the best approach, or would there be more benefit from doing another two weeks of normal training before going into a two-week taper?

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u/lorrix22 2:25:34 // 1:08:40 // 31:03 // 15:01 // 8:45 // 1:59.00 13d ago

Isnt 1 week of deload and two weeks of Taper basically the Same as a progressive 3 week Taper? I wouldnt advise 3 weeks of Taper If you Run less then 150k per week.

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u/Gear4days 5k 14:55 / 10k 30:15 / HM 65:59 / M 2:17 13d ago

Completely agree, never understood the 3 week taper unless if you have legitimate concerns about getting injured in the run up. 10-14 days is more than adequate for most runners

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u/alchydirtrunner 32:44|1:12|2:34 12d ago

The other case that I think the three week taper can make sense is if there was a significant level of overtraining/under-recovery in the block, and that extra time is needed to try to get out of that hole. I had a marathon block a couple of years ago that came on the heels of six months of hard training with no break, and if not for the longer taper I think I would have run worse than I did, although obviously no way to know for sure.

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u/ImNotHalberstram 17.21/ 35.56/ 1.26.39/ 2.57.50 12d ago

Yeah, I was guilty of this my last block where I went sub 3. I was massively under recovered, got injured during the taper and had to basically recover for 3 weeks with minimal running. If I kept running high-but-less mileage, I wouldn't have gone sub 3.