Hiya Sage, thanks for the video it was quite informative. I've always tapered quite differently to most. Normally a 12 day taper where the last 5 days have no running (sporting) at all. By the time race day hits my legs are itching like mad to be stretched out across the course. It's great as long as I keep my head and don't sprint all the energy out in the first few km.
Thanks for explaining the reduction in fitness! I've experienced this in training for my first marathon. It shook my confidence, but it's nice to hear that it's a normal experience.
Thanks for posting man. I've got the Blue Ridge Marathon in two weeks, so a little too close for me to want to change at this point. Decided on a three week taper this round. We'll see how it goes!
I will also follow up with the notion that when I've overtrained in the past I can usually point back 3-4 weeks before race day and see efforts that were "too hard". Usually the fatigue is cumulative so it is all about not pushing your body to the point where it can't come back and "super compensate." It's better to be 10% undertrained than 1% overtrained (or injured!).
hey sage! could you do a gear video. not just what you have but also what you have from every thing? or to do a video about how to jump from lets say 90-100 k weeks to 120-130 weeks? thank you!
i just try to eat semi-healthy (i.e. cut out a beer or two there and some vegan donuts/cake). I've checked my weight a couple times in the last few months and it naturally dropped a few pounds this training cycling (I'm about 146-145lbs now). When I started training I was about 150. This week I will check everyday as it is easy for me to put on weight when I am tapering. I'd like to toe that starting line race morning with a race weight of 144-145lbs. This is actually light for me. My freshman year of college I weighed over 155lbs. "Water weight" and glycogen stores can easily cause weight to change by several pounds though so it is important to note hydration status.
I think Pfitzinger is better than Daniels (and a big influence of mine in marathon training!). Of course Pfitzinger is also a Cornell grad, a former Olympic Marathoner, and an Exercise Science guy!
Vo2maxProductions, Sage, Pete's workouts are simpler to follow. A friend described Pete's books as Daniels' "missing volume two" that actually explained how to train, what to prioritize and when, etc.
My halfmarathon is 12 days away from now and my fullmarathon is 20 days away.. i took a vacation already for 2 weeks with no running at all.. should i taper these last days or no ?
Hi Sage - I have a half marathon on coming Sunday. I did 16k today @ 4:12 pace. Can you please advise plan for the coming week? I am targeting 1:28 for my half,
Hi Sage, do you also base your mountain ultra training plans on weekly distance? I run 80k per week on average, peaking to 100-120 before taper for big races (UTMB etc.), but I base my training on time rather than distance, as it takes foreeeeever to cover 40-50k in the mountains when training. My weekly long runs would peak at 40/50k with 4000+ metres of vertical, but these runs would take 6-8 hours depending on route. Keen to hear your take on distance vs. time for ultra training.
I'd like to know more regarding training when you are running a series or a number of races through the summer. Is it just an abbreviated schedule between? For instance I have a 50 mile race this weekend and a 50k in 6 weeks. Time for recovery, back to regular sessions then into another taper. Perhaps an idea for another training talk.
Of course it depends on you. And how long you need to recover to get back into "normal" training after the 50 miler. I did a 100 miler ultra marathon in the mountains with elevation gain one week after doing a 24 hour race and clocking in over 100 miles. I would not suggest that. In the 100 miler after the 24 hour, I was okay until after maybe mile 20 or so.
I'm hoping for at least top 20 again this year! It's going to be super competitive. Unfortunately for me top 5 is a bit unrealistic....I'll try my best for the sub 2:19:00 time at least though!
Great advice for a soon to be first time marathoner. I am using the Stryd plan and towards the end just before the taper. I was wondering why my legs are feeling a bit dead. As it turns out, it’s normal just before the taper.
Beginner question here... I look at training plans and they don't even make sense to me because I don't understand all the different training routines... tempo, speed, fartlek, surge, float... Is there a good guide somewhere to what all these terms mean and how to do them on your own (no coach, no special equipment besides a smartphone)? Thanks and good luck with your race!
all of our SageRunning plans come with a Training Guide booklet that explain every type of workout. Check out our free "Pace Intensity Spectrum Chart download." For now, forget about the terms "float and surge." Search on of my videos on "Tempo Run Training." The term "fartlek" roughly translates to "speed play" and was/is seen as a run where you may randomly speed up for a certain distance/period of time. Perhaps you are running and see a mailbox 200m away...you start sprinting towards it. Then you run easy/slowly until you feel like speeding up again. However, this can be more structured (in my case I use my watch to time these chances in pace). I might do a "fartlek" where I run fast for 3-min (i.e. 10km race pace/effort) and then run easy for 2-min. I then repeat that cycle 8 times. So we could say that is 8 x (3-min fast, 2-min easy). All you need is a stopwatch. Some may label that workout as "timed intervals" and say that on the 3-minutes of harder running that you are "surging" (or speeding up). Unlike track workouts we might not know the distance we run in the harder 3-min time period though and we also might not hold a steady pace. This is okay because we are still running hard at times though! Check out my other videos on "Strides" and "Vo2max Training"
Google running articles or something similar and start reading. And look up the terms perhaps in wikipedia. And yes there are tons of running books out there.
+RD Dragaon Try simply easy running and slowly increasing your mileage per week until you can run 5 or 6 days per week for a total mileage of maybe 40 miles per week. Then take a look at the training plans.
With your training cycle i think you are over estimating the "super-compensation" This occurs when you have sustained planned over training, so your performance will be decreasing steadily over weeks of training, before doing a 10 day or so taper leading to a large increase in peak fitness. However with your training heading into Boston it seems you haven't "over-worked" enough to put your body in a big fatigue state. Instead you have steadily increased over weeks, building to a peak for boston. A 2 week taper seems a bit much, research seems to be heading towards 10 day out tapers instead.
the "super compensation" picture wasn't supposed to be my actual training for Boston. It was just an example of a super compensation curve. Whether someone tapers for 10 days or 3 weeks really depends on their training and event target/focus. I don't really seem to notice a big difference between 10-14 days for a "cut back in mileage" but I would not blast a Vo2max workout within 10 days of a key race! For some ultras I think a 14-18 day taper is better. But it depends on how you define the taper phase and exactly what relative mileage you have been doing and the nature of the workouts...as well as your genetics.
Ahh i see, i thought you were saying it was what you were doing for Boston sorry. As for the taper you know what works for you running for so long, but typically im seeing for "shorter" distance races like 10k up to marathon (for top runners, aka race time below 3 hours) the taper shouldn't be too extreme and far out, where as if your gonna do an ultra going up to crazy mileage like Moab 240 ect... your going to want to have a little possible fatigue going in, even at the sacrifice of sub-optimal "fitness" which will decrease as you taper 2 weeks out. Of course these are just my thoughts, complied from reading a bunch of different study's/philosophies
I had been training for my first marathon utilizing this marathon training program “Zοrοtοn Axy” (Google it). This book has a wonderful training schedule and idea. If you`re running a marathon for the first time, you should attempt this informative guide. I have been running 5ks, 10k and half marathons and decided to take the following big step to the marathon. .
I'm sorry but IMO too much volume too close to race day. 88 miles two weeks out? 60 miles a week out? There is no way you can lose fitness in a week or even two (over three weeks you could). Saying, "My body is used to that much mileage," I think that is more psychological. With some more rest you would see better results. Yes some speed maintenance needed, but not that much volume. In the last marathon you reported feeling bad early in the race; that shouldn't happen. Many times you point to "overtraining" or "undertraining".. I would reconsider the taper phase ("undertapering", if you will). Anyway, just trying to help. Good luck at the Boston; I hope you achieve your goal time.
+Paul Good point. You do want to be as fully rested as possible before your race. I unfortunately knew that but implementing it was another story. I always seemed to have a lot of things to do before the race and would be up late getting things ready and only get a few hours of sleep. Too bad. I spent a lot of time training!!!
Yes. Lots of rest and limited physical activity. Eat a little less to avoid weight gain. Also, it's better to err on the side of overtapering rather than undertapering.. most people do the latter, unfortunately.
Good luck Sage! We’re pulling for you!
Best of luck for Boston. I have been following you for months and was happy to see you will be there. I am doing it myself.
Perfect timing, the Cincinnati Flying Pig marathon is 2.5 weeks away. Good luck in the Boston, you can do it!
Hiya Sage,
thanks for the video it was quite informative. I've always tapered quite differently to most. Normally a 12 day taper where the last 5 days have no running (sporting) at all. By the time race day hits my legs are itching like mad to be stretched out across the course. It's great as long as I keep my head and don't sprint all the energy out in the first few km.
Good luck Monday. I'm from the Boston area and I'll be on the course somewhere. I hope to run it someday.
Thanks for explaining the reduction in fitness! I've experienced this in training for my first marathon. It shook my confidence, but it's nice to hear that it's a normal experience.
Thanks for posting man. I've got the Blue Ridge Marathon in two weeks, so a little too close for me to want to change at this point. Decided on a three week taper this round. We'll see how it goes!
I will also follow up with the notion that when I've overtrained in the past I can usually point back 3-4 weeks before race day and see efforts that were "too hard". Usually the fatigue is cumulative so it is all about not pushing your body to the point where it can't come back and "super compensate." It's better to be 10% undertrained than 1% overtrained (or injured!).
That diagram is really helpful with a long ultra on my horizon 8 weeks from now
Good luck Sage!
Sage's tapering volume is equal to my peak workout volume lol
That's great video again😀 also I would like to know, after race first week recovering training plan as well🤔
SEE YOU IN BOSTON!!
Good luck in Boston hope to see you there
Good luck in Boston!
hey sage! could you do a gear video. not just what you have but also what you have from every thing? or to do a video about how to jump from lets say 90-100 k weeks to 120-130 weeks?
thank you!
wealth of knowledge
Thanks for the info sage. Going for a BQ at Napa in two weeks, this will help me chill out while still doing a bit of fast stuff.
Did you qualify?
Good luck in Boston your looking very lean , do you go into marathons lighter or is it something you watch at all?
i just try to eat semi-healthy (i.e. cut out a beer or two there and some vegan donuts/cake). I've checked my weight a couple times in the last few months and it naturally dropped a few pounds this training cycling (I'm about 146-145lbs now). When I started training I was about 150. This week I will check everyday as it is easy for me to put on weight when I am tapering. I'd like to toe that starting line race morning with a race weight of 144-145lbs. This is actually light for me. My freshman year of college I weighed over 155lbs. "Water weight" and glycogen stores can easily cause weight to change by several pounds though so it is important to note hydration status.
Vo2maxProductions Thanks Sage , best of luck , hopefully conditions are favourable and you get the result your training deserves .
Excellent Vid!
Boston 2018!!!
Nice....chart helps. Must feel very good to be race fit and....taper relaxing a bit.
Hey sage, can you make a video on tapering for track events like the mile.
sure thing!
I like to run twice week of the race. 48hr between runs and 48hrs prior to race day
Thanks sage. I will be running my first half in August and I'm building base now. I was wondering what you think about pfigzinger trainings plan?
Julio Calzadilla , I know you asked Sage but I've used Pfitzinger's marathon plan from Advanced Marathoning, and I like it. I've BQed three times.
I think Pfitzinger is better than Daniels (and a big influence of mine in marathon training!). Of course Pfitzinger is also a Cornell grad, a former Olympic Marathoner, and an Exercise Science guy!
Vo2maxProductions, Sage, Pete's workouts are simpler to follow. A friend described Pete's books as Daniels' "missing volume two" that actually explained how to train, what to prioritize and when, etc.
For your easy runs, do you do more toward recovery or general aerobic effort?
My halfmarathon is 12 days away from now and my fullmarathon is 20 days away.. i took a vacation already for 2 weeks with no running at all.. should i taper these last days or no ?
Just wondering, whats the mileage like for 'easy'?
nice haircut man :-) and also good content as ussually :-)
Good luck 👍👍
What are your thoughts on fasting, ketogenic diet, and being fat adapted vs using carbs as fuel for endurance training?
Hi Sage - I have a half marathon on coming Sunday. I did 16k today @ 4:12 pace. Can you please advise plan for the coming week? I am targeting 1:28 for my half,
Hey Sage, quick question, what role does strength training play in your tapering phase?
Is there a name for the "dip" in the graph? Where you are tired, fitness drops, etc. before super compensation?
I've overdone before a couple races...great reminder bro!!
What about the poems winners Sage?
Hi Sage, do you also base your mountain ultra training plans on weekly distance? I run 80k per week on average, peaking to 100-120 before taper for big races (UTMB etc.), but I base my training on time rather than distance, as it takes foreeeeever to cover 40-50k in the mountains when training. My weekly long runs would peak at 40/50k with 4000+ metres of vertical, but these runs would take 6-8 hours depending on route. Keen to hear your take on distance vs. time for ultra training.
I'd like to know more regarding training when you are running a series or a number of races through the summer. Is it just an abbreviated schedule between? For instance I have a 50 mile race this weekend and a 50k in 6 weeks. Time for recovery, back to regular sessions then into another taper. Perhaps an idea for another training talk.
Of course it depends on you. And how long you need to recover to get back into "normal" training after the 50 miler. I did a 100 miler ultra marathon in the mountains with elevation gain one week after doing a 24 hour race and clocking in over 100 miles. I would not suggest that. In the 100 miler after the 24 hour, I was okay until after maybe mile 20 or so.
When is a good time for a Tune Up Half Marathon in a Marathon Block? Around the first peak? Is that weekk 8 of 12? Just before peak volume?
5 weeks from race day
Top 5
I'm hoping for at least top 20 again this year! It's going to be super competitive. Unfortunately for me top 5 is a bit unrealistic....I'll try my best for the sub 2:19:00 time at least though!
Great advice for a soon to be first time marathoner. I am using the Stryd plan and towards the end just before the taper. I was wondering why my legs are feeling a bit dead. As it turns out, it’s normal just before the taper.
Beginner question here... I look at training plans and they don't even make sense to me because I don't understand all the different training routines... tempo, speed, fartlek, surge, float... Is there a good guide somewhere to what all these terms mean and how to do them on your own (no coach, no special equipment besides a smartphone)? Thanks and good luck with your race!
all of our SageRunning plans come with a Training Guide booklet that explain every type of workout. Check out our free "Pace Intensity Spectrum Chart download." For now, forget about the terms "float and surge." Search on of my videos on "Tempo Run Training." The term "fartlek" roughly translates to "speed play" and was/is seen as a run where you may randomly speed up for a certain distance/period of time. Perhaps you are running and see a mailbox 200m away...you start sprinting towards it. Then you run easy/slowly until you feel like speeding up again. However, this can be more structured (in my case I use my watch to time these chances in pace). I might do a "fartlek" where I run fast for 3-min (i.e. 10km race pace/effort) and then run easy for 2-min. I then repeat that cycle 8 times. So we could say that is 8 x (3-min fast, 2-min easy). All you need is a stopwatch. Some may label that workout as "timed intervals" and say that on the 3-minutes of harder running that you are "surging" (or speeding up). Unlike track workouts we might not know the distance we run in the harder 3-min time period though and we also might not hold a steady pace. This is okay because we are still running hard at times though! Check out my other videos on "Strides" and "Vo2max Training"
Google running articles or something similar and start reading. And look up the terms perhaps in wikipedia. And yes there are tons of running books out there.
+RD Dragaon Try simply easy running and slowly increasing your mileage per week until you can run 5 or 6 days per week for a total mileage of maybe 40 miles per week. Then take a look at the training plans.
Thanks
Third thumb :)
With your training cycle i think you are over estimating the "super-compensation" This occurs when you have sustained planned over training, so your performance will be decreasing steadily over weeks of training, before doing a 10 day or so taper leading to a large increase in peak fitness. However with your training heading into Boston it seems you haven't "over-worked" enough to put your body in a big fatigue state. Instead you have steadily increased over weeks, building to a peak for boston. A 2 week taper seems a bit much, research seems to be heading towards 10 day out tapers instead.
the "super compensation" picture wasn't supposed to be my actual training for Boston. It was just an example of a super compensation curve. Whether someone tapers for 10 days or 3 weeks really depends on their training and event target/focus. I don't really seem to notice a big difference between 10-14 days for a "cut back in mileage" but I would not blast a Vo2max workout within 10 days of a key race! For some ultras I think a 14-18 day taper is better. But it depends on how you define the taper phase and exactly what relative mileage you have been doing and the nature of the workouts...as well as your genetics.
Ahh i see, i thought you were saying it was what you were doing for Boston sorry. As for the taper you know what works for you running for so long, but typically im seeing for "shorter" distance races like 10k up to marathon (for top runners, aka race time below 3 hours) the taper shouldn't be too extreme and far out, where as if your gonna do an ultra going up to crazy mileage like Moab 240 ect... your going to want to have a little possible fatigue going in, even at the sacrifice of sub-optimal "fitness" which will decrease as you taper 2 weeks out. Of course these are just my thoughts, complied from reading a bunch of different study's/philosophies
The curve isn't based on actual data either. I would like to see some actual data that creates the curve!!!
60 miles the week before the marathon?! I’m aiming to do like 20
First
I had been training for my first marathon utilizing this marathon training program “Zοrοtοn Axy” (Google it). This book has a wonderful training schedule and idea. If you`re running a marathon for the first time, you should attempt this informative guide. I have been running 5ks, 10k and half marathons and decided to take the following big step to the marathon. .
I'm sorry but IMO too much volume too close to race day. 88 miles two weeks out? 60 miles a week out? There is no way you can lose fitness in a week or even two (over three weeks you could). Saying, "My body is used to that much mileage," I think that is more psychological. With some more rest you would see better results. Yes some speed maintenance needed, but not that much volume. In the last marathon you reported feeling bad early in the race; that shouldn't happen. Many times you point to "overtraining" or "undertraining".. I would reconsider the taper phase ("undertapering", if you will). Anyway, just trying to help. Good luck at the Boston; I hope you achieve your goal time.
+Paul Good point. You do want to be as fully rested as possible before your race. I unfortunately knew that but implementing it was another story. I always seemed to have a lot of things to do before the race and would be up late getting things ready and only get a few hours of sleep. Too bad. I spent a lot of time training!!!
Yes. Lots of rest and limited physical activity. Eat a little less to avoid weight gain. Also, it's better to err on the side of overtapering rather than undertapering.. most people do the latter, unfortunately.
Good luck Sage!