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How long should a marathon taper be?
Two to three weeks, with weekly volume cut and fast running and most running days kept, is what the research supports. Whether two or three is better is not settled.
A marathon taper of two to three weeks is what the research supports: cut your weekly volume, and keep your fast running and most of your running days.1, 2, 3 Two meta-analyses of tapering studies found volume cuts of 41–60% effective when training intensity and frequency stayed the same.1, 2
A study of the Strava logs of 158,117 recreational marathoners found that strict tapers, in which training volume falls each week into the race, were associated with better marathon performance than relaxed ones.4 A strict 3-week taper was linked to a median finish time 5 min 32.4 s (2.6%) faster than a minimal taper.4 That is an association in training logs, not proof that the taper made the difference.4
The other evidence here comes mostly from athletes: the two meta-analyses pooled 27 studies of competitive athletes and 14 studies of endurance athletes.1, 2 Of the studies this guide draws on, the Strava one is the only one in recreational marathoners.4 Each claim below links to its source, and our editorial standards say how each one is checked.
What a taper is and what it can do
A taper is a planned cut in training before a race; a 2003 review puts its aim as minimising accumulated fatigue without losing the adaptations training has built.3 The same review reports that performance usually improves by about 3% (usual range 0.5–6.0%), in athletes in general rather than marathoners.3
In the 2023 meta-analysis of 14 studies in endurance athletes, tapers of up to 21 days improved time-trial performance, but VO2max (maximal oxygen consumption) and economy of movement did not improve.2 So think of the taper as a way to arrive rested, not a time to add fitness.
What to cut and what to keep
Cut volume
The 2007 meta-analysis, of 27 studies in competitive athletes, concluded that a 2-week taper with training volume cut progressively by 41–60% seems to be the most efficient strategy.1 The 2023 meta-analysis, of 14 studies in endurance athletes, found a taper of up to 21 days with the same 41–60% cut effective.2 The 2003 review advised cutting volume by up to 60–90%, and a 2010 review of moderately and highly trained athletes concluded that volume can be markedly reduced without hurting performance.3, 5 In practice, each taper week should be clearly lighter than a normal week, not a token trim.
Keep intensity
In the 2007 meta-analysis, the volume cut came without any change in training intensity.1 The 2010 review concluded that the training load should not be reduced at the expense of intensity during a taper.5 A small randomised crossover trial compared 7-day tapers in nine highly trained male middle-distance runners.6 Time to fatigue at 1,500 m pace rose by 22% after the high-intensity, low-volume taper, while a low-intensity, moderate-volume taper (up 6%) and rest alone (down 3%) left it unaffected.6 In a survey of elite British runners, the long-distance and marathon runners’ hardest taper intervals were above race speed (112% and 114% of it), though that records what they did rather than testing what works.7 In practice, keep your speed work at the pace you usually run it, and make each session shorter.
Keep most of your running days
In the 2007 meta-analysis, the volume cut came without any change in training frequency either.1 The 2003 review advised reducing frequency only slightly, by no more than 20%.3 If you run five days a week, that means four or five days, each run shorter.
Step down, don’t bounce back
In the Strava study, strict tapers were associated with better marathon performance than relaxed ones.4 Most runners in the data used the less disciplined kind.4 Strict tapers also tended to be associated with greater peak weekly distances, which the authors suggest could be due to more experienced runners, with greater training loads, adopting strict tapers.4 So the runners, not only their tapers, may have differed. Even so, a steady step-down is easy to plan: make each week lower than the one before, and don’t add a bigger week back in.
How to apply it
The first table sums up what to keep, cut or leave open, with the evidence for each. The second turns it into a three-week taper, in words rather than percentages.
| What | What to do | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly volume | Cut it | Cuts of 41–60% were effective in two meta-analyses of athletes.1, 2 |
| Fast running | Keep it, in shorter sessions at your usual pace | A meta-analysis held intensity, a review advises against cutting it, and a high-intensity taper came out ahead in a small trial.1, 5, 6 |
| Running days | Keep all or most of them | Unchanged in a meta-analysis; cut by no more than 20% in a review’s advice.1, 3 |
| How you step down | Each week lower than the one before | Strict tapers were associated with better marathon performance in recreational runners.4 |
| Length | Two or three weeks, to suit your calendar | A meta-analysis favoured 2 weeks; the recreational study, up to 3.1, 4 |
| Exact weekly cuts | Leave open: any steady step-down | The meta-analyses give one range for the cut, 41–60%, not a figure for each week.1, 2 |
| Week | Volume | Fast running | Running days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Three weeks out | Lower than your last full week | One or two of your usual sessions, shorter, at your usual pace | Your usual days |
| Two weeks out | Lower than the week before | The same sessions, shorter again | Your usual days |
| Race week | Lower again, then the race | Some, in one short session | Your usual days, the race among them |
In RunFast
RunFast’s race plans run base, build, peak and taper into race day. A marathon taper lasts three weeks, race week included (two weeks for a half marathon, one for a 5K or 10K). The two weeks before race week are planned at 80% and then 62% of your last week before the taper: from 60 km (37 miles), about 48 km (30 miles), then 37 km (23 miles). Each keeps your own training days and one interval session, and its long run is capped at 38% of the week’s volume. Race week has no tempo or interval session: an easy shakeout four days before the race, a short primer with strides two days before, and rest on the other days, however many days you usually run. If you run four or more days a week, that is fewer runs than the table above suggests, with strides in place of its short fast session. A marathon plan shorter than five weeks gets a shorter taper.
Where the evidence is thin or mixed
Two weeks or three
The 2007 meta-analysis favoured 2 weeks, while the Strava study found tapers of up to 3 weeks associated with better performance than shorter ones.1, 4 The 2023 meta-analysis found that tapers of up to 7 days, 8–14 days and 15–21 days each improved time-trial performance, which shows each length can work, not that they work equally well.2 The 2003 review put the optimal length anywhere from 4 to more than 28 days.3 In the survey of elite British runners, the marathoners tapered for a median of 14 days (interquartile range 8 days).7
In the Strava data, a strict 2-week taper’s finish-time benefit (2.14% for men, 3.12% for women) was close to a strict 3-week taper’s (2.38% and 3.19%), a gap of 0.24 percentage points for men and 0.07 for women.4 A strict 4-week taper’s (2.34% and 2.63%) was no larger than the 3-week one’s.4 Strictness was linked to performance too, so a comparison you may see elsewhere, strict three weeks against relaxed two, mixes length with strictness.4
In practice, pick two or three weeks to suit your calendar, and put your care into stepping down steadily.
Association, not cause
The Strava study is observational: it shows which tapers went with faster times, not what caused them.4 The authors also note that keeping only each runner’s fastest marathon of the year could overestimate the effect of tapering.4
Who was studied
The 2007 meta-analysis pooled studies of competitive athletes, and the 2023 one studies of endurance athletes whose level its abstract doesn’t state.1, 2 The randomised trials here are small and in middle-distance runners: nine highly trained men with 7-day tapers, and eight well-trained runners with 6-day tapers.6, 8 The survey covered elite British runners.7 Treat their numbers as a guide to direction and scale, not a prescription.
Running days
The sources differ slightly here: in the 2007 meta-analysis frequency stayed the same, while the 2003 review advised cutting it by no more than 20%.1, 3 Either way, keep most of your runs.
Where a taper showed no gain
In a randomised trial of eight well-trained middle-distance runners, neither a 50% nor a 75% progressive cut in low-intensity training over 6 days significantly improved 800 m performance.8 And the 2023 meta-analysis found no improvement in VO2max or economy of movement.2 Treat the gains reported above as typical, not promised.
Common questions
How much should I cut my weekly mileage?
Two meta-analyses, of competitive and of endurance athletes, found a cut of 41–60% in training volume effective.1, 2 The 2003 review advised cuts of up to 60–90%, and the 2010 review found that volume can be markedly reduced without hurting performance.3, 5 Within that, step down each week rather than chasing an exact weekly figure.
Should I keep doing fast running in a taper?
Yes: in the 2007 meta-analysis the volume cut came without any change in intensity, and the 2010 review concluded that load shouldn’t be cut at the expense of intensity.1, 5 In a small trial of highly trained middle-distance runners, the high-intensity, low-volume taper was the one that raised time to fatigue, by 22%.6 Elite British marathon runners in a survey ran their hardest taper intervals above race speed.7 Keep the sessions, and shorten them.
Should I run fewer days a week?
Only slightly, if at all: in the 2007 meta-analysis training frequency stayed the same, and the 2003 review advised cutting it by no more than 20%.1, 3 On five running days a week, that is four or five.
Is a four-week taper too long?
Not necessarily: the 2003 review put the optimal taper length anywhere from 4 to more than 28 days.3 But in the Strava data on recreational marathoners, a strict 4-week taper’s finish-time benefit (2.34% for men, 2.63% for women) was no larger than a strict 3-week one’s (2.38% and 3.19%).4
This guide is general information, not medical advice. If you have an injury, a health condition or are pregnant, ask a doctor or physiotherapist before changing how you train or eat.
Related guides
- Marathon pace chart: pace and splits for your goal timeFind your goal time for the even pace and splits to run it, per kilometre and per mile, then see what the research says about holding that pace over 42.195 km.
- How a marathon training plan is builtA marathon training plan combines rising weekly distance, a long run, easy and hard running, lighter weeks and a taper. The research backs some of these parts and says little about how to combine them.
- 80/20 running: what the research says80/20 running means keeping most training easy. A 2024 meta-analysis found a small VO2peak advantage for polarised training, but small studies in recreational runners found no significant difference in performance.
Sources
- Bosquet L, Montpetit J, Arvisais D, Mujika I. Effects of tapering on performance: a meta-analysis. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 2007. doi:10.1249/mss.0b013e31806010e0
- Wang Z, Wang YT, Gao W, Zhong Y. Effects of tapering on performance in endurance athletes: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLOS ONE. 2023. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0282838
- Mujika I, Padilla S. Scientific bases for precompetition tapering strategies. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 2003. doi:10.1249/01.mss.0000074448.73931.11
- Smyth B, Lawlor A. Longer disciplined tapers improve marathon performance for recreational runners. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living. 2021. doi:10.3389/fspor.2021.735220
- Mujika I. Intense training: the key to optimal performance before and during the taper. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports. 2010. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0838.2010.01189.x
- Shepley B, MacDougall JD, Cipriano N, Sutton JR, Tarnopolsky MA, Coates G. Physiological effects of tapering in highly trained athletes. Journal of Applied Physiology. 1992. doi:10.1152/jappl.1992.72.2.706
- Spilsbury KL, Fudge BW, Ingham SA, Faulkner SH, Nimmo MA. Tapering strategies in elite British endurance runners. European Journal of Sport Science. 2015. doi:10.1080/17461391.2014.955128
- Mujika I, Goya A, Padilla S, Grijalba A, Gorostiaga E, Ibañez J. Physiological responses to a 6-d taper in middle-distance runners: influence of training intensity and volume. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 2000. doi:10.1097/00005768-200002000-00038