So… you’re one week out from the big race. Months of training are behind you, your taper is in full swing, and all you need to do now is… wait? Rest? Stay off your feet? Easy, right? Wrong. Taper week is a mental and physical minefield, and if you’ve ever been there, you know exactly what I mean.
First up: the ghost aches and pains. Out of nowhere, your left foot’s second metatarsal starts whispering doom. Is it fractured? No, but don’t tell that to your brain. Then there’s the neck spasm you swear came from just looking down at your phone. Add in a phantom knee twinge for good measure. Suddenly, you’re Googling things like “can you run a marathon with mild catastrophic pain.”
And let’s not forget the existential doubt spiral. Have I trained enough? You know the answer is yes, but now that you’re running less, you’ve got more time to overanalyze every skipped workout and less-than-stellar long run. Your taper brain doesn’t care about your training peaks; it’s hyper-focused on that one tempo session where you felt sluggish.
Then, there’s the nutrition and hydration dance. Am I carb-loading too soon? Too late? Is this electrolyte drink the right one? Have I started hydrating early enough, or is my salt intake a ticking time bomb? These questions hit harder than your interval sprints.
And the pièce de résistance: the weather forecast. Five days out, it’s perfect. Three days out, it’s torrential rain. The night before? Winds so strong you wonder if you should pack a sail. Oh, and climate change makes predicting race day weather feel like gambling in Vegas.
Take a deep breath. These taper week jitters are all part of the process. Your body is ready. Your training was enough. That neck spasm? It’ll be gone when the adrenaline kicks in. Just trust the work you’ve done and the miles you’ve logged. By the time you toe the starting line, all that angst will melt away… until you’re obsessing about your mile splits, but that’s a story for another day.
Lucky for me I do have a solid group of fellow runners who are very supportive and most have sent me the text in the past 2-3 days... “You’ve got this”, so that’s what I’m holding onto for the rest of this week! Ya.. that'll work! Right?
Happy tapering!
(as if!)