How To TAPER - My Favourite Taper Workout | FOD Runner - The FOD Runner

Aug 13, 2025

This is a quick summary of “How To TAPER - My Favourite Taper Workout” from The FOD Runner. It’s a great watch — we’re breaking it down so you can try the workout today. Be sure to check out the full video for all the details.

Key Points:

Tapering means keeping a little speed work while dramatically cutting volume to arrive fresh on race day.
The runner uses a 4 × 3‑minute hard effort with 2‑minute easy jog recovery (total 12 minutes of work) about five days before the race. This session is a perfect example of how versatile interval work can be. For a deeper look at the science and different types of workouts, explore our guide to Mastering Interval Training: Science-Backed Workouts and How a Smart App Can Personalize Them.
Effort is run at a comfortable 10k pace – roughly 5:30–5:40 per kilometre – keeping heart rate at or below marathon‑pace levels. If you need help defining your target pace, our complete guide to Mastering the 10K: Proven Training Plans, Pace Strategies, and How a Smart App Can Elevate Your Performance has you covered.
The goal is to turn the legs over quickly without stressing the body. You should avoid threshold or tempo intensity in the final week. This is a far cry from the all-out efforts required for pure speed development, like those in our guide to Mastering 5K Speed: Proven Interval Strategies to Cut Minutes off Your Time; the focus here is strictly on priming your legs for race day.
One focused speed session in the taper week is enough; the rest of the week should be easy runs or rest.

Workout Example:

Warm‑up 10–15 min easy running.
4 repeats of:
- 3 min hard at 10k race‑pace (≈5:30–5:40 km).
- 2 min easy jog or walk for recovery.
Cool‑down 10 min easy. Total hard work: 12 minutes.

Practical Tips:

Track your heart rate; stay in the marathon‑pace zone to keep stress low.
If 3‑minute intervals feel too easy, you can extend to 4 min, but keep the total hard time around 12 min.
Adjust the pace to match your own 10k speed – the key is “comfortably hard,” not all‑out sprint.
Schedule the session 5 days before race day; it’s the last speed stimulus you need.

Closing Note:

Give this taper workout a go and see how fresh you feel at the start line. Feel free to tweak the interval length or pace to suit your own training, and you can easily set it up in the Pacing app for a personalized version. Happy running