Taper Race-Pace Sharpener

Workout - Taper Race-Pace Sharpener

• 12min @ 10'00''/km
• 15.0km @ 5'30''/km
• 12min @ 12'00''/km

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Intro

A look at what Ben Is Running covers in “LET THE MARATHON TAPER BEGIN… (ROAD TO VALENCIA EP.7)”. A solid breakdown of taper strategy, with a workout you can run this week. Watch the full video for the complete picture.

Key points

• Gradual vs aggressive taper: Ben lays out two approaches. Gradual (hold peak mileage then reduce over 2-3 weeks) and aggressive (sharp drop after peaking, race a week later). He prefers the gradual method. Legs feel fresher on race day, though you trade a small amount of fitness.
• Taper volume: peak mileage in the video sits around 180 km/week for three weeks. Week 1 of the taper drops to 160 km, then dips to about 90 km in the final week before race day.
• Keep intensity high: cutting volume doesn’t mean cutting intensity. Hold your key sessions to protect fitness. Marathon-pace runs are the focus, but the principle applies across all training. Our guide on Mastering Interval Training: Science-Backed Workouts and How a Smart App Can Personalize Them goes further.
• Practical tip: put the key marathon-pace run on Friday. That leaves two full recovery days before the next hard session.

Workout example

Week 1 of taper (from the video):

• Monday: easy run, 18 km.
• Friday: 15 km at marathon race-pace (the key session). This preps you for the full 26.2, which is different from the short fast repeats needed for 5K training. See Mastering 5K Speed: Proven Interval Strategies to Cut Minutes off Your Time.
• Sunday: 35 km long run at an easy pace.
• Scale to your own weekly volume and hold your target race pace. Use a pacing app to dial in the numbers for your fitness.

Closing note

Take this taper structure and adapt it to your own training, adjusting distances and paces. You’ll give up some fitness but gain fresher legs on race morning. The same taper logic applies to any distance. For other distances, see Mastering the 10K: Proven Training Plans, Pace Strategies, and How a Smart App Can Elevate Your Performance.

References

• LET THE MARATHON TAPER BEGIN… (ROAD TO VALENCIA EP.7) - YouTube (YouTube Video)