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TRAINING Χωρίς κατηγορία

Tapering  in Endurance Athletes

3 October 2025
Tapering  in Endurance Athletes
Key Questions
  1. What is tapering?
  2. How much can performance improve with successful tapering?
  3. Are there general tapering principles for all sports? What are the differences between sports?
  4. Should all athletes follow the same tapering strategy or should it be individualized?
  5. How much should training volume decrease? Should training frequency be reduced? Should intensity decrease, remain, or increase?
  6. Is proper tapering science or art?
Introduction
All athletes aim to reach optimal physical and mental condition on race day.
For endurance athletes, e.g., marathoners, who train for months or years for a specific event, achieving peak readiness is the ultimate goal.
Tapering often causes stress, especially in beginners, due to lack of experience.
Successful tapering requires structured periodization during the macrocycle, with effective implementation of both the base and competition preparation phases.
Tapering is the most complex phase of the macrocycle, as research cannot always provide definitive answers, leading many to refer to it as the art of tapering (Henderson, 2016).
Definition
Mujika & Padilla (2000): “Tapering is a non-linear reduction of training load, aiming to reduce psychological and physiological stress from daily training and to optimize performance.”
Goal: Reduce psychological and physiological stress rather than achieve new adaptations during this phase.
ASCTA: Tapering involves gradual reduction of physiological stress and increase of mental stress.
Relationship Between Fatigue and Fitness
  • Athletic readiness (preparedness) depends on both fitness level and fatigue from training.
  • Greater fatigue → longer recovery time needed for optimal performance (Joyce & Lewindon, 2014).
Benefits of Tapering
Physiological and psychological benefits include:
Physiological
  1. Hematological:
    • Increased red blood cell count, hemoglobin, hematocrit
    • Improved performance
    • Increased peak lactate in maximal efforts
    • Maintained or decreased lactate in submaximal efforts
  2. Muscle recovery:
    • Reduced creatine kinase (CK) → repair of microdamage
    • Greater muscle fiber recruitment → increased power
  3. Neuromuscular adaptations:
    • Increased muscle strength and peak power
  4. Hormonal markers:
    • Increased testosterone, decreased cortisol → improved T/C ratio
  5. Reduced injury risk
  6. Immune system support
  7. Psychological:
    • Improved mood, reduced perceived fatigue, better sleep quality
  8. Metabolic:
    • Increased glycogen and water stores
Studies: Mujika et al., 2004; Dorling Kindersley, 2014; Joyce & Lewindon, 2013; Houmard et al., 1994; Hooper et al., 1998; Henderson, 2016.
Effectiveness
  • Muscle power improvement: 8–25% in endurance athletes
  • Overall performance improvement: 2–8%, even in elite athletes (Tonnessen et al., 2014)
Types of Tapering (Kubukeli et al.)
  1. Linear / Progressive Taper
  2. Fast Decay / Exponential Taper
  3. Slow Decay / Exponential Taper
  4. Reduced Training (maintaining training structure)
Note: Abrupt reduction increases the risk of losing adaptations.
Time Phases (Tonnessen, 2014)
  1. Pre-Taper Phase
  2. Final Taper Phase
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Same tapering strategy for all sports?
  • Each sport requires a different protocol.
  • Longer events → longer taper.
2. How many phases for marathon?
  • Recommended: pre-taper + final taper
  • Load reduction: 41–60% from pre-taper to final taper.
3. What changes during taper?
  • Volume: major factor for performance improvement
  • Frequency: maintain ~80% of training sessions
  • Intensity: maintain or increase
4. Mental preparation:
  • Important but often neglected in beginner marathoners
5. Nutrition:
  • Reduce calories according to lower mileage
  • Goal: maximal glycogen stores in muscles and liver on race day
6. Practical tips for beginners:
  • Pre-taper: 7 days before race (36–48 km, 2 interval sessions)
  • Final taper: 14 days before race, volume reduced 40–60%, intensity maintained/increased
  • Race week: 2 easy runs 20–30’ + 1 short warm-up 10–12’
Conclusion
  • Last week: two easy runs + short warm-up
  • Penultimate week: significant reduction in volume and number of sessions
  • Ideally, guidance from an experienced coach optimizes personalized tapering.
References
  • Australian Coaches and Teachers Association. The Physiology of Swimming
  • Bloch GB. How to Train and Run Your Best Marathon, 1993, Editions Fireside
  • Daniels J. Running Formula, 2014, Human Kinetics, 3rd Edition
  • Anderson O. Running Science, 2013, Human Kinetics
  • DK. The Complete Running and Marathon Book, 2014, Dorling Kindersley Limited
  • Henderson. Peaking and Tapering in Endurance Athletes: A Review, 2016
  • Hooper, S. L., Mackinnon, L. T., & Ginn, G E. M., 1998. Eur J Appl Physiol, 78:258–263
  • Hooper, S. L., Mackinnon, L. T., Howard, A., et al., 1995. Med Sci Sports Exerc, 27(1):106
  • Houmard J.A., et al., 1993 & 1994. Med Sci Sports Exerc, 26(5):624–631
  • Joyce D. & Lewindon. High-Performance Training for Sports, 2014, Human Kinetics
  • Mujika & Padilla, 2000 & 2003, Sports Med / Med Sci Sports Exerc
  • Mujika et al., 2004, Med Sci Sports Exerc, 34(13):891–927
  • North American Sport & Fitness Professionals. Marathon Coaches Certification Manual
  • Rietjens GJWM et al., 2001, Br J Sports Med, 35:431–434
  • Roberts M., Get Running, Quadrille Publishing
  • Runner’s World, 1997, Complete Book of Running, Rodale Press
  • Tonnessen et al., 2014, PLoS ONE, 9(7)
GIANNIS PSARELIS

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