Tapering

There is no right or wrong, just that different people have different opinion.

Similarly walk/run method there is no wrong, just that different people with different opinion.

During the bike session this evening, i was reading on Nov Runners World and come across this interesting article about tapering.

I do not know is it coincident, but this is similar to my frequency of thoughts on tapering. After 8 round of marathons, i think this works for me. There is no right or wrong, just that different people react to different method. What works for me now, does not mean will work for me in the future. Every marathons is a learning session for me.

Some extract from the article:

Tapering--the scaling back of miles to allow the muscles to repair, glycogen supplies to return to normal, and the body to simply rest--is the critical last phase of training. It's no less important to racing success than, say, long runs. But now there's enough anecdotal evidence to suggest that too significant of a reduction may do more harm than good. Just as you can add miles too quickly (and get injured), cutting them drastically can lead to a sluggish or sickly feeling.

It's best to reduce volume by eliminating miles from each of your weekly runs. Do a shorter long run, fewer miles on easy days, and less quality work (instead of eight 800s, run four; instead of four tempo miles, do two). Just don't cut out quality altogether: Multiple studies suggest that some fast-paced running is critical to keeping your lungs and legs sharp.

today's recreational runners simply don't need as much rest as those of 30 years ago. That's because they log 30- to 40-mile weeks instead of 70, making a heavy taper unnecessary.

Tapering correctly is critical. Rest too much and you might feel sluggish on race day; scale back too little and you may feel fatigued.

There is no right or wrong, just different opinion. What is yours?