How to taper for a 10k

With just over a week to go before racing the Bolder Boulder, it's time to taper. But how, specifically, should I do it? It seems like every running guru and coach has a different idea. I poked around the net to see what I could find.

I found an article by Pete Pfitzinger on copacabanarunners.net about tapering. It answered some key questions.

The first question about tapering should be, does it work? The answer, according to Pfitzinger and numerous studies, is a definite yes. Tapering can result in a 2-8% performance improvement, with 3% being about typical. For someone who runs a 10k in 40 minutes, that would mean over a minute improvement. Sounds pretty good to me!

Regarding the length of the ideal taper, Pfitzinger goes on to recommend a 7-10 day taper for 5k and 10k races. That's right at the point I'm at now.

The big question about tapering (and the only one I've seen significant disagreement about...see below) is whether you should taper volume or intensity, or both. Pfitzinger says, "The scientific evidence clearly indicates that the key to effective tapering is to substantially cut back your mileage, but to maintain the intensity of your training." He recommends cutting back to 50% of normal mileage for the week leading up to a goal 10k race.

Bob Cooper from Runner's World agrees, and goes a step further by offering specific workouts for a taper in the following:

Tapering isn't just for marathoners. In fact, one recent study showed a huge performance benefit when subjects tapered for a 5K. Here's how to taper for four road-racing distances:

5K:

Cut your normal mileage in half the week before your race, but maintain some intensity. Early in the week, run 4 x 400 meters at your 5K goal pace with a 200-meter jog between repeats. Later in the week, jog 2 miles, then run 6 or 8 x 100-meter strides at 90 percent of maximum speed. Run easy the other days. 10K:

Same as 5K taper, except run your 400-meter repeats at your 10K goal pace.

On the other hand, Coach Tinman from therunzone.com recommends just the opposite.

"distance runners should avoid tapering weekly mileage and, instead, reduce the amount of fast running they do so that their legs feel fresher."

In this thread, Tinman claims that the vast majority of runners do not need to taper much at all. To prove his point, Tinman discusses a hypothetical runner who cuts his mileage to a third of his normal volume for two weeks before a goal 5k race. Tinman says that this taper would not be effective because the runner would lose aerobic endurance.

I'm not convinced that Tinman is correct. First of all, Tinman's example runner is not tapering as anyone (as far as I know) would recommend. Pfitzinger and Cooper would say to cut mileage by only 20% two weeks before the race, and 50% in the final week. Tinman's runner cut mileage by a whopping 67% for both weeks, dropping from 65 miles per week to 25. Second, Tinman says the runner would lose aerobic endurance, but doesn't offer any scientific explanation or cite any relevant studies that show this to be correct.

After my brief and decidedly non-comprehensive review of tapering strategies on the net, I'm going with Pfitzinger's and Cooper's approach. I will run 4x400 in 96 seconds per lap on Tuesday, then run 8x100 quick on Thursday, with a few easy days of running thrown in. Instead of cutting my mileage in half, however, I'll probably just drop to around 20 miles (1/3 less than usual). That's because I'm a relatively low mileage runner, so it seems to make sense that I shouldn't cut volume quite so drastically.

Today's run

I had a nice, easy 9-miler today on the creek path. Instead of sky-high temperatures as I expected, there was a nice cloud cover that kept things reasonable. I ran around 8.5 minute miles and felt decent, but not super. Tomorrow I'll go for a swim instead of running.