Monday: Your whole final week leading up to the marathon should be devoted to rest, rest, rest! According to Tom Grogon, a coach from Cincinnati: "One problem that often develops is that people in training sometimes use these easy/lower mileage weeks to do something else equally stressful." Grogon recalls one tapering runner who rebuilt his barn and another who spent his "rest" time swimming and biking--and none of these activities exactly qualify as resting. Grogon recommends using the extra time to catch up on family and work responsibilities.

Tuesday: Three miles at your normal pace. And mind what you eat this week, as I write in Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide: "Begin carbo-loading seven days in advance. Forget what you read years ago about depletion and three days of a low-carbohydrate diet before switching to a diet high in carbohydrates. (The theory was that the depleted muscles--'starved' for carbohydrates--would then be able to suck up even more carbos than normal and thus provide the marathoner with even more energy on race day.) Stick with a high-carbohydrate diet throughout the week. You don't need to eat spaghetti all seven days: Focusing on fruits, vegetables, and grains will keep you above 60 percent carbos even if you have lean meat as a main course. If you haven't eliminated between-meal junk snacks, do it now.".

Wednesday: Four miles easy. More on diet, a very important subject this last week because of the necessity to stock your muscles with fuel-efficient glycogen. Robert Eslick, a coach from Nashville says, "I tell my runners to watch their intake for the first three days of the marathon week to avoid weight gain and then to eat a little more than their normal intake, with the emphasis on carbohydrates, the last three days." Sound advice.

Thursday: The last three days are critical to the final taper. Usually, I rest two days and do some light jogging on the third. In this schedule for Novice runners, I advise that you do 2 easy miles today, then rest Friday and Saturday. Carbo-loading begins in earnest today. Pasta, rice, potatoes, cereals, fruits. Don't make radical changes in your regular diet, but now is not the time for filet mignon. Cut back slightly on your intake of calories, since you will be burning fewer calories in this final tapering week.

Friday: Get a good night's sleep tonight. You may have more difficulty sleeping tomorrow night because of nervous anticipation. Also, you may need to get up early Sunday to get to the start on time. For this reason, your Friday night's sleep is even more important than your Saturday night's sleep. I say "Sunday" and "Saturday" assuming that your marathon race is on the former day. But some marathons are held on Saturdays. "Rocket City" in Huntsville, Alabama and "Grandma's" in Duluth, Minnesota come to mind. If you're running a Saturday marathon, move everything up one day.

Saturday: Many runners like to do some light jogging the day before the marathon, particularly to loosen up after traveling to the race. I prescribed an easy 2-mile run on Thursday for Novice runners, but if you want to rest Thursday and do your 2-miler today, that's not a bad option. I suggest to runners following the intermediate and advanced programs to do some easy strides the day before the race to both loosen up and relieve nervousness. If you decide to do the same, simply flip-flop your Thursday and Saturday workouts. Quoting again from Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide: "There's no longer any room in your training plan for hard, fast, or long runs. Forget them. If you run anything at or near race pace, don't run far."

Sunday: St. Paul once said, "Do you not know that those who run in a race, all indeed run, but only one receives the prize? So run as to obtain it." (St. Paul, 9:24) I don't know, Pauly, that message might have been accurate 2,000 years ago, but if you were around today and had an opportunity to experience today's mass-participation marathons, you might agree that more than one runner receives the prize, or benefits from their participation. (That might make a good sermon subject for my former teammate at Carleton College, Bill Hendren, who is now a minister in Ventura, California.) Regardless of whether you expect to win a prize in today's race, take St. Paul's advice and run so as to obtain it. There's not much more we can say other than this is the day and the moment for which you have spent 18 weeks. Remember everything you learned over those weeks. And have a very good day!

 

Tip of the Week: Smile as you cross the finish line. More important: Don't punch your stopwatch until a few seconds later, while you're in the chute. You want to look good for the finish-line photo.

How to Improve: If the advice encountered here is helpful, you should consider obtaining a copy of Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide. It's not too late, and we use Priority Mail to get copies to runners within two to three days of when they place their orders. To order an autographed copy of this and other books by Runner's World's best writer go to Books by Hal Higdon.

Copyright © 2000 by Hal Higdon. All rights reserved.