Two weeks out from a marathon, there’s nothing left to build. The long runs are done, the fitness is in the bank, and the only thing that can still change your race is how rested you arrive.
That’s what the taper is for. You run a lot less, keep a little speed, sleep more, eat well, and let three or four months of training settle in. It sounds easy. For most runners it’s the hardest part of the plan, because running less feels like losing fitness. It isn’t.
If you’re running Berlin on 27 September, today is exactly two weeks to go. Here’s how to spend them.
Less volume, same intensity
The rule of a good taper fits in one line: cut the amount of running, not the pace.
The Marathon plan in iRunning uses a three-week taper that cuts volume by roughly a quarter, then a half, then about three quarters. Two things stay the whole way through:
- Four runs a week. You still run on your usual days, just shorter. Your legs stay used to running, and your routine stays the same.
- A little marathon pace. Short blocks at race effort remind your body what Sunday will feel like. They’re short enough to leave you fresher, not more tired.
Stopping running altogether is the classic mistake. After a week on the sofa, most runners feel heavy and flat, not rested.
Two weeks out
This is week 15 of the plan:
| Session | What to run |
|---|---|
| Easy run | 35 minutes |
| Marathon pace | 12 min warm-up, 2 × 8 min at marathon pace with 2:30 easy jog between, 10 min cool-down |
| Easy run | 28 minutes |
| Long run | 75 minutes, all easy (about 12 km) |
The last properly long run, about 17 km, was a week earlier. There’s no benefit to running long again now. The fitness from a long run takes weeks to arrive, so this close to the race it would only leave you more tired.
Feeling flat this week is normal. Your legs might feel heavy and your easy pace a bit sluggish. That’s your body repairing itself. It doesn’t mean you’ve lost fitness.
Race week, day by day
Week 16 has only three short runs before Sunday. The plan suggests Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday for a Sunday race:
| Day | What to do |
|---|---|
| Monday | Rest, or a 20-minute walk |
| Tuesday | 30 minutes easy |
| Wednesday | Rest |
| Thursday | 20 minutes easy + 4 × 20-second strides with a minute of easy jogging between |
| Friday | Rest. Start carb-loading. Collect your bib if you haven’t yet |
| Saturday | 20 minutes very easy, in the morning. Lay out your kit in the evening |
| Sunday | Race day |
Strides are relaxed accelerations up to about your 5K pace, not sprints. They wake your legs up without tiring them.
If you’ve travelled to Berlin, the Saturday run is a good way to shake off the flight or train journey. Keep it short. The expo at Tempelhof Airport is open Thursday to Saturday, so try not to leave it until Saturday. Hours on your feet the day before a marathon don’t help.
Carb-loading, simply
For the last two to three days, carbohydrate becomes the main part of every meal. A common target is about 8–10 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight per day, so around 560–700 g for a 70 kg runner. That’s more than it sounds.
- Eat more carbohydrate, not more food overall. Make the rice, pasta, bread and potatoes bigger, and the vegetables, salad and fatty foods smaller.
- Choose low-fibre food. White bread, white rice, juice, bananas and plain pasta sauce will sit much better on race morning than wholegrains and beans.
- Drink normally. You’ll need a little more fluid, but there’s no need to force down litres of water.
- Expect to weigh 1–2 kg more. Your body stores water along with carbohydrate. That’s the fuel you’ll need for the second half.
Eat breakfast about three hours before your start: the same breakfast you tested before your long runs.
Sleep and small things
- The night before the race matters less than the two nights before it. Nerves often wreck the last night. Sleep well on Thursday and Friday and you’re covered.
- Don’t try anything new. No new shoes, new gels, new sports massage or new breakfast. Berlin’s drink stations hand out Maurten Drink Mix 160 and, at km 27.5, a Maurten Gel 100. If you haven’t trained with them, carry your own.
- Watch out for taper aches. Running less often brings on odd little aches, the famous “phantom pains”. They almost always disappear once you start running on Sunday.
- Trim your toenails two or three days before, not the night before.
How iRunning helps in the last two weeks
- The plan does the maths. If you’re on the Marathon or Sub-4 Marathon plan, weeks 14–16 are the taper, and every session tells you how long to run and at what effort. In the Sub-4 plan, the marathon-pace blocks have a pace band of 5:36–5:46 /km, and you’ll hear “Slow down” or “Pick up the pace” if you drift out of it.
- Missed a session? Leave it. In race week, skipping an easy run is safer than cramming it in later. You can move or skip a session in a couple of taps.
- Rehearse your race pace. Build your race plan as a custom workout with pace bands, then run the first 10 minutes of it on Thursday as a dress rehearsal. Our negative split guide has the split tables.
- Know the course. Our Berlin course guide covers the drink stations, landmarks and race-weekend timings.
After the race, both marathon plans suggest the two-week Post-Race Recovery plan: a week of walks and easy jogs, then a gentle return to running.
Trust the work
The hay is in the barn. Two weeks from now, the runner who feels a little restless on Friday will be glad of it at 35 km on Sunday.
Training advice, not medical advice. Adjust carbohydrate targets if you have diabetes or another medical condition, and check with your doctor.