When does the taper start for a half marathon?
For a 12-week half marathon plan, the taper typically covers the final two weeks: a pre-race week (volume reduced by 30–35% from peak) and race week (volume reduced to roughly 25–30% of peak, plus the race itself).
Some shorter plans taper for only 10 days. Some elite runners taper for as few as 5–7 days. For most amateur runners targeting a personal best, two full weeks produces the best results.
The taper starts after your longest long run — typically in week 9 or 10 of a 12-week plan. From that point forward, volume drops and intensity is maintained or slightly reduced.
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How much should you cut volume during taper?
Week 1 of taper: reduce total weekly mileage by 30–35% from your peak week. If your peak week was 50 km, taper week 1 should be around 33–35 km. The long run drops by 25–30% of its peak distance.
Race week: reduce to approximately 20–25% of peak volume, excluding the race. At 50 km peak, race week non-race mileage is 10–12 km — split across 2–3 short easy runs plus the race.
Don't compensate for cutting volume by running the remaining sessions harder. Keeping intensity in one quality session per taper week (a controlled tempo or 2×1 km at goal pace) is enough to maintain neuromuscular readiness without accumulating fatigue.
- →Pre-race week (week 11): 65–70% of peak mileage, one controlled quality session, long run at 65% of peak
- →Race week (week 12): 20–25% of peak mileage excluding the race, two short easy runs, one activation run (10 min easy + 2×1 km at goal pace on Thursday)
- →Race day: the remaining 21.1 km
What is taper madness and how do you handle it?
Taper madness is the collection of symptoms runners experience when they dramatically reduce training load: heavy legs, fatigue, anxiety, phantom injuries, convinced you've lost all fitness, questioning whether you should do one more long run. It's experienced by the majority of runners in taper and is a sign the taper is working, not failing.
The physiological explanation: your body, now running less, redistributes resources towards repair and adaptation. The result is temporary fatigue, muscle soreness that wasn't there before, and restlessness. Your fitness is not declining — it's being absorbed.
Handle taper madness by keeping a short-to-do list of non-running race prep tasks (kit check, gel brand, travel plan, start time confirmation) to channel the anxiety productively. Do not add extra runs. Do not extend taper runs past the scheduled distance.
The final 48 hours before the race
Keep activity normal. A 15–20 minute easy shakeout run the morning before race day is fine and keeps your legs feeling loose. Don't attempt a longer run to 'test your fitness' — you already know your fitness. The test was the 12 weeks of training.
Eat normally, staying towards the higher end of your carbohydrate intake. Don't eat anything dramatically different from what you've eaten during training. A large pasta meal the night before is fine; a restaurant you've never tried before is not.
Lay out everything the night before: race kit, shoes, gels, bib, timing chip, bag-drop items. Remove all decision-making from race morning. Set two alarms. Go to bed at a normal time — pre-race adrenaline will likely reduce sleep quality regardless, and that's fine.