By the time marathon race day is on the horizon, you’ve already done the hard part. You’ve stacked the long runs, pushed through the peak weeks, and built the fitness you need to cover 26.2 miles strong.
But here’s the mistake many runners make: they treat the final weeks like a victory lap, or worse, like a last-minute scramble to “get in shape.” In reality, the marathon taper is where all of your training finally gets a chance to sink in.
The marathon taper period involves reducing training volume and intensity in the final weeks before a marathon to allow recovery and maximize energy and physical readiness for race day.1Smyth, B., & Lawlor, A. (2021). Longer Disciplined Tapers Improve Marathon Performance for Recreational Runners. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 3. https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2021.735220
A smart taper isn’t about doing nothing. It’s about shedding fatigue while keeping your body sharp, confident, and ready to race.
Most coaches recommend a three-week taper for recreational marathoners, though some experienced runners can shorten it to two weeks depending on their goals and training background.
In this guide, we’ll break down exactly how long to taper, how to adjust your mileage and intensity week by week, and how to arrive at the start line feeling rested, strong, and fully prepared.
How Long Do You Taper Before A Marathon?
Most running coaches recommend a three-week taper for the average recreational marathoner.2Fokkema, T., Damme, A. A. D. N., Fornerod, M. W. J., Vos, R., Bierma‐Zeinstra, S. M. A., & Middelkoop, M. (2020). Training for a (half‐)marathon: Training volume and longest endurance run related to performance and running injuries. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 30(9), 1692–1704. https://doi.org/10.1111/sms.13725
That said, some experienced runners can do a two-week taper, especially if the marathon isn’t their main goal race and they’re essentially training through it. For example, an ultrarunner using a marathon as a long supported effort, or a marathoner using a half-marathon as a fitness check during a bigger build.
A two-week taper can work well if you’ve not been running especially high mileage, you’re feeling great, and you’re comfortable making a sharper drop in volume.
In my experience coaching both first-time and advanced marathoners, though, a more gradual three-week taper tends to feel better both physically and mentally, helping you arrive at the start line fresher and more confident.3Haugen, T., Sandbakk, Ø., Seiler, S., & Tønnessen, E. (2022). The Training Characteristics of World-Class Distance Runners: An Integration of Scientific Literature and Results-Proven Practice. Sports Medicine – Open, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40798-022-00438-7
One reason is psychological: many runners get anxious near race day, and a two-week taper often requires a more dramatic reduction in volume and intensity, especially in the final week, which can make runners feel anxious or like they’re “losing fitness.”
A three-week taper usually avoids that by stepping down more gradually while maintaining a consistent rhythm.
It’s also worth remembering that the training you do in the final week (and even much of the week before) isn’t what makes you fitter on race day, as most key adaptations take 10–14 days to show up. The goal late in the taper is to protect the fitness you’ve built while shedding fatigue.
That’s why most taper plans still include a little intensity: you want to feel fresh and sharp, not flat. Many coaches keep a small “sharpening” workout about 5–7 days out (low volume, a touch of faster running), plus strides after easy runs in race week to keep the neuromuscular system snappy.
Will I Gain Weight When I Taper For a Race?
Many runners are concerned about gaining weight during the two-week taper before race day.
If you do not change your eating habits and cut back on your training volume, you may gain some weight because you will burn fewer calories.
Depending on your body weight and goals, this may or may not be problematic.
For some runners, maintaining body weight during a training cycle is actually quite difficult, so they welcome the relative reduction in caloric expenditure because it makes it easier to keep their weight up.
For most runners training for performance, I strongly recommend not counting calories or grams of carbs during a marathon taper.
Your body needs the extra energy, protein, and carbohydrates to repair damaged tissues and store glycogen for race day.4Naderi, A., Gobbi, N., Ali, A., Berjisian, E., Hamidvand, A., Forbes, S. C., Koozehchian, M. S., Karayigit, R., & Saunders, B. (2023). Carbohydrates and Endurance Exercise: A Narrative Review of a Food First Approach. Nutrients, 15(6), 1367. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15061367
In fact, one of the primary purposes of a taper for a long-distance race is to ensure you have plenty of calories coming in that aren’t needed to fuel longer runs, so the carbs, protein, and micronutrients can go towards repairing tissues and stocking up glycogen.
However, if you are doing a longer taper and really have concerns about gaining weight, you can cut back on the number of calories you eat per day, particularly scaling back on the grams of carbs you eat.
This may occur naturally because you won’t need to fuel so intentionally before longer runs because the distances will be getting cut down during the taper, and you may have a natural reduction in appetite as your mileage decreases.
Also, note that you might see your weight increase on the scale, especially if you do carbo-loading.
However, much of this weight gain is water (not fat), as the body stores 3 to 4 grams of water for every gram of glycogen stored.
Rest assured that it takes 3,500 surplus calories to gain a pound of fat, so you aren’t going to be gaining a significant amount of weight even when you cut back your training volume as you taper for the race.
Racing a marathon isn’t the time to worry about your weight.
How Should I Adjust My Training Intensity During a Marathon Taper Period?
A full marathon taper begins about three weeks out from the race.
Here are some step-by-step guidelines for how to taper for a marathon:
3 Weeks From Race Day
Total Weekly Mileage:
Decrease by 10-15 percent of your peak or average weekly mileage during your training plan.
For example, if you’ve been averaging 50 miles per week (80 km), step down by 5-7 miles (8-12 km) for the week to 43-45 miles (68-72 km).
The easiest way to do this is to knock a couple of miles off your recovery runs and your long run (see below).
Intensity
Although you will begin to decrease your intensity later in the marathon taper as the race approaches, three weeks out, maintain the same intensity you’ve been using for all your workouts and training runs.5MUJIKA, I., & PADILLA, S. (2003). Scientific Bases for Precompetition Tapering Strategies. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 35(7), 1182–1187. https://doi.org/10.1249/01.mss.0000074448.73931.11
The structure of your workouts does not need to change at this time. Most studies suggest that it takes the body about 10-14 days to make the physiological adaptations after a workout, so the training at this point can still lead to fitness gains for your marathon performance.
Long Run Volume
Cut your long run mileage by about 10-20%.
So, for example, if you hit 20 miles as your longest long run, a long run of 16-18 miles is a good target, depending on how you feel and your experience level.
Another good guideline is to cap your long run to 2.5 hours (if you’ve been running closer to 3+ hours) for your longest runs in your earlier weeks of training.
2 Weeks From Race Day
Here are tips for how your marathon taper should progress two weeks before your marathon:
Total Weekly Mileage:
Decrease by 25-30 percent of your average weekly mileage during your peak weeks in the marathon training cycle.
For example, if you’ve been averaging 50 miles per week (80 km) in your training cycle, cut down by 12-15 miles (20-24 km) for the week to 35-38 miles (56-60 km).
You can take an extra rest day and swap an easy run for a cross-training workout as long as you’ve been doing that type of cross-training.
For example, I wouldn’t recommend suddenly going for a bike ride instead of a longer run if you haven’t been biking as cross-training in your marathon training.
However, if you have been aqua jogging or using the elliptical, I would replace a longer run with one of these cross-training workouts, particularly if you have been experiencing aches and pains from running.
Intensity
Your last full speed workout should be about 13 days before the race, typically on Monday or Tuesday of the second week before race day.
Particularly for beginners, this speed work should be longer intervals at goal marathon or half-marathon pace rather than hills or VO2 max intervals.
More advanced runners can perform a high-intensity speed workout, provided they keep the total volume of intervals low.
You can also do a tempo run about 10 days out from the big day, but keep the duration shorter than the tempo runs you have been doing during your peak build-up.
Reduce the volume by about 30-40%. If your tempo runs have been 10 miles, do 6-7 miles.
Long Run Volume
Cut your long run mileage to about half of your longest long run.
So, for example, if you hit 20 miles as the longest long run in your build-up, reduce this long run to 10 miles at most.
First-time marathon runners might even want to drop to 8 miles.
Don’t change your training frequency during the first two weeks of the marathon taper schedule.
If you have been running 5 days a week during your marathon training plan, keep running 5 days a week but shorten your runs.
The Week of the Marathon
The final week leading up to the big day of the race is when the major marathon taper takes place.
At this point, any training you do won’t induce any fitness gains because most physiological adaptations take at least ten days to really take effect.
Total Weekly Mileage:
Reduce your weekly mileage during race week to no more than 50-60% of your usual miles per week.
Take at least one extra rest day and consider swapping a regular easy training run with a cross-training workout.
Make sure to run a couple of miles the day before the race as an easy run, also known as a “shakeout run.”
I also recommend doing some short, fast strides or accelerations after the shakeout run the day before the race.
Intensity
You can do one fartlek run on the Monday before the marathon, and then the only intensity work will be strides at the end of your easy runs.
Use your extra training time during your marathon taper to relax, stretch, use a foam roller, and plan logistics for race day.
As you plan logistics, review our marathon checklist to ensure you don’t forget anything for your big race:
