How to taper: cut the volume, keep the intensity
Most athletes taper by feel: they either rest too much and go flat, or keep training hard out of fear. The research gives a clearer recipe.
A taper is the planned reduction in training before a race. Done well, it lets the fatigue from months of work drain away while the fitness stays. Done badly, you either show up tired or feel sluggish from too much rest.
A 2007 meta-analysis by Bosquet and colleagues pooled the tapering research and found a consistent pattern in the tapers that worked best:
- Duration: about two weeks (8–14 days).
- Volume: cut by roughly 41–60% compared with normal training.
- Intensity: kept. The hard sessions stay hard, just shorter.
- Frequency: kept. Train as often as usual, with shorter sessions.
Why intensity stays
Short, sharp efforts keep the systems you've built switched on. Drop them entirely and you lose the "race feel". Drop the volume and you shed fatigue. That's why a good race week looks like a few short sessions with a little race-pace work, not a week on the couch.
Your biggest sessions belong further out. The last long run and the hardest workout should come two to three weeks before an A race, not in race week.
Try this week
If you have a race coming up, count back 14 days. That's where the taper starts. Your last big long run should be the weekend before that.
If you race HYROX or DEKA
For HYROX, keep a short run-plus-station combination at race pace in the final week so the transitions still feel familiar, but nothing long or heavy.
If you race triathlon
Taper all three sports, but keep brief race-pace efforts in each, and a short brick to keep the bike-to-run legs sharp.
If you're a runner
A couple of short sets at goal pace, like 2 × 1 km, are plenty in race week. The fitness is already there.
If you train for general fitness
Training for an event like a fun run or a fitness test? The same idea applies on a smaller scale: ease off for a week, keep a little intensity.
How Duravel uses this
Duravel plans a two-week taper for an A race. The first taper week drops to about 80% of peak volume, with the long run cut to 75% of your recent longest. Race week drops to about 60%: a short easy run and one 2-rep sharpening session at least three days out, no long run. B races get a one-week mini-taper, and C races are trained through, with easy days on either side.
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Educational content, not medical advice.