Bangkok Marathon Tapering
Less than four days to the Standard Chartered Bangkok Marathon. It will be a different kind of Bangkok street rally than we have seen the last couple of days. The event seems to be held as scheduled, even if the unrest in Bangkok has made the organizer change the route a bit. The new route adds another 8-10 km along the expressway. Not the sexiest running course perhaps, but I’m not running 42.2 km in Bangkok in the middle of the night because of the scenic views anyway.
The hard work of the preparations is behind me. Now it’s just a matter of keeping the legs fresh without losing speed. There are different schools of thoughts when it comes to tapering. My three weeks leading up to the marathon look something like “50-75-25”. This means first a week of roughly 50% of my normal weekly mileage, followed by a week of 75% and then somewhere around 25% this week before the marathon.
I try to avoid spicy food or anything that is likely to upset the stomach the week prior the race. I also have two days (Tuesday and Wednesday) when I cut down substantially on carbohydrates, then start fueling the days after with extra carbs. I don’t not if it makes any difference, as long as I have my Snickers bar before the marathon, I’m happy.
How does your tapering look like?
Just starting to run, i’m curious how much your normal weekly mileage is.
Hi Jan,
It varies, but I’m averaging around 100 km (62 miles) a week. Almost all of it is done early mornings.
Good luck with your running, are you aiming for any particular distance/race?
….been following your blog….really excellent…thanks!!
I’not having a particular distance in mind, sure some day i would like to run a marathon, but for now i focus on making it a habit and enjoying it. If i can do my 5 km 3 times a week i will be happy.