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Tapering doesn’t make you slower. It removes everything that’s stopping you from running at your best.
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At the end of every training block, I see the same thing happen.
Runners who've spent months setting early alarms, showing up in the dark, conquering long runs and pushing through hill sessions suddenly become… restless.
All because their training plan tells them to run less, when their brain is telling them to run more.
"Should I squeeze in one more long run?"
"Maybe I need another speed session?"
"What if I'm losing fitness?"
As the Head of the Coogee Run Club, one of Sydney's biggest running communities, I've had this conversation hundreds of times.
And every year, my answer is exactly the same: Trust the taper.
It sounds completely backwards. You've spent months building fitness, so why would you run less just before race day?
Because by the final weeks, the work is already done. You're no longer trying to build fitness – you're trying to unlock it.
Which is exactly what tapering is designed to do.
Far from being a sign of lost momentum, tapering is one of the smartest and most important parts of any training plan.
So, whether you're aiming to run your fastest-ever City2Surf or tackle your first marathon, understanding tapering could be the difference between arriving at the start line feeling flat or feeling ready to fly.
In short: Tapering in running means reducing your training load in the final weeks before a race so your body can recover, rebuild energy stores and arrive at the start line feeling fresh. For events like City2Surf, that means cutting back your overall running volume while maintaining light movement, fuelling, hydration and sleep.
What is tapering in running?
Tapering is the process of reducing your training load in the final weeks before a race.
Notice I said reducing. Not stopping.
You're simply cutting back your training load.
"The aim of tapering is to let your body recover from the months of training and preparation while maintaining your fitness level and the sharpness you've built," explains Warren Williams, Head Coach at The Run Squad in Sydney.
This ensures you're in the best shape for your event and hopefully free of any niggles that may affect your run on the day.
Think of your training as building a house. Every long run, speed session and hill repeat has laid another brick. Tapering isn't stopping construction halfway through – it's giving the concrete time to set before you put weight on it.
Why running less helps you run faster
This is the part that most runners struggle to believe.
Fitness isn't created during your hardest training sessions.
It's created afterwards.
Every long run, interval session and hill repeat places stress on your body. That stress is what stimulates adaptation. Your muscles repair themselves stronger. Your cardiovascular system becomes more efficient. Your endurance improves.
But those improvements don't happen while you're running. They happen while you're recovering.
If you never give your body enough time to recover, you're constantly carrying fatigue into your next session. Over time, that fatigue accumulates, and that's why so many runners actually feel tired during peak training.
"Tapering allows muscles to repair with reduced inflammation, glycogen stores to rebuild and your nervous system to recover," Warren explains.
"You should also develop a sense of freshness and improved energy levels. There's an old saying: it's better to be running on fresh legs rather than feeling tired on race day."
In other words, tapering doesn't make you slower.
It removes everything that's stopping you from running at your best.
What's happening inside your body?
According to physiotherapist Andreas Hirczy, there's far more happening during taper weeks than simply running less kilometres.
"Reducing training load allows the body to recover physiologically and psychologically from accumulated training stress," he says.
"During the taper we take away that stress load from our training, which allows the body to recover from the build-up of accumulated fatigue, and leads us feeling fresh and recovered (if done correctly) on race day," the physio says.
"In simple terms: we reduce our fatigue levels but leave the newly improved systems in place."
Do you need to taper for a shorter run?
Sydney's iconic City2Surf might not be a marathon, but don't let the 14 kilometre distance fool you.
Anyone who's climbed Heartbreak Hill knows it's one of Australia's toughest fun runs.
"Many say that the hills make it feel more like a half marathon than its actual distance," says Warren. This means your taper should gear more toward preparing for a longer distance rather than what you may need for a flat 14km race.
And if you've trained on hills? That's basically a gym workout too, so the running coach says you'll need even more time to rest your legs.
"Complete your hill work at least 10 days prior to the race and keep any subsequent runs flat to give your muscles time to recover, rebuild, and be ready to go when the time comes."
So how much should you cut back?
It's important to point out that every runner, and every race, is different.
For those targeting races like City2Surf, Warren suggests reducing your overall training load by about 25 per cent two weeks before the race, before reducing it by another 25 per cent during race week.
That doesn't mean stopping. It means shortening your runs, reducing intensity and avoiding workouts that leave you exhausted.
"I like to see my athletes keep moving and maintain some leg speed through strides or short sprint reps at least once in those final two weeks," Warren says.
"So cut back on high intensity interval sessions, and make running enjoyable rather than challenging in those final days."
Run with a friend, have a chat rather than a race, and go for coffee afterwards. Not only will this help with the taper, but it'll put you in a positive headspace too.
How to nail your race week taper
1. Resist the urge to cram in one more session
If I could give every runner one piece of advice during the taper, it would be this: You are not going to get any fitter in the final weeks before a race by cramming in one more hard run or workout.
Whether you think you've trained hard enough or not enough, the work's done, time is up, and you need to race with what you've got.
"Most often, runners fear they aren't ready and haven't done enough, leading them to believe they need to do more," Warren says. "But you can't improve your fitness or speed in the last two weeks by continuing to push."
In fact, continuing to train hard could do more damage than it's worth and bring on unnecessary fatigue and injury.
"Rest with no stress is best!"
2. Keep strength training – just dial it back
When it comes to strength work, you need to reduce the intensity and resistance of the session in the final week before a race, but it doesn't mean you need to give up on the gym.
"I would recommend still going to the gym if that is what you have been doing throughout your training block, but don't lift heavy," physiotherapist Andreas explains.
"It is safe to just do some stretches and gentle bodyweight exercises or activations, and keep things simple.
3. Nothing new on race week
"You should be doing everything the same as you have throughout your training block," Andreas says, "because if it has resulted in you arriving at race week healthy and in one piece, then why change it for the week leading into the race."
Sounds pretty obvious right? Yet if I had a dollar for every time someone has said to me, "I bought this new gel at the expo I'm going to take during the race" I'd be rolling in coins.
If you haven't tested it through training, tapering is not the time to get experimental.
"Use your training sessions as trial runs for race morning," says sports dietitian Zoe Vincent, whether that's a new gel, new breakfast, or new supplement.
"Test different carbohydrate sources, whether that's oats, toast with honey, a banana, a sports drink or a gel, and pay attention to how each one sits with you, how your energy feels, and whether your gut tolerates it well during effort."
Then by the time the race rolls around, the morning should hold zero surprises and you should know exactly what you're eating, how much, and when, because you've tested it, refined it, and proven it works in training.
"Your gut and body perform best on familiar fuel, so anything untested carries real risk of GI upset, energy crashes, or just feeling off on the day," Zoe says.
"Race day isn't the day to find out. It's the day to execute what you already know works."
4. Get plenty of sleep
One thing I've learnt from leading a running community is that runners are incredibly good at working hard.
Sometimes we're not so good at resting.
We wear busy schedules like a badge of honour. We think another session must always equal another improvement.
But recovery is training. Sleep is training. Nutrition is training. Walking instead of running when your plan says rest? That's training too.
Andreas says sleep is one of the biggest factors in arriving fresh on race day.
"You should prioritise sleep, especially during taper and race week," he says. "It helps your body recover and adapt to the training load."
5. Fuel your taper properly
One of the biggest misconceptions about tapering is that because you're running less, you should automatically eat less.
"The mistake I see most often is runners cutting carbs, specifically because they associate carbs with training volume, when carbs are exactly what they should be prioritising in this window," says sports dietitian Zoe Vincent.
"This is the window where your body is busy topping up glycogen stores, repairing muscle damage accumulated over months of training, and essentially banking the fitness you've built so it's ready to be expressed on race day."
Proper fuelling also helps support your immune system in the lead-up to race day – something that's particularly important because getting sick during taper week is one of the quickest ways to derail months of hard work. It also keeps your energy levels and mood stable, helping you arrive at the start line feeling fresh rather than flat.
"Fuelling well won't create fitness in these final days – that's already banked," Zoe says.
"What it will do is unlock it so the version of you that shows up on race day is the strongest, freshest expression of all the work you've already put in, rather than a depleted version of it."
6. Stay on top of hydration
When races fall during Winter, it's easy to assume hydration isn't something you need to think about.
"But even though you're sweating less visibly, you're still losing fluid and electrolytes through sweat, respiration and general training load," Zoe explains.
Rather than relying on thirst alone to monitor hydration, she recommends checking your urine colour as a simple guide.
"Aim for a pale straw colour," she says. "It's a much more reliable indicator during winter than waiting until you're thirsty."
7. Get carb loading
If you're running a fun run like City2Surf, you don't need to approach carb loading the same way you would for a marathon.
"At 14 kilometres, a full aggressive carb load isn't really necessary and can sometimes backfire, leaving people feeling heavy, bloated or sluggish on race morning if they've overdone it," Zoe says.
Instead, she recommends a moderate increase in carbohydrates one to two days before the race.
"That means leaning a little more into foods like rice, pasta, potatoes, bread and fruit while keeping portions sensible and not forcing yourself to eat extra just for the sake of it."
8. Give your mind a break too
After months of following a training plan, it's easy to become consumed by splits, kilometres and race goals. But constantly thinking about the event can leave you feeling more anxious than excited.
Instead, use the extra time to do things that help you switch off and arrive at the start line mentally refreshed.
After all, a calm, confident runner will almost always perform better than one who arrives at the start line mentally exhausted.
9. Trust the process
One of my favourite moments every year is standing on the start line, surrounded by thousands of runners.
Some are chasing a personal best.
Some simply want to cross the finish line.
Some are pinning on a race bib for the very first time.
Every runner has a different goal, but they're all carrying the same thing with them: months of hard work.
The early alarms. The long runs. The hill sessions. The weekends spent choosing a run over a sleep-in. Every kilometre has led to this moment.
By race week, the fitness is already in the bank, and your job is to arrive at the start line healthy, rested and ready to let all that training shine.
So if your training plan tells you to slow down, trust it and enjoy the excitement of race week.
Because sometimes, the biggest act of confidence isn't squeezing in one more run.
It's believing you've already done enough.
