Tapering for the Comrades Marathon – Science, Strategy & Success

With just three weeks to go before Comrades Marathon 2026, I'm taking you inside one of the most important and most misunderstood phases of endurance training: the taper.

In this episode, I unpack the science behind tapering, why reducing mileage can actually improve performance, and how to arrive at race day fresh, strong, and mentally ready.

Transcript

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Hello friends and fellow athletes. Welcome to Move and Thrive. I am Sia Bonga Bunene, your sports physiotherapist and coach. I hope you are looking after yourselves. I hope your training is going well, especially those who are preparing for Comrades Marathon in June. We are in the thick of our training. In fact, we have started tapering now. We only have three weeks left before the big day. Today's episode is around the art and science of tapering for endurance running. Whether you are a first timer or a veteran, this episode will help you. It will help you understand how to maximize your performance and how to recover for race day. Training for an ultra marathon like Comrades Marathon, it's quite an interesting journey. It's enjoyable, I must say, but challenging at the same time. I've enjoyed training for this over years. So yeah, but I must say, yo, it's been hard, it's been challenging. The build-up to this race is quite intense. Days are full. Days are filled with long runs, hill repeats, speed sessions. Days are filled with aches and pains that sometimes cannot be avoided. But we love what we do. Yeah, tapering phase. That's what we're talking about. This is the time when training volume must drop. We're starting to drop our mileage now. Nerves are starting to rise. The body is preparing itself for the biggest challenge. Comrades marathon is not just a race, it's a test of endurance, resilience. Preparing for it, we need to be smart about it. That's why today we're gonna talk about the science behind tapering. We need to prepare ourselves in a smart way. Have you ever wondered why your coach always insists on you cutting on mileage before a big race? Today we are unpacking the evidence and practical strategies behind tapering. Let's zoom out a little bit and look at the bigger picture. Endurance training, if you've been doing it the right way, follows about four phases. The first phase included preparation, which is more we call it base building, where you are building a base for your running. That usually takes you a few months, about two to four months or so. The focus there is easy runs, aerobic development, gradually increasing your weekly mileage just to get used to mileage, accumulating of mileage. That's your base building. The purpose really there is building a strong aerobic foundation, improving endurance, and prepare the body for a harder training. Then comes the second phase, which is the peak training, which is about four to what eight weeks. The focus here is accumulating your highest weekly mileage, longest long runs, increase intensity, doing your tempo runs, intervals, heel work, and all of that. The purpose of this phase is to sharpen fitness, is to simulate race conditions and to push physiological limits. We've passed that phase now as we approaching comrades. We are now in the phase of tapering, which is about three weeks. So the focus here is gradually reducing training volume, which is reducing your mileage, maintaining intensity. So the purpose is to allow recovery from accumulated fatigue and to promote adaptation and ensure that you arrive at the start line fresh and ready to perform. And then you have the last part, which is the actual race day. This is now the culmination of weeks, months, and even years of preparation. So each phase has its purpose. I hope you've been training right. Now we are all forced to taper, reduce. If you have not been doing it right, you have not accumulated enough mileage, it's too late. You have to just reduce now to prepare for your race day, otherwise, there will be disaster on the race day. So the taper is often misunderstood. Some fear of losing fitness, some fear they will feel sluggish. But evidence shows that a well-structured taper is essential for optimal performance. I remember my first comrades marathon. I was nervous about cutting back on training. I was afraid of losing my edge. But when race day came, I felt fresh, strong, ready to tackle the distance. So I followed the instructions of a coach to taper before race day. So tapering is important. So, what exactly is tapering? Tapering is a planned reduction of training volume. We're talking kilometers here accumulated in a week. So it's planned reduction of training volume before a major event. This applies in all types of sports. Whether you're doing a 10-kilometer run, whether you are playing football, you must plan to reduce training volume closer to the race day. It's not about doing less for the sake of doing less, it's about strategic recovery and adaptation. So the science is very clear on these things. Studies are showing that a disciplined three-week taper can improve marathon finishing time by over five minutes, translating it to what 2.6% performance gain. That's what science is telling us. So if you want to perform better, if you want to improve your times, you have to taper, prepare the body, recover, adapt so that you can perform better. It doesn't help to train very hard closer to the time because you'll be tired when you start your race. Please allow me briefly to discuss the science behind tapering. I wanna raise a few benefits of tapering. I wanna dive into the physiological benefits. Did you know that tapering improves heart rate recovery? Studies have shown that tapering enhances your heart's ability to recover after exertion. A key marker of endurance fitness. So when you taper, you will benefit, your heart rate will recover. The second benefit is tapering has got a way of reducing muscle inflammation. You know, after a race, there is inflammation that happens, and there is a substance that is called a C reactive protein, which is produced. It's produced by the liver in response to inflammation in the body. It's a key marker used in medicine to detect or monitor inflammation or infection or tissue injury. So measuring CRP, we call it CRP, the C reactive protein. Measuring the CRP levels will help us assess the presence and severity of inflammation. So this is a measure of inflammation in your body. Studies have shown that there is lower post-rase C reactive proteins that are released when you taper well. So if you follow the principles of tapering, then there would be reduced muscle inflammation. So there are benefits in that way. Another benefit is enhanced endurance capacity. So during a taper, improvements in time to exertion have been observed, indicating greater stamina. Therefore, runners who taper well tend to perform well. So if you want to improve your times, if you want to enjoy your race, you have to taper. So there are huge benefits in tapering. Another benefit would be training load reduction. Tapering involves a nonlinear reduction in training volume. What do we mean by that? Nonlinear means a decrease in mileage is not equal each week. You may cut to 75% in the first week of tapering, then in the second week, maybe cut to 50%, then third week to 30%. That's what it means when we talk of nonlinear reduction. So tapering does include and involve nonlinear reduction, and this approach helps reduce physiological and psychological stress while preserving fitness. So there is training load reduction that happens, which helps you to reduce stress while preserving your fitness. There are some uh gender-specific effects of tapering. Studies are showing that female runners may experience greater performance benefits from tapering compared to males. There is an argument around this point. The reasons for females experiencing greater performance is due to differences in physiology, hormonal responses, and recovery patterns between genders. Now let's come back to tapering for Comrades Marathon. This is a unique event which is very long, 85.7 this year kilometers. Obviously, this comes with the risk of muscle damage and heat stress and many other challenges. Here are the practical tips. You have to start tapering about three weeks out. We are three weeks out now, so you should consider starting to taper if you want full benefits. Please reduce your volume to about 53% or so of peak training. Let's break down the taper week by week. Week one, begin reducing volume, which is your mileage, to about 75%. Here you are trying to keep intensity at the same time. So you want to keep your paces, don't lose your paces. This is the time to trust your training and let your body absorb the work you've done. Week two, drop your volume further to about 50%, still maintaining intensity. Include your race-specific workouts, focus on mental preparation, that's important. Visualize the course, know the route, plan the logistics. You don't want to be stressed about how you are traveling there, your gear and all of that. Build confidence. This is the week where you build confidence. Week three, which is just the week before the race, in fact, that's the race week, where you are sharply reducing your mileage to 20 to 30%, keeping a few short runs, prioritize rest. If you don't do anything in this week, you will really not lose much. This is when you start to feel the benefits of taper. Because you'll be feeling fresh, your legs will be fresh, you will be having renewed energy, you'll be excited for the rest day. I hope you will not be sick. Please avoid getting sick. Protect yourself. Put on a mask if you have to in this week. In fact, during this taper period, avoid people, especially sick people. Put on the mask if you think you are unsafe so that you're not sick. If you are sick on this period, then chances are you may not be able to run. Especially that last week, you want to be sure as you travel, make sure you are protected. Nutrition is very important. Increase your carbohydrate intake, especially that last two weeks. You want to increase your carbohydrate intake. You do this to replenish glycogen stores. Hydrate well and avoid drastic dietary changes. Don't do new things now. Eat the food that you are used to, but increase a little bit just to replenish. But I must be quick to say that not all tapers are created equal. You know, tailor your tapering based on your gender, your training history, fitness level, your coach will assist you. My taper may not be exactly the same as yours, but there are some principles that are common that we must all adhere to. Please listen to your body, that's very important, and adjust as needed. You know, I've coached many runners who needed a longer taper due to high training volume that they already have. There are others who benefited from a shorter, sharper taper, especially those are elites. The key is to listen to your body and adjust as needed. Please ask your coach to advise you. I want to also talk about common tapering mistakes and how to avoid them. There's a lot of mistakes that we do. We mess up our training. Overtraining during taper is dangerous. Some runners fear of losing fitness. Some think they can gain fitness in this next three weeks. And they end up doing too much. Remember, more is not better. You might just get injured or you get too tired and you start the race very tired. So avoid overtraining during taper. Another mistake is under training. Others think it's time to relax now. Others cut back too much and lose confidence and feel sluggish. You don't want to get to that point. You need to do a bit of training. We talked of reducing your volume gradually, means you are training as you approach your rest day. So under training can be a problem as well. Another one is ignoring nutrition and hydration. I've touched on the importance of nutrition and hydration. So recovery is not just about running less, it's about fueling and hydrating properly. So these are the uh common mistakes that I've picked up. Please avoid them as much as possible. Before I conclude, I want to just answer some questions I've received. I've been receiving lots of uh messages from runners, people who are concerned, preparing for Comrades Marathon. Let's try and answer some of these questions. I will not mention people's names. First question says, Will I lose fitness during taper? Simple answer is no. If you maintain intensity and reduce volume, you will preserve fitness and gain freshness. That's a simple answer to that question. Second one is how do I handle nerves? Yeah, it's a big one, this one, uh, especially closer to the time, you feel nervous and anxious, especially the first timers. My advice would be to focus on mental strategies. There are various mental strategies that I usually use. I pray more. There is also a concept of visualization, there are various techniques, positive self-talk, and connecting with your support network. This is time to connect with family. This is time to connect with fellow runners, with your coach. But for me, as a Christian, I pray more. And um, yeah, family is a big uh supporting system for me. Sometimes we can't avoid nerves, eh? They come. It doesn't matter how many times we've done comrades. That's why it's important to sleep now, to eat right now. Because a week before, a few days before, you'll be more nervous, and sometimes sleep is not possible. You don't sleep enough. Another question says, uh, what if I feel sluggish? There are people who are afraid, they will feel sluggish, they will feel heavy, and all of that. It's normal. It's normal, your body is adapting. Trust the process. Thank you for sending your messages. Thank you for sharing these questions with me. Now let's recap. Tapering is a science-packed strategy for peak performance. There's science to this. If you want to perform well, you want to follow this principle of tapering. Three-week taper is optimal for ultra marathon like comrades marathon. So respect that and follow that principle. Please individualize your approach, focus on recovery and trust the process. Please trust the process. You've trained enough. There's not much fitness you'll gain now. The biggest mistake is to overtrain and dress about you not being fit. You are fit enough, you will achieve your goals. As I prepare for my fifth comrades, I practice these strategies as well. I know the taper is where the magic happens. I've experienced this, I know what I'm talking about. Trust the process, listen to your body, and arrive at that start line fresh, being confident and ready to conquer the road. Gonna be tough, just prepare for it. Thank you so very much for tuning in to Move and Thrive. I wish you a strong, confident, and well tapered race day. Remember, the road to Comrade's Marathon is as much about smart recovery as it is about hard training. Until next time, please keep running smart and look after yourself.