“𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐧 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥 𝐌𝐚𝐩” 🗺️ This is something my sports psychologist taught me. Take a page and split it into 3 columns: one for things you can control, one for things you can influence but not fully control, and one for things you can’t control. Think about the weather, your kit and shoes you’ll wear, fuel you’ll have on you, water stations…. list out scenarios and put them in the right column. “Remembering my gels and race bib” “Waking up on time” “Having my usual pre-race breakfast” ➡️ control “the temperature” “the behaviour of other runners” “public transport running on time” ➡️ can’t control “taking on water from the station at 10km” “being in the right pace group” “not getting blisters” ➡️ influence Park the things you can’t control, but think about how you’ll respond if those things aren’t on your side, same goes for influence, and do your best to tick all those boxes of preparation for the “control” column. That way you’ve done all you can! 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐈 𝐭𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫? 📏 The taper should be gradual, so the closer you get to race day the more progressive the taper gets. A good rule of thumb is to aim to decrease your weekly run volume, from your peak week, by : 1️⃣ 10-15% in the first week 2️⃣ 20-30% in the second week 🏁 50-60 % on race week (not including race day) This means if you were running 50 miles in your peak week, your taper might look like this: 1️⃣ 44 miles 2️⃣ 38 miles 🏁 24 miles Mon-Sat Everyone is different and some people respond better to a more harsh or more gentle taper so use these as a guide and key off what you feel you need in order to feel good! Definitely keep in your workout days in week 1 and 2, and focus on bringing your long run down, especially the one ~7 days out from the race. Then race week, one mini workout and some strides to keep the legs from feeling sluggish can work great.