Time to ease up so your body can be at the right peak for the big race

With three weeks to go you are now into your taper for the to the Festival of Running on Sunday October 18. This is the period of easing up, letting the body refresh itself so you are at your best on the day.

There is now not much you can do to improve fitness but a lot you can do to reduce it.

Training too much is the biggest danger. From now on less is best: less volume, less frequency but there should be no reduction in intensity.

In other words, you reduce the length of runs but do not reduce running pace.

You’ll notice the number of effort sessions goes up while the long runs are cut back.

As you are training to run a specific pace it pays to do some of your runs at goal pace. It also pays to do some of your runs at race time. The marathon and half start at 8.00 and 9.30 respectively, so and do some of your training around that time, particularly race pace runs.

Practise thinking on the run while you train – it is something you will need to do in the race itself so get used to concentrating on the ‘‘here and now’’.

When tired the mind starts to wander and the focus is more on the finish.

This is when you need to make an effort to keep your mind on the job – maintaining the right pace, running with good form, staying relaxed, being aware of traffic and looking out for the possibility of a car backing out of a driveway. (Marathon or half marathon) Sunday, 15km (marathon) at marathon pace or 11km (half marathon) at your half marathon goal pace.

Monday, rest or 30 mins very easy (recovery run). Tues, 40 to 60 mins easy. Wed, 5k at slightly faster than your goal pace. Thurs, 45 mins easy. Friday, rest. Saturday, run 10 mins very easy, 15 mins steady to hard (a little faster than race day goal pace) then 10 minutes very easy. (10km run) Sunday up to 60 minutes; Monday 20 minutes very easy; Tuesday, rest. Wednesday, as per marathon. Thursday 45 minutes. Friday, rest . Saturday, as per marathon. (5k run) Sunday up to 40 mins, Mon 20 min easy relaxed running; Tues 15 min steady (breathing a little harder than normal); Wed 20 min easy effort; Thurs an easy 10 min jog followed 2km at your planned goal pace (e.g. if you are aiming to complete the 5k in 30 mins, run 2k in 12 mins, Fri rest, Sat 10 mins easy running then 2km at goal pace. Sun 30 mins relaxed running.

Details at southlandfestival ofrunning.co.nz/