Marathon taper guide: how long, and how much to cut

Updated August 26, 2026 · By the Runked team

Below is a 3-week taper built as Runked's own illustration on top of that research and Higdon's published plan, followed by what the source studies actually measured, how to apply it to a plan of your own, and the mistakes that undo a taper's benefit.

A 3-week taper, illustrated

This table is Runked's own illustration, built on Bosquet et al.'s 41-to-60% volume-reduction range for a 2-week taper, extended across a third early week and checked against Hal Higdon's published Novice 1 taper (40, then 29, then 21, then 9 miles across weeks 15 to 18). Treat the percentages as a starting shape to scale to your own peak week rather than a fixed prescription.

What the taper research actually found

Laurent Bosquet and colleagues' 2007 meta-analysis, published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise (39(8), 1358-1365), searched for taper studies in competitive athletes and included 27 of 182 candidates that met its criteria. Its finding: a taper of about 2 weeks in which training volume is decreased exponentially by 41 to 60%, with training intensity and training frequency left unchanged, seems to be the most efficient strategy, a statistically significant effect (P < 0.001). A separate 2023 systematic review in PLOS ONE, summarizing that same body of taper research, describes it as covering 249 swimmers, 80 road cyclists and 110 track runners, and treats the same 41-to-60% range and roughly 2-week window as the benchmark it tested newer studies against. Reviews summarizing Bosquet et al.'s meta-analysis, including one detailed writeup by Pheidi, report the pooled effect as an average 2.2% performance improvement across those athletes, with the runners in the pool finishing about 2.6% faster than controls who added to or held their training volume through the same window.

Bosquet et al.'s studies were not run at marathon distance specifically; the pooled events were shorter, higher-intensity efforts. Jeff Gaudette, co-founder of RunnersConnect, writes that marathoners extend past the 2-week standard because of the accumulated fatigue and glycogen depletion specific to 26.2 miles, and recommends a 3-week taper with weekly volume around 85 to 90% of peak at 3 weeks out, 70 to 75% at 2 weeks out, and 40 to 50% in race week. Hal Higdon's Novice 1 plan, detailed next, tapers for that same 3 weeks.

A named coach's version: Hal Higdon's Novice 1 taper

Hal Higdon's Novice 1 marathon plan, published on his own site, peaks at 40 miles in week 15, with a 20-mile long run. The 3 weeks that follow are the taper: week 16 drops to 29 miles (a 12-mile long run), week 17 to 21 miles (an 8-mile long run), and week 18, race week, to 9 miles of running before the marathon itself on Sunday. As a share of the week-15 peak, that's 72.5%, then 52.5%, then 22.5%, a steeper cut than Gaudette's percentages but the same shape: a bigger reduction each week, arriving at race week with a fraction of peak volume left.

How to apply this to your own plan

• Cut the long run first. In Higdon's plan the long run is half of peak-week volume (20 of 40 miles), so trimming it does most of the work toward the taper's volume-reduction target.
• Keep some intensity. Bosquet et al.'s protocol held training intensity and frequency steady while volume dropped; short marathon-pace segments or strides in an otherwise easy week are what that looks like in practice.
• Scale the percentages to your own peak week. A 70-80% week off a 30-mile peak is around 21-24 miles; the same math applies at any peak.
• Don't skip the middle week. The cut is gradual across 3 weeks in both Higdon's plan and Gaudette's percentages; dropping straight from peak to a single easy week removes the gradual signal the research measured.

Common taper mistakes

• Cramming one last big long run. A long run inside the taper window works against the volume reduction the research measured; the peak long run belongs before the taper starts.
• Stopping running almost entirely. Bosquet et al.'s protocol kept frequency the same. Skipping most runs in race week goes past what that research tested and crosses into detraining.
• Adding a new hard workout out of anxiety. "Taper madness," the restlessness that shows up once mileage drops, can trigger exactly the kind of late, unplanned hard session the taper is meant to avoid.
• Testing new shoes, gels or routes in the final week. Anything new belongs in an ordinary training week, tried and settled long before the taper starts.

What to do next

Compare to yourself, not to others: Runked's running rank starts everyone at Bronze and only moves on your own runs, so a taper that protects your fitness for race day matters more than matching anyone else's peak-week number. If you haven't set a peak week yet, the full marathon training plan guide covers the 16-to-20-week block the taper sits at the end of, and how many miles you should run a week covers what a reasonable peak actually looks like by level. Once you know your taper is working, a good marathon time for your age is a fair way to set the goal you're tapering toward.

Frequently asked questions