Taper time- hallelujah!

by | Feb 17, 2016 | recovery, running, vibration

On Saturday, I ran 22.73 miles with my co-worker Lucy at Unusual Suspects hosted by Saxons, Vikings, and Normans (race review coming soon). This means peak week is over and my body can start to recover.  Soon my mileage will be dropping off. I have sports massages scheduled in upcoming weeks and look forward to more sleeping.  Both of these I tried to incorporate throughout my marathon training.  But now that I am tapering, what will I do differently?

Stretching out my hammies

A few weeks ago, I ran 18 miles on a Thursday afternoon as part of my marathon training. Lucky for me, I had a Power Plate session with Caroline Pearce at SoHo Hotel immediately after.  She blessed me with a recovery massage and stretch on the newly launched Personal Power Plate. This small unit fits under a bed or can stack in the corner of a fitness studio. It only weighs 18.2 kg, making it fairly easy to move. You can use it on carpet or bare floors, or store away in it’s soft case. I love the remote control which makes it easier to keep a steady pace up during your workout, rather than bending down to press the start button each time.  It is always set at 35 Hz (compared to 30, 35, and 40 in other models) and still has high and low options.  

Power Plates are great for helping speed up recovery, boosting endurance, helping with circulation, and improving core strength, stability, and balance.  All of these are important to runners!  Caroline and I talked a bit about how strength training with a Power Plate can help people of all athletic abilities and interests gain an edge by maximizing their workouts. With the vibration, more muscles in your body are engaged when performing exercise (which is great for your core).  I always tell my clients, any exercise you do with a free weight, you can do on a Power Plate. The constant instability over the timed one minute intervals makes workouts much harder. 

This move is no joke on a Power Plate

I used to teach vibration training classes at Frame and Powervibe Studios. Just 25 minutes of hard work gave fantastic results to the members. No matter if it was a runner, mummy, bride-to-be, or someone prepping for a holiday, vibration training benefited them and their goals.  If we had a little more space in our flat, I would be tempted to invest in this model as I want to incorporate more strength training over the next 3 weeks. My hips and legs were feeling the strain over the weekend, so my goal is to do 2 weights sessions a week now instead of one. I just need to make sure I am not over-training during this important time for recovery. The Iron Strength DVD will remain for one session. For the other I will use my resistance bands from the Physical Company to do leg abductions, squats, clams, and hamstring curls.

There are 2 passive bits to my tapering too.  The first is Recovery Bits.  Normally, I use Energy Bits for fuelling on my long runs.  These are 100% spirulina algae- no sugar, chemicals, etc.  (hence vegan and paleo approved). The company also make 100% chlorella Recovery Bits which I take when I feel a cold coming on and after long runs (13+ miles).  You definitely need to swallow them whole (rather than chew) as they taste a bit organic, but I find they do the trick without upsetting my stomach or giving me runner’s tummy. Try them yourself with 25% off using code PTMollie (I am an ambassador and receive 1 free bag for every 10 purchased with my code).


Today’s 12 mile run commute will be #poweredbybits. No sugar/chemicals/animal products. Just #algae. @energybits pic.twitter.com/u3CTV02EtR
— PTMollie (@PtMollie) January 24, 2016
And where would I be without my compression gear? Knee high compression socks are a must, as are my 2XU leggings. I typically don’t run in compression gear but save it for after the race.  That is my personal preference though as I get hot when I run.  You can read more about the benefits of compression gear on this post I wrote for Bospasa.

Do you change your training strategy during your taper? What other recovery tips do you have after a long run?

Thanks to Power Plate for the taster session and to Physical Company for providing resistance bands in the goody bags.  All opinions are honest and my own.