Race Taper Calculator
Plan your pre-race taper with a week-by-week volume reduction schedule. Optimized for 5K through ultra marathon distances.
About this calculator
The Race Taper Calculator builds a week-by-week mileage reduction schedule from your Peak Weekly Mileage, Taper Length, and Race Distance. Taper Duration in the results is simply your selected Taper Length echoed back — it is not derived from mileage, so Peak Weekly Mileage has zero effect on how many weeks you taper for; only the Taper Length dropdown controls that. What Peak Weekly Mileage does drive is the volume of every week in the schedule: each week's target is a percentage of that peak, scaled down as race day approaches. Race Distance sets an "aggressiveness" multiplier on the reduction curve — 0.85 for 5K/10K (a gentler cut, since shorter races need less recovery), 1.0 for half marathon and marathon, and 1.15 for ultra marathon (a steeper cut, reflecting the deeper fatigue ultra training accumulates).
Race week itself is always fixed at 20% of peak regardless of any other input. Long Run % of Weekly Volume only reshapes the long-run column in the week-by-week table — it does not move Total Taper Mileage, Total Mileage Saved, or any other headline number, so changing it will not visibly move the calculator's totals even though it does change the plan's internal balance of long runs versus other running. This is a volume-based planning tool: it does not account for illness, injury, altitude, heat, or how well you are actually recovering, and quality/intensity guidance is limited to a single general note rather than a full workout-by-workout plan.
Inputs
Results
Taper Duration
3 weeks
How to Use This Calculator
- Enter your Peak Weekly Mileage during the highest training week.
- Select your Taper Length based on race distance (1 week for 5K/10K, 3 weeks for marathon).
- Choose your Race Distance to fine-tune the taper structure.
- Review mileage targets for each taper week, the final race-week volume, and the long run percentage.
- Use the total taper mileage and mileage reduction to plan your calendar.
What each input means
- Peak Weekly Mileage
- Your highest weekly training volume before starting the taper. This should be your peak training week mileage.
- Taper Length
- Number of weeks to taper before race day. Longer races typically need longer tapers.
- Race Distance
- Your target race distance. Affects taper aggressiveness — marathons and ultras need more volume reduction.
- Long Run % of Weekly Volume
- What percentage of your weekly mileage is typically your long run. Used to scale long runs during taper.
How this is calculated
Worked example, using the default values
- Identify Input Parameters4 parametersPeak Weekly Mileage = 45, Taper Length = 3, Race Distance = 2, Long Run % of Weekly Volume = 30 = 4 input(s) provided
- Calculate Taper Duration3 = 3
- Calculate Peak MileagePeak Mileage45 = 45
- Calculate First Taper Week34 = 34
Engine last updated . Checked against 1 independently-derived test — how we verify calculators. Built by Paul Gunder, a software engineer, not a licensed financial, medical, or legal professional.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why doesn't raising Peak Weekly Mileage change my Taper Duration?
Taper Duration is set entirely by the Taper Length selection (1, 2, 3, or 4 weeks) — it is displayed back to you unchanged regardless of your mileage. Peak Weekly Mileage instead scales the actual mileage target within each of those weeks, so a higher peak means bigger numbers on the schedule, not a longer or shorter taper period.
Does adjusting Long Run % of Weekly Volume change my Total Taper Mileage?
No. Long Run % of Weekly Volume only rescales the long-run entry shown for each week in the taper table and chart — it has no effect on Total Taper Mileage, Total Mileage Saved, or any other headline result. It changes how your weekly volume is split between the long run and other running, not how much total volume the taper prescribes.
How does Race Distance change the shape of the taper?
Race Distance sets an aggressiveness multiplier applied to the week-by-week percentage-of-peak curve: 0.85 for 5K/10K, 1.0 for half marathon and marathon, and 1.15 for ultra marathon. A higher multiplier produces a steeper volume cut earlier in the taper, reflecting that longer, more fatiguing race distances typically call for a more aggressive reduction in training load before race day.
Why is the final week's mileage capped differently for different race distances?
For a 1-week taper, race week is fixed at 50% of peak. For longer tapers, the calculator caps the last full training week at 30% of peak for marathon and ultra events (Race Distance 2 or 3) versus 40% for shorter races, on top of race week itself always landing at a flat 20% of peak. Longer, harder events get a lower volume floor heading into race day to maximize freshness.
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