How to Master the Marathon Taper with Running Coach Greg McMillan

What if the secret to a great marathon isn't training harder, but knowing when and how to back off?

After months of building mileage, tackling long runs, and pushing through tough workouts, the final weeks before a marathon can feel surprisingly difficult. You're running less, questioning your fitness, and wondering whether you've done enough to reach your goals.

Running coach, exercise scientist, and McMillan Running founder Greg McMillan knows this feeling well. He's coached everyone from first-time marathoners to Olympians, and he's seen how easily runners can let pre-race anxiety get in the way of months of preparation.

On this episode of Maybe Running Will Help, Greg joins Nicky Tamberrino to talk about the marathon taper, why he prefers to call it "peaking," and how runners can arrive at the starting line physically prepared and mentally confident.

Why Greg McMillan Calls It Peaking Instead of Tapering

The word "taper" tends to make runners think about everything they're doing less of. Less mileage, shorter runs, and fewer opportunities to build fitness. Greg encourages runners to look at those final weeks differently.

Instead of thinking about what you're losing, think about what you're gaining. You've already put in the work. Now your body needs an opportunity to recover from the accumulated fatigue of training so you can actually access the fitness you've built. That's why Greg calls this period peaking.

The goal isn't simply to rest. It's to make the right adjustments so your body and mind are ready to perform at their best on race day.

Six Guidelines for a Successful Marathon Taper

In his book Surviving the Marathon Freakout, Greg outlines six guidelines for navigating the final weeks before a race.

1. Keep Your Weekly Running Routine

One of the biggest mistakes runners make during the taper is changing too much at once.

Greg recommends keeping the same number of running days each week, assuming you're healthy and recovering normally. If you typically run five days a week, continue running five days, but shorten the duration of those runs. Maintaining your routine helps your body stay accustomed to running while also giving you some mental stability during a period when it's easy to overthink everything.

2. Reduce Your Mileage, But Not Too Much

Your training volume should decrease during the peaking phase, but Greg cautions against making drastic reductions. For example, shortening a 45-minute run to 30 or 35 minutes can provide meaningful recovery without making your body feel like it's stopped training altogether. The idea is to gradually reduce fatigue while maintaining the rhythm you've established throughout your training cycle.

3. Keep Some Intensity in Your Training

Reducing mileage doesn't mean eliminating faster running. Greg explains that runners should continue incorporating some intensity during the peaking phase, whether that's marathon-pace running, a tempo effort, or a workout with changes in pace.

He describes three important training variables: volume, intensity, and frequency. Rather than drastically reducing all three, he prefers to primarily adjust volume while keeping the other two relatively consistent. This helps runners maintain their sharpness and avoid feeling flat on race day.

4. Make a Race Strategy and Stick With It

Greg believes every marathoner should have three plans heading into race day: a pacing strategy, a nutrition and hydration strategy, and a thinking strategy. Most runners spend plenty of time thinking about pace and fueling, but the third strategy is often overlooked.

What will you think about when the race starts getting difficult? How will you respond when negative thoughts creep in at mile 18 or 20?

Greg encourages runners to break the marathon into segments and decide ahead of time what thoughts, memories, or mantras they can turn to when things get uncomfortable.

Rather than hoping you'll feel good for 26.2 miles, prepare for the moments when you won't.

5. Reflect on Your Training to Build Confidence

The taper can be a breeding ground for self-doubt. Suddenly, that one workout that didn't go well feels more important than all the successful runs that came before it. Greg recommends making a list of the runs you're most proud of from your training cycle. That might include your longest run, a particularly strong workout, or even a day when you didn't want to run but got out the door anyway. Reviewing those experiences in the days leading up to your marathon can help remind you that you've already demonstrated the strength and resilience you'll need on race day.

6. Have Fun and Smile

This might be the simplest piece of advice Greg shares, but it's also one of his favorites. When he won a national championship in the masters trail marathon division, he made a decision to smile whenever the race got difficult. Instead of letting discomfort send him into a negative spiral, smiling helped him reconnect with the experience and remember why he chose to be there. Marathons are supposed to be challenging. But that doesn't mean you can't enjoy the challenge.

Are You an Endurance Monster or a Speedster?

Beyond the taper, Greg and Nicky explore another important part of his coaching philosophy: understanding your individual runner type. Greg identifies three general categories of runners.

Endurance monsters thrive on longer, sustained efforts. They often perform better in marathons and long tempo runs than they do in short, fast track workouts.

Speedsters tend to excel at shorter distances and faster intervals, while longer endurance workouts may be more challenging.

Combo runners fall somewhere in between, with characteristics of both types.

Understanding where you fall on this spectrum can help you adjust your workouts, set realistic expectations, and avoid comparing yourself to runners whose strengths are different from yours.

As Greg explains, two runners with similar race times might respond very differently to the same training plan. Making small adjustments to match their individual strengths can lead to better performances and fewer confidence-crushing workouts.

How to Handle Marathon Race-Week Anxiety

Even with the perfect training plan, the days leading up to a marathon can be stressful.

Greg's advice is to make a plan for those final days, not just for the race itself.

Know when you'll wake up, eat your meals, visit the expo, complete your shakeout run, and travel to the starting line. Having those details organized reduces the number of decisions you'll need to make when your nerves are already running high.

He also encourages runners to revisit their list of successful training experiences and focus on gratitude rather than obsessing over their finishing time.

You've spent months preparing. The final days are about trusting that preparation.

Remember Why You Run

One of the most meaningful parts of Nicky and Greg's conversation goes beyond marathon performance.

After decades in the sport, Greg has learned that running isn't always about chasing personal records. As he's gotten older, he's found fulfillment in pursuing new challenges, appreciating what his body can do, and measuring success by the effort he puts forward.

He also recognizes that sometimes the healthiest thing a runner can do is take a break.

Running careers aren't linear. There will be incredible races, disappointing workouts, seasons of progress, and times when the sport feels more like work than something you love. Learning to embrace those ups and downs is part of becoming a lifelong runner.

Whether you're preparing for your first marathon or your twentieth, Greg's message is a useful reminder: the work you've done matters, your mindset matters, and sometimes the best thing you can do before race day is trust yourself.

Listen to the full conversation with Greg McMillan on Maybe Running Will Help wherever you get your podcasts.

To learn more about Greg's coaching, books, and training plans, visit McMillan Running.