309. Tapering 101: How to Taper Before a Half Marathon or Marathon
Release Date: 09/30/2026
309. Tapering 101: How to Taper Before a Half Marathon or Marathon
Healthy Runner Podcast
FREE Marathon Training Guide: Train Smarter & Race Strong → Are you a few weeks away from your half marathon or marathon and suddenly wondering if you’re running too little? Welcome to the taper crazies! After months of long runs, speed workouts, and strength training, reducing your training before race day can feel completely backwards. You may start wondering if you’re losing fitness, whether you should squeeze in one more long run, or why your legs suddenly feel heavy. But here’s the key: You don’t get faster during your taper by squeezing in more fitness. You get faster by...
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308. Carb Loading Before a Marathon: What Most Runners Get Wrong with Brooke Czarnecki, RDN, LD
Healthy Runner Podcast
Are you carb loading correctly before your marathon, or could your nutrition strategy be setting you up to hit the dreaded wall at mile 20? If you think carb loading means eating a giant bowl of pasta the night before your race, you're not alone! But proper marathon carb loading involves much more than one big meal. In this episode of the Healthy Runner Podcast, Dr. Duane Scotti sits down with registered dietitian and endurance sports nutrition expert from our team to break down exactly how to carb load before a marathon or half marathon. You'll learn when to start carb loading, what foods...
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307. 3 Common Marathon Injuries: How to Treat Them Without Giving Up Running with Carolyn Coffin
Healthy Runner Podcast
What happens when your hamstring, IT band, or Achilles starts hurting in the middle of marathon training? Do you really need to stop running completely? Not necessarily! In Episode 307 of the Healthy Runner Podcast, I’m sharing an insightful conversation I had with Carolyn Coffin from the Inspired Soles Podcast about 3 of the most common injuries that can derail marathon training and what you can actually do about them without automatically giving up running. We take a deep dive into: 🏃🏻♀️ Proximal hamstring tendinopathy: Why stretching that nagging pain near your sit bone may...
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306. How to Train for Disney Marathon Weekend: 5 Mistakes Runners Make with Coach Whitney LaCombe
Healthy Runner Podcast
Training for RunDisney? and learn how to train for the entire Disney experience…not just the miles 🏰🔋 Are you training for Disney Marathon Weekend like you would for any other marathon? That could be one of the biggest mistakes you make. Disney Marathon Weekend isn't just about covering 26.2 miles. Between the early wake-ups, standing in corrals, walking through the parks, Florida weather, and for Goofy and Dopey runners… racing on back-to-back days, your body has to handle much more than the mileage on your training plan! In this episode of the Healthy Runner Podcast, I’m...
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305. What Jon Levitt Learned from 850,000 Runners About Running After 40
Healthy Runner Podcast
Have you ever wondered if you can keep running (not just through this season) but for the rest of your life? If you're over 40 and you've started questioning whether your body can keep up, this episode is for you. Joining me today is Jon Levitt, host of the popular For The Long Run podcast, where he's spent years interviewing some of the world's best runners, coaches, sports scientists, and researchers to answer one big question: What does it actually take to achieve sustainable excellence? Through conversations reaching more than 850,000 runners every month, Jon has uncovered the common...
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304. Disney Marathon Training: The Strength Work Most Runners Skip
Healthy Runner Podcast
Training for RunDisney? and learn how to train for the entire Disney experience…not just the miles 🏰🔋 Disney Marathon Weekend isn't just a marathon… it's one of the most unique endurance events you'll ever train for. Between miles on unforgiving concrete, long days walking through the parks, early morning wake-ups, and for many runners, back-to-back races like Goofy and Dopey, your body needs more than just a running plan. It needs a strength plan. In this episode, Dr. Duane Scotti, running physical therapist, running coach, and two-time Dopey finisher, shares the exact 20-week...
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303. Stop Stretching Your IT Band! Do This Instead to Finally Beat IT Band Syndrome
Healthy Runner Podcast
Have you been stretching your IT band every day… yet the pain on the outside of your knee keeps coming back? Here's the truth that surprises most runners: you can't actually stretch your IT band. In this episode, Dr. Duane Scotti, running physical therapist, running coach, and 8x marathoner, explains why the traditional "IT band stretch" isn't solving your problem and why it may even be keeping you stuck in the injury cycle. You'll learn why IT band syndrome isn't caused by a "tight IT band," what's really driving that sharp pain on the outside of your knee, and the three evidence-based...
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302. Marathon Training Mistakes That Lead to Injury (With Jason Fitzgerald)
Healthy Runner Podcast
If you're training for a marathon, this episode could save you months of frustration and help you reach the starting line healthy and ready to perform your best. Joining me for his fourth appearance on the Healthy Runner Podcast is marathon coach Jason Fitzgerald, founder of Strength Running, USATF-certified coach, and 2:39 marathoner. Together, we answer some of the biggest questions marathon runners have, including: ✅ Why runners hit the wall around mile 20 ✅ The marathon workouts that actually matter (and the ones you can stop stressing about) ✅ How to structure your long runs for...
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301. My First Ever Marathon DNF: What Every Runner Can Learn From It
Healthy Runner Podcast
Grab your FREE Last week, I did something I never thought I would do. I stepped off the course at mile 13.1 of the Buffalo Marathon and recorded my first ever DNF. After completing seven marathons, I finally had a race that didn't go according to plan. But here's the crazy part... Just six days later, I found myself standing on another marathon starting line. And by the end of that race, I crossed the finish line of marathon number eight. In this episode, I share the full story behind my first DNF, why I made the difficult decision to stop, why I chose to run another marathon less than a week...
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300. Run Happy AND Get Faster: Why You Don’t Need to Suffer to PR with Carolyn Coffin
Healthy Runner Podcast
Do you feel like every run needs to be hard in order to get faster? If so… that might be exactly why you’re stuck. In this episode, I’m joined by run coach Carolyn Coffin to tackle one of the biggest myths in running: That you need to suffer through every workout to see results. We break down why “party pace” is that conversational, enjoyable effort isn’t just for beginners… it’s actually one of the most powerful tools to help you run faster, stay consistent, and avoid burnout. If your training has been feeling more like a grind than something you enjoy, this episode will shift...
info_outlineFREE Marathon Training Guide: Train Smarter & Race Strong → Download Here
Are you a few weeks away from your half marathon or marathon and suddenly wondering if you’re running too little?
Welcome to the taper crazies!
After months of long runs, speed workouts, and strength training, reducing your training before race day can feel completely backwards. You may start wondering if you’re losing fitness, whether you should squeeze in one more long run, or why your legs suddenly feel heavy.
But here’s the key: You don’t get faster during your taper by squeezing in more fitness. You get faster by allowing the fitness you’ve already built to finally show up on race day.
In Episode 309 of the Healthy Runner Podcast, Dr. Duane Scotti breaks down Tapering 101 and shows you how to reduce fatigue while maintaining the fitness you worked so hard to build.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
-How long to taper before a half marathon or marathon
-How much to reduce your weekly running mileage
-Whether you should keep speed work during your taper
-How to adjust strength training before race day
-When to complete your final long run
-How to handle the mental side of the “taper crazies”
-The 7 biggest marathon taper mistakes runners make
-What to focus on during the final 72 hours before your race
Whether you’re preparing for your first half marathon, your tenth marathon, a Boston qualifying attempt, or runDisney Marathon Weekend, this episode will help you stop second-guessing your training and arrive at the starting line rested, sharp, healthy, and confident.
Remember:
Keep the fitness.
Lose the fatigue.
Trust the taper.
FREE Ultimate Marathon Training Guide:
Grab your free marathon training guide
Listen next: Episode 282 — Strides: The Most Underrated Running Tool to Boost Your SPEED at ANY AGE
If this episode helps you, share it with another runner who has a goal race coming up.
Grab your FREE Marathon Training Guide Here!
A big thanks to CEP for your support for this episode!
Healthy Runner listeners get 15% off their entire order when shopping CEP Running online through November 15!
Shop CEP Running or enter code LRL-NYC-15 at checkout.
Offer ends November 16, 2026, at 3:00AM EST. Limit one use per customer. Cannot be combined with other discounts.
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👋🏼 New here?
I’m Dr. Duane Scotti, former physical therapy professor turned full-time running coach, running physical therapist, and 8x marathoner 🏅
I help everyday runners stop nagging injuries, get stronger, and finally feel confident in their training by blending rehab-level expertise with performance training.
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