Week 14: Taper time | Feed Your Runner

Shifting from physical to mental preparation during the taper. Plus this week's yummy recipes, the grocery list, and Jackie's tip about nutrition during the taper.

Ashley Young

Apr 05, 2025

∙ Paid

Hi friends,

We made it to the taper!

What does taper time mean?

Clayton’s workouts remain intense, but his weekly mileage decreases (meaning that he runs fewer miles each day).
Throughout the build we’ve prioritized recovery so that he could be ready for his next big workout. Now we’re prioritizing recovery so that his legs feel fresh on race day.
Sleep continues to be a focus.
Preparation shifts from the body to the mind: visualization, preparing mantras for race day, focusing on his own preparation and not getting distracted or intimidated by competitors.

These next two weeks before we fly out to the race often become the biggest internal battle of the build. Clayton often combats this by limiting his time on social media and instead spending reflective time reading/listening books such as Des Linden’s Choose to Run, Meb Keflezghi’s 26 Marathons, and the scriptures. We also have general conference for our church coming up this weekend, and it’s a welcome opportunity to zoom out and think about life from a more eternal perspective.

From a nutrition perspective, it’s often hard for me to navigate the taper because I’ve become accustomed to preparing *so much food,* and as Clayton’s mileage starts to drop, his appetite sometimes changes. It’s a give-and-take of making sure I make enough so that he eats to satiation, but that I don’t force too much on him so that he is eating more than he needs. Jackie’s nutrition tip this week is so helpful to hone in on what “enough” looks like during this phase of training.

On the home front, it’s spring break and I’ve enjoyed a change of pace. The girls and I have spent time with friends that we haven’t seen in a while, and it’s been fun!

Take care,

Ashley

P.S. episode 5 of the Boston Marathon Build docuseries drops tomorrow!

Breakfast

Clayton runs twice a day, and his morning run is usually 10-12 miles. So breakfast is a big event! We aim for protein and lots of carbs. In addition to this week’s options, we’ll serve things like scrambled eggs and granola each morning.

I often make this hashbrown avocado toast with a slice of bread as well. We’re always trying to add more carbs!

Lunch

Clayton usually eats big breakfasts (post morning run) and big dinners (post afternoon run), so we keep lunch time pretty simple. His typical go-to is turkey sandwiches with pretzels or chips. We’ll include a serving of tuna this week for omega-3s as well.