Pre-marathon nerves? How to overcome your taper anxiety

You’ve done the work. The long runs are behind you. Now you’re running less and somehow feeling worse.

Restless. Irritable. Convinced you’re losing fitness by the hour. One day you’re ready. The next you’re wondering why you signed up.

That’s taper madness. And it doesn’t matter if it’s your first marathon or your fifth — it gets everyone.

Why you get taper anxiety

You’ve been using running to burn off stress for months. Now that outlet’s gone and the anxiety has nowhere to go.

The race matters to you. You’ve put in the time, the early mornings, the long weekends — and now all that investment is sitting there waiting to be tested. That’s a lot of pressure.

You don’t know what’s going to happen out there. 26.2 miles is too long to predict.

And then the doubt creeps in. Was the training enough? Maybe one more long run would help. It wouldn’t — but your brain doesn’t care. It wants proof you’re ready, and rest doesn’t feel like proof.

How to handle the taper madness

Use a taper mantra

Mantras, a few, well-chosen words that motivate, instruct, and in this case, settle your nerves.

Choose a few positive statements that promote the feelings you hope to sustain during your taper.

Want to feel relaxed? Try this mantra: ‘let it go’.  Aiming for bold excitement? Try ultramarathoner Scott Jurek’s mantra: ‘this is what you came for’.

Need a mantra for your race? Read more about crafting the best running mantra for your marathon.

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Downsize the importance of your marathon.

1  If you’ve been dwelling upon the importance of your marathon, tell yourself, ‘it’s really not that important’.

Now, this tip might seem crazy. After all, you didn’t train for months for something that wasn’t important.

Of course your marathon’s important. But placing too much importance on it increases your stress and pressure.

And, this over exaggeration, stress, and pressure may lead to self-sabotage.

For example, if you didn’t think you ran enough long runs, you might head out for one. But doing so could lead to fatigue before race day.

So the key takeaway? Tell yourself ‘it’s not that important’ and reflect on what’s important to you (other than running) to keep the pressure off your race.

Even elite marathoners use this strategy:

Control what you can control and then give the rest up to the marathon gods. I like to imagine I’m just going out for a typical hard workout so I don’t let the moment of a big race overwhelm me.”

Shalane Flanagan 2

Distract yourself

You know all those fun things you put off because you were busy training for your marathon?

Now’s the time to do focus on those things. Within reason, of course – you don’t want to cycle 100 miles just for fun.

There’s nothing like relaxing on the couch watching other people run, right?

Catch up with your movie watching and get inspired with the best running documentaries. 

Or, add to your reading list with the best running books to read now.

Taper anxiety doesn’t have to stress you out. Instead, plan for fun, use a mantra, and downsize the importance of your marathon.