Get ready for your race
Put in your race and its day. See when your taper starts, when to eat for it, and what to pack.
Why taper for two weeks?
Your fitness is built weeks before the race. What hides it on the day is the tiredness of the last months. A taper lets that clear: one easier week where you do about half as much in the race's own sport, then race week, short and easy. Across the studies, tapers of about two weeks that cut the training by roughly half and kept a little fast work gave the biggest gains. (Bosquet et al. 2007)
What is carb loading?
Your muscles store carbohydrate as fuel, and a race of 90 minutes or more uses more than they hold on a normal day. In the two days before, you eat much more starch than usual, so they fill up: about 10 to 12 grams of carbohydrate per kilo you weigh, each day. (Thomas, Erdman and Burke 2016) For a shorter race, a starchy day before and a good breakfast are enough. Eat foods you know.
Why the same taper for every race?
A race is where you want to be at your best, whatever its length. One easier week and a race week is enough to clear the tiredness without losing fitness, for a 10 km run or a 70.3.