Peak Week Is Your Marathon Dress Rehearsal. Here’s How to Get It Right.

Jump to:The Importance of Peak Week During Marathon Training5 Tips to Prepare for Peak WeekWhat to Avoid During Peak Week Before Your MarathonA well-executed peak week can set you up for a strong marathon—but it’s about more than logging your biggest mileage week. About three to four weeks before race day, you’ll put the final pieces of your training to the test: your longest long run, most demanding speed workout, and highest weekly mileage. It’s also a chance to pressure-test your fueling, pacing, recovery, and race-day routine—and spot anything that needs attention before the stakes get higher.A smart training plan builds volume gradually, with recovery along the way, so some cumulative fatigue is expected by the time you reach peak week. The goal isn’t to squeeze in more fitness or force a breakthrough; it’s to complete the work you’ve built toward and head into your taper knowing what your body can handle on race day, says Anh Bui, DPT, a USATF-certified run coach, marathoner, and physical therapist at Run Resiliently in Oakland, California.After months of tough training, it’s easy to overthink this pivotal stretch as you near your goal race. Here’s what experts recommend prioritizing before—and during—peak week, what to leave alone, and which warning signs to watch for so you can reach the start line prepared, rested, and ready to race.The Importance of Peak Week During Marathon TrainingYour peak week long run will usually be 18 to 22 miles long, but sometimes more or less depending on your experience level, explains John Vasudevan, MD, director of the running and endurance sports medicine program at Penn Medicine.“Oftentimes there’s a general rule that the long run should not exceed 25 percent of your weekly mileage, but that sometimes gets stretched a little bit in peak week, depending on the runner,” he explains, saying it’s okay if that goes up to about 30 percent. “Your peak week long run will be a testament to the strength and endurance you’ve built throughout the weeks of training leading up to peak week.”You can trust that your taper allows you to recover from and gain all those adaptations made during peak week, too. “Any microtrauma you get from pushing yourself close to your marathon distance is likely to heal enough or recover in that time,” says Vasudevan.Peak week is not just about an increase in mileage, Vasudevan adds. It’s about sticking to your training plan as much as possible, setting your expectations for race day, doubling down on rest and recovery, and taking notes on your gear, hydration, and fueling needs.“Peak week is obviously your best opportunity to do two things: 1. Maximize your performance and 2. Identify pitfalls,” like knee pain or underfueling, says Vasudevan. “This is where you’re doing your best preparation for the day itself, but you have enough time both to recover for the actual race day and discover if something is going to be a problem two to three weeks down the line.”Peak week is a chance to iron out the details of race day, Bui adds, so you can become comfortable knowing which gels to take, when to take them, and how your favorite pair of shoes will support your race-day goals.“It’s almost like a dress rehearsal week,” Vasudevan adds. “You’re trying to get as close to approximating that race day as you can.” With all this in mind, you’ll want to nail some specific parts of training during peak week to make it your best week yet.5 Tips to Prepare for Peak Week1. Train Hard, Recover HarderJust as you make a promise to yourself to follow your workouts and weekly mileages, you should do the same for recovery days, Vasudevan says. “A lot of times our natural inclination as the race is getting closer and closer is to make sure we don’t fall out of shape,” he says. “But this is precisely the time where recovery is just as important as the running itself.”In order to recover well from your peak week workouts, both Bui and Vasudevan stress the importance of maintaining a consistent, disciplined routine that includes at least one rest day, getting more sleep than usual, engaging in some light stretching and time off your feet, and nutrition and hydration to support your training (more on that below).If you’re feeling extra sore or tired during peak week, consider swapping an easy run for a day of cross-training with swimming or cycling, Vasudevan suggests.2. Push PT, Strength, and Injury PreventionBoth Bui and Vasudevan point out that injuries are more likely to happen during peak week, due to the increase in volume and cumulative fatigue. “All running overuse injuries begin three to four weeks before runners present with symptoms, so sometimes peak week can be the tipping point, especially if runners have fallen off the wagon with their prehab exercises,” a.k.a. physical therapy and strength exercises done to prevent injury before it develops, says Bui.“Most of the errors that we see in running are only noticeable when you compound it over distance,” says Vasudevan. For example, you might be slightly weak in your glutes, slightly tight in the IT band, or have limited range of motion in your hamstrings. As you slowly increase your training load, your body adjusts to the load to an extent. But, if you increase load with any of these underlying weaknesses, those issues can very likely progress to full-blown injuries if they’re not addressed first, he explains.Vasudevan’s first piece of advice is to always consult with a physical therapist or sports medicine doctor on any potential injuries or concerns.To decrease your risk of injury from the start of training, Bui recommends regularly foam rolling and adding mobility and strength moves into your routine like single-leg bridges, side-lying hip abduction, lateral band walks, and single-leg Romanian deadlifts to address the glutes, core, and leg muscles.“Strength should always be a part of your training routine year-round,” and shouldn’t be eliminated during peak week, says Bui. However, during this week, feel free to use lighter weights if you’re feeling fatigued and increase mobility, foam rolling, and stretching to aid recovery.3. Eat Enough to Power Your MilesDuring peak week, you’re likely devoting a lot of your free time to extra miles, intervals, and hours of sleep, so you probably have less time on your hands to cook meals on top of everything else going on in life. Because of this, Kristy Baumann, RD, LD, a Minnesota-based registered dietitian who works with marathoners, recommends meal prepping, especially for peak week.“Peak week is a really good opportunity to practice your race-day fueling plan,” says Baumann. Eat what you’re going to eat the night before your race, the morning of your race, and replicate the timing of your meals, so that come race day, your meals are second nature, and you won’t run into anything new, she explains. This can include doing a one-day carb load to simulate how you’ll feel when carb loading. (You’ll increase to a three-day carb load come race day.)The one-day carb load can really give you a perspective on what carb loading actually looks and feels like, explains Baumann. She recommends aiming for 8 to 12 grams of carbs per kilogram of bodyweight (or 3.6 to 5.5 grams of carbs per pound of bodyweight). For a 150-pound runner, that would be about 550 to 800 grams of carbs in one day. This can be spread out between three meals and three snacks, choosing high-carb foods that are low in fiber and fat to prevent GI issues.It’s also important to note that some people can experience side effects from eating more carbs, like bloating and feeling heavy or full, and in this case, you want to find this out during peak week so you can work out any issues. In order to meet your fueling goals more easily, try drinking your carbs in the form of smoothies, sports drinks, or chocolate milk.4. Start Taking Gels Before Interval WorkoutsYou should already go into peak week practicing midrun fueling, explains Baumann, but because total weekly mileage increases, your fueling needs go up. She recommends not only taking gels or gel alternatives during your peak week long run, but during longer interval workouts and midweek runs that last longer than 60 minutes.“You can benefit from doing your warmup, then taking a gel to be able to finish your workout feeling strong,” says Baumann.As a result, you’ll not only increase your carb intake as you hit higher mileage, but your stomach will also get used to digesting the gels when you’re running at a faster pace so midrace fueling goes smoothly.5. Stick to the Training PlanIn order to apply these tips and tricks for an optimal peak week, you have to stick to the schedule listed on your training plan.“Peak week is not the time to reinvent your training,” says Vasudevan. Instead, it’s a time to fine-tune your training to see where your weaknesses are, figure out pacing, iron out any prerace anxiety, and work on your race-day mindset. “You’re just trying to do more of what you’ve been building,” he explains.When peak week comes to an end, you should feel prepared to enjoy your taper. “Peak week followed by a taper week allows your body to physically unload from the hard weeks of training,” explains Bui.During the taper, you’ll maintain the level of intensity you’ve built up to, but decrease your training volume by 10 to 20 percent, Bui explains. Vasudevan explains that when moving from peak week to a taper, it should feel like you’re doing 50 to 60 percent less than you have been. So you can feel motivated to make your peak week workouts your best, knowing there’s recovery on the horizon.What to Avoid During Peak Week Before Your MarathonPeak week is the time to listen to your body, Vasudevan says, meaning you should stay away from overtraining or pushing yourself to the brink of injury.“If you’re starting to experience a new pain during peak week, you may want to consider curtailing your runs, adding run/walk pace into your plans to see how you feel, or working with a physical therapist or sports rehabilitation specialist one-on-one,” Vasudevan suggests.Baumann urges runners not to ignore hunger cues during peak week. “Hunger isn’t just a grumbling stomach,” she says, but can manifest as headaches, dizziness, craving sweets, or persistent thoughts about food.While it’s important to stay in tune with your training, Bui urges runners to refrain from thinking too much about your stats, especially during peak week. “Avoid comparing yourself to previous training blocks, overanalyzing your training data, and playing catch-up on training and workouts,” says Bui. “If you missed a workout or long run, now is not the time to do extra.”Kristine Kearns, a writer and avid runner, joined Runner’s World and Bicycling in July 2024. She previously coached high school girls cross country and currently competes in seasonal races, with more than six years of distance training and an affinity for weightlifting. You can find her wearing purple, baking cupcakes, and visiting her local farmers market.