The idea
Taper anxiety is real. You've trained for months, the plan says "run less," and every instinct screams to do more. But the science is settled: runners who hold their taper race faster. So Pheidi builds the taper for you and protects it — the reduced volume is baked into the plan, and the system won't quietly push dropped miles back into your taper weeks.
How the taper is protected
Two things keep your taper intact:
- It's built as a progressive cut. Plan generation tapers your volume down over the final weeks, scaled to your race distance, while keeping a touch of intensity so your legs stay sharp. See training phases for where the taper lands in the plan.
- Redistribution skips it. When life forces a reshuffle and redistribution moves missed miles to other weeks, it always excludes taper weeks — so the miles you drop earlier never land back in your taper.
You stay in control day to day — skip, shorten, or swap a taper run as life demands (see schedule flexibility). What the plan won't do is silently undo the taper for you.
Taper protection is built into every Pheidi plan — sign in to build one.