You may have heard the phrase the ‘reverse taper’ lately. It can be all the rage on social media to use the term, but what does it really mean? I personally don’t love to use this term because after a goal race you don’t literally reverse the taper. If you did literally reverse the taper, you would probably end up injured and burnt out. The idea behind the reverse taper is that you would gradually get back into training slowly. It is important to take time off after a goal race. Sometimes athletes will experience a ‘come down’ or ‘post race blues’ after a goal race because the endorphins all start to wear off and the building towards that big goal has stopped. It can feel like a strange time, but this is a great time to start planning for your future and not get lost in the post race blues Have you ever had ‘post race blues’ Using the reflection time as a place where you can find ways to improve for next season Come up with a plan for the next 6-18 months blueprint Sign up for or research your next race What if you don’t feel like running after the first 1-2 weeks off? This is a normal feeling  Sometimes you need to take more time off but sometimes you do just need to ACT before you get the ‘feeling back’ Seasonal changes can make you feel weird during an already weird time Don’t focus too much on how you ‘feel’ during this time of year Consistency is the key to success Don’t do too much too soon A reverse taper is not a literal thing You want to take time off then rebuild mileage back to 50-70% of peak marathon mileage Workouts should be 1 month after race and very short like 6x 1 min ‘effort based’ pick ups Don’t focus too much on comparing Don’t look at your marathon training cycle through rose colored glasses You can’t peak forever