Amsterdam Marathon tips: your race week, day by day

Sunday 18 October, Amsterdam. 42.2 km, and a finish in the Olympic Stadium. These Amsterdam Marathon tips cover the whole race week: what to run, what to eat, what to skip, and how to pace the day itself.

If you are reading this on Tuesday, your training is done. Nothing you run between now and Sunday will make you fitter. This week decides one thing: how fresh you are when the gun goes.

The other distances run on Saturday 17 October. If you have friends racing then, cheer them on, but don't spend the whole day on your feet.

The rule for the whole week: less running, same sharpness

Taper research points one way. Run less, but keep a little running at race pace, and keep running on most of your usual days. A large review of taper studies found the best results when runners cut their volume by roughly 40 to 60 percent and kept the intensity (Bosquet and colleagues, 2007).

So race week is not a week off. It is a short week with a few quick minutes in it, to keep your legs awake.

Tuesday: a short run with a little race pace

Run about half of a normal Tuesday. Inside it, put 2 or 3 blocks of 5 minutes at marathon pace, with easy running in between.

This is not a test. It is a reminder of what Sunday feels like. If marathon pace feels hard today, that is normal. Legs often feel flat early in a taper, and it passes.

Wednesday: easy, or rest

An easy 30 to 40 minutes, or a day off if that is your usual rhythm. Feeling restless? Good. Restless means you are recovering. Don't add a run to calm your nerves.

Use the day for the boring jobs:

• Check your start wave and start time on the official race information. Times differ by wave, so don't guess.
• Plan how you get to the Olympic Stadium on Sunday morning. Public transport will be busy. Leave room for queues.
• Lay out your race kit. Nothing new on Sunday: no new shoes, no new shorts, no new gel.

Thursday: easy, and start eating more carbs

Another easy 30 to 40 minutes, or rest.

From today, eat a bit more carbohydrate and a bit less of everything else. Bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, oats. Sports nutrition guidance for races longer than 90 minutes suggests a high carbohydrate intake in the 36 to 48 hours before the start (Thomas and colleagues, 2016). So Friday and Saturday matter most. Thursday is the warm-up.

You don't need to stuff yourself. Swap some of the salad on your plate for more of the starchy food. Feeling a little heavier by Saturday is normal. That is stored fuel and water, not fat.

Friday: collect your bib, then go home

If you pick up your bib at the expo, keep the visit short. Hours of walking through a hall is real work for your legs. Get in, get your bib, get out.

Run nothing, or 20 minutes very easy. Try to sleep well tonight. Many runners sleep badly the night before a race, so a good Friday night takes the pressure off Saturday.

Saturday: a shakeout and an early night

A shakeout is a very short, easy run to loosen up. 15 to 20 minutes, with 3 or 4 relaxed pick-ups of 15 to 20 seconds. Then put your feet up.

Eat your last big meal at lunch or early in the evening. Pick food you know well. Then get everything ready: bib pinned on, gels in your pocket, an old layer to wear before the start that you are happy to leave behind.

Sunday: how to run the course

Amsterdam is mostly flat. That makes it a good course for an even pace, and it also makes it easy to go out too fast. The hardest part of the day is the first 10 km, because everyone feels great.

The start: let the crowd go. You start in and around the Olympic Stadium, with a big crowd and a lot of noise. Your first kilometres will feel easy. That is the taper talking, not a new level of fitness. Run your planned pace, even if people stream past you.

The first half: find your rhythm. The early kilometres take you through the city. Use them to settle. Check your pace now and then, not every few seconds. If you are ahead of plan, ease off a little now. Time "banked" early is almost always paid back with interest later.

The Amstel: steady and patient. A long stretch of the course follows the Amstel river. It is beautiful, it is quiet in places, and it can feel long. If there is wind, tuck in behind a group running your pace and share the work. Hold your effort steady rather than chasing the exact pace on your watch into a headwind.

The last 10 km: this is the race. Coming back into the city, the crowds grow again. If you held back early, this is where you start passing people. If you are struggling, shorten your stride, keep your arms relaxed and focus on the next kilometre marker, not the finish.

The finish: the Olympic Stadium. You finish where you started, with a lap of the stadium track. Enjoy it. You earned it.

Drinks and gels. Take what you trained with, at the times you trained with. Race day is not the day to try a new gel or a new drink.

After the finish line

The week after a marathon is part of training too. Walk, sleep, eat, and give your legs time. Keep your first runs short and easy, and wait until stairs feel normal again before you run anything fast.

How kurro plans your race week

You don't have to plan any of this by hand. When your goal race is in kurro, the plan tapers for you. Over the last three weeks your running drops step by step, and race week is the lightest. Taper weeks usually keep one short session at race pace, just like Tuesday above. After the race, kurro gives you an easy recovery week before you build again.

Every session also says why it is there. Tap "Why this workout?" and you see what Tuesday's short blocks are for. And your plan updates every night, so a missed run or an extra rest day in race week is simply taken into account.

New here? Read how kurro plans around your real week.

Running a spring marathon next? Add your race and see your plan in two minutes at kurro.run.

Good luck on Sunday, Amsterdam.

This article is general training information, not medical advice. Feel pain that does not go away? Talk to a doctor or a physio before you race.