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Why Your Knee Hurts More in the Taper, Even Though You’re Running Less

"I’m running [my marathon] in three weeks and trying to figure out the best way to deal with a mild flare-up of runner’s knee on my right knee. …I’ve been RICE’ing throughout and the knee feels fine at rest but once I start walking I can feel some slight discomfort.”


Sound familiar? No?

How about this one...

"My first marathon is on Sunday. The taper tantrums [are] REAL. My only goal is to finish....and My final long run before the race was 10 miles this past Saturday and my knee started hurting and has been hurting since and I’m NERVOUS."


Ok, last one...

"So this is probably just me, I have knee-anoia any time I see someone [talk] about knee pains during training. I had a similar experience where my longest runs I felt great and my legs felt strong. During taper I felt some knee pain [coming on] and attributed it to overuse and let the taper and rest take care of it."


The Point: Aches. Niggles. Soreness. They're all NORMAL during your taper. But what do you do about them?

Let's dive in.

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Why Your Knee (or Other Joints) Hurt More During Taper

If you’re deep in taper and notice your knee feels stiff, your calf aches, and you swear your Achilles is “tightening up” out of nowhere… you’re not imagining it.

You’re not broken. And you’re definitely not alone.


Did you know that up to 78% of marathoners report new aches, pains, or “phantom pains” during taper, even when there's no actual injury is present?


So what gives?


Phantom pains = your nervous system talking.

I need you to start re-framing how you think of pain.

When you back off of your mileage build, your body is no longer buried under a mound of training stress.


This gives your entire nervous system more “bandwidth”, more energy, to start noticing what's happening in your body. And thanks to our never-ceasing survival-oriented brain, it zeros in on every small irritation now that it has the "time" to do so.


Because back when dinosaurs roamed the earth...

ok, after dinosaurs...

and the saber tooth cats where hunting us as much we were hunting them, it was imperative for us to be in tune with our body because injury meant death.


Now, aches and niggles just mean we back off our mileage, not that a giant cat will catch us and eat us for dinner.


Here's a different example:

Taper time is like turning down the background music in a coffee shop. Without the extra bass pumping in your ears, you realize the table next to you is squeaking obnoxiously every time someone leans on it.


That’s what taper pains are:

a nervous system spotlight on little tissue irritations that accumulated over training but were previously drowned out by fatigue and adrenaline.


But why does it feels worse when I'm running less?


Your musculoskeletal system is an adaptation genius when it comes to the loads you give it.

During heavier training phases like peak month/peak week, your tissues stay “primed” to handle high mileage. However, once you being to decrease that mileage, that daily stimulus to handle "all the hard things" decreases.


As a result, we feel like we're losing that "sharpness, edge, readiness" because we're NOT getting the same stimuli or messages from our brain and muscles that we had been for weeks.


Instead, our nervous system is off it's leash, poking around for everything "that's gone wrong", resulting in heightened awareness of muscles and tendons feeling stiffer, crankier, or even flaring when you ask them to complete a light speed workout.


The good news? They're NOT actually damaged.


But that doesn't mean ignore every pain or niggle. Because here's where the confusion starts.


Real injuries can be unmasked during your taper. These are result of hustling through peak month, finishing peak month, probably around 4-6 weeks ago. And we know from running research, that 4-6 week timeline after a mileage increase or intense training block etc, is when we see injuries surface.


This isn't meant to keep you looking over your shoulder constantly. It's meant to give you a framework, a logical reason WHY you might be experiencing an extra niggly knee.


The Questions Every Runner Asks in Taper


Is my knee pain 'normal' taper niggles, or is it an injury?

*I put pain in quotes because technically we never want pain to be normal; but in a marathon taper, it's "expected" because we understand the physiology of why and how it's happening.


  • 'Normal' Pain: transient stiffness (meaning stiffness that comes and goes), mild discomfort that eases after warm-up, pain that generally doesn’t interfere with your daily life. You just feel like you get hit by a truck and you're a little cranky about it.


  • Concerning: pain that worsens with easy runs, sharp pain at rest, swelling, pain that occurs over very specific locations consistently and does NOT move or travel, or symptoms that increase the more you rest.


If you're symptoms do match anything in the "concerning" bullet point, go get checked out by your health care provider.


Should I skip tapering altogether if it makes my knee and I this sore and grumpy?

Please don't.


I know you're tempted to "accidently" add another 3-5 miles because what's it going to hurt? If you do it only once, probably not much.


But if EVERY run during your taper keeps getting longer, you're defeating the entire purpose of this very specific training block.


And you're actually robbing yourself of fitness and speed on race day. So if you care about your race day PR, please follow your taper plan as written.

But you know what does help the taper tantrums and niggly knees? Believe it not, strength training.

And yes, we continue to strength train during taper time in the running fit fam. Because just like your mileage gets cut by roughly 50% (depending on your plan), your strength does too!


Strength training during your taper helps you maintain that muscle-strength "sharpness" and readiness, however, the intensity of your strength workouts should ALSO be dropped by 50%. Don't worry, I'll have some exercises ready for you below...


But if I back off too much during my taper, do I lose my fitness?

It's actually the exact opposite.

By "backing off", you GAIN FITNESS.


Remember: a taper is about maintaining intensity, not chasing mileage. Research shows you hold onto 95–100% of your aerobic fitness for 2–3 weeks, as long as you keep touching faster paces and controlled strength work.


oh hey, there's that strength work again. ;)


So here’s targeted exercises I've put together for you to keep your knees (and the rest of you) resilient during taper so phantom pains don’t hijack your race.


Stay Strong Through the Taper: Exercises That Calm Your Knees (and Your Nerves)


Circuit:

3 sets each // LIGHT & medium weights


3 Way Single Leg Stance Glute Push Iso into Wall

  • ea position, hold for 5 secs. 1-2x ea side

Bulgarian Split Squat Jumps

  • 6-8 reps ea side

Deep Isometric Lunge Hold

  • 15-30 sec hold ea side holding a weight equivalent of RPE 7 // 2 Reps ea side

Elevated Single Leg Bridge with OH Pullover

  • 30 Reps X weight

Tame the Knee Taper Tantrums: the Exact Exercises Marathoners Need


3 Way Single Leg Stance Glute Push Iso into Wall

  • I don't even want to see the eye rolls...

  • THE SECRET: this is one of my best-shared knee pain secrets in the clinic. Whenever I have a runner with an iffy knee, I try this exercise. It can help pinpoint the exact point in your stride where you're unstable and where your knee needs extra stability.

  • And in your taper-case, strong glutes mean happy knees. Often, knee pain can happen because of a glute-muscle teammate "dumping" load down the kinetic chain OR because of funky knee biomechanics (knee valgus) because the quads and glutes aren't as strong as we'd like. Obviously being in taper mode, it's a little late to build hypertrophy strength.

  • But this exercise can quickly and affectively remind your glutes how to support your knee in 5 secs, reducing your pain and improving your mind-muscle communication (neuromotor control), all in a position that looks like running


Bulgarian Split Squat Jumps

  • No, your leg will NOT fall from a little intensity. In fact, it'll feel better...

  • THE REASON: sometimes knee pain is caused by unhappy tendons and connective tissues. And the fastest way to communicate with these structures in the scenario of your taper is to add the right amount of SPEED and INTENSITY.

  • A lot of runners shy away from plyometrics during a taper because "they're too intense", "I'll be too sore" etc...but they'll happily add an 5 extra miles because that's less intense that jumping around a couple times? This is runner math at it's finest.

  • I can promise you from working with various runners over the year who have been 3-4 weeks away from their race and struggled with knee pain like yours, that this is a magic exercise that immediately reminds your knee tendons and other connective structures how to help, support and stay strong again.


Deep Isometric Lunge Hold

  • I like this one because it gets everyone involved...

  • PRO TIP: your knee is not a one man show. So it's time we stop treating it like it is. I understand a lot of runners have a hard time strength training during a taper because it can be scary, new, and full of "but what if I do it wrong...this close to my race?"

  • So my alternative is this isometric. And you can honestly do it with just body weight while you're first learning it...but you better aim for that 30 sec mark then ;)

  • After you feel comfortable with it and realize it's hard, but not impossible, go ahead and hold weights in each hand. It's a great alternative to that "do hard things" stimuli your body was constantly experiencing during peak month and now it's missing because we're tapering. An exercise like this recruits every single leg muscle helping you feel sharper, more in-tune, while providing increased stability and decreased pain for your knee.


Elevated Single Leg Bridge with OH Pullover

  • We can't forget your hamstrings...

  • THE KEY: knees hurt a lot less when they get help and support all the way around. So we don't want to forget your posterior chain, which is what's working in this exercise.

  • I also like how by putting you in a position that resembles your running stride, combined with a challenging core element, we challenge your single leg stability.

  • In non-PT words, if you feel a little wibbly-wobbly while doing this, that's totally normal. And as your body learns the exercise, it'll feel easier. And as a result, your core activates while also learning how to support your hips, knee, and hamstring in this exact part of your running stride. Pretty cool, right?


WRAPPING UP

Remember: don’t let phantom pains steal your race


If you’re noticing new aches in your knee (or anywhere else) during taper, remember this:


You’re not falling apart. Your body is adapting.

  • Phantom pains are common (nearly 8 out of 10 marathoners feel them).

  • Most of the time, they’re your nervous system being a little louder now that training volume is lower.

  • True injuries can pop up, but that doesn’t mean shut everything down. What matters is smart load management and giving your body the right kind of stimulus.


The taper isn’t about wrapping yourself in bubble wrap.


It’s about showing up fresh, strong, and confident on race day.


The right strength and mobility exercises keep your tissues resilient while your training stress comes down.


So instead of letting phantom pains hijack your headspace, use them as a cue: your body’s asking for attention, not panic.


And if your achilles or calf are being incessantly tight, I have a free toolkit for runners dealing with calf and Achilles issues during marathon training. Let me walk you through the exact exercises I use with runners to relieve ankle stiffness and calf tightness so you can stay on track for race day.



Until next time, running fit fam....


Dare to Train Differently,

Marie Whitt, PT, DPT //@dr.whitt.fit

REFERENCES:


Effects of tapering on performance in endurance athletes: A systematic review and meta-analysis


The training—injury prevention paradox: should athletes be training smarter and harder?


Functional overreaching: the key to peak performance during the taper?


 
 
 

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