Shakeout run
A very short, very easy run the day before or the morning of a race.
Also called: pre-race shakeout, race-week jog.
A shakeout does not make you fitter — nothing you run in the last 48 hours will — but it settles nerves, loosens travel legs, and lets you check that your shoes and kit are as you left them. Keep it short and slow enough that it costs nothing. The temptation to "test the legs" with a fast segment is exactly the temptation to resist.
The session
Shown at a 4:00 marathon reference — 22 min total, about 2.8 km.
Session
- 22 min very easy — by feel
Why this session works
Twenty minutes of very easy running the day before (or after) something hard — loosen up, nothing more. Duration and effort both deliberately trivial.
Source: Mujika & Padilla 2003. Training phase: peak.
Run it at your own paces
Open the workout generator and enter a recent race time — every rep length, recovery and target pace is recalculated for your fitness, and the session exports to .fit for a Garmin watch.
Frequently asked questions
What is a shakeout run?
A very short, very easy run the day before or the morning of a race. A shakeout does not make you fitter — nothing you run in the last 48 hours will — but it settles nerves, loosens travel legs, and lets you check that your shoes and kit are as you left them.
How long is this session?
At a 4:00 marathon reference it comes to 22 min and about 2.8 km. The generator scales both to your own paces, so a faster runner covers more ground in the same time.
Who is this workout for?
It is written for the peak phase of a marathon build. The distances shown suit a 4:00 marathoner; enter your own recent race time in the generator and every rep length and target pace is recalculated for you.
More recovery runs sessions
- Recovery run — Short, genuinely easy running to promote recovery rather than add training stress.
- Recovery run with strides — An easy recovery run finished with a few short controlled accelerations.