Tapering

Well, the taper pains are here I think. Seriously...my legs feel like lead!! I did go for a run last night, a tempo, that because of lost signals I think was a bit short, but on mapmyrun it came up at most .20 short of the 10 miles I thought I did, so not OVERLY short. I guess the time I had is fairly close, I mean at most it's probably 1-2 minutes off, which isn't a lot over 10 miles. At most instead of the 8:01 pace Garmin said, probably an 8:20...how is that?? Means I did run at least 5-6 miles of MP like I planned. I really didn't believe it though, my legs felt so tight I really didn't feel like I was running some of the sub 8 miles that were coming up.

Middle of the night I woke up, and feeling like lead still, I decided you know, this is taper week, I had planned 44 miles, but if I didn't run today, I'd still be at 40 for the week if I run tomorrow (which I am) and Sunday, which I definitely plan on, it's not a big deal. The hay is in the barn, as Nathan, one of my training coaches put it. There is only injury and overtraining and not enough rest that can come right? So I slept in this morning and took this afternoon off. Of course I snacked and feel guilty about that and feel I should go run that off...maybe I should go soak in a tub instead...see if that soaks the tightness out of my legs.

Anyway, other than that, I'm glad the week is over. I have class on Monday, training group on Tuesday (but only for 2 more weeks, that makes me kind of sad) and class again on Wednesday. Can I just say how much I look forward to Thursday?

Fall?

First of all, last hard, high mileage week complete. For my PR marathon in 2006 I had my highest mileage week ever then, of 63 miles. This morning I did 5 miles , and has been the case after every long run so far, ended up feeling really good and averaged an 8:41 pace. I tell you, Endurox R4 recovery drink works. I have had it after my long runs and feel good enough for a good run the next day. Even when the long runs are done harder!! Anyway, that 5 miles put my mileage for this week at 68. I ran everyday. And since I ran last Sunday, that's 8 days of running...I think my body is ready for a rest.

After my run yesterday I decided it was time for a quick stop at the farmers market because it's mid-September and my favorite apple had to be in season by now...Cortland's. A MN apple, the only thing I really look forward to in the fall...and no, they aren't quite ready. Maybe next weekend, but not even a guarantee on that. We did have a late spring after all. And when the person at the stand mentioned that, I remembered that too and was even more upset about the color changes we noticed in the leaves on our run today. Yes, we are experiencing normal conditions for this time of year in MN, but we had a cold winter last year, a crappy winter, and a very, very late spring...don't we deserve a bit longer summer??? Don't get me wrong, I don't want summer conditions marathon day, 3 weeks from today, but I don't want fall yet when we were cheated out of spring! But such is MN...and at least we are in football season right? And I was able to get a different apple, Zestar, a newly developed one, developed right here in MN at the University of Minnesota that are pretty good...so it wasn't a total loss at the farmer's market.

Another sign of fall...homework time.

Let the Taper Begin…Except for Tuesday’s Yasso’s!

That was the theme today, and yes, we are doing Yasso’s on Tuesday with my group, but today marks the official end to the mileage build up. Over the next 3 weeks I’ll be cutting back my mileage and of course there is a big race 3 weeks from tomorrow.

My plan, 22 miles, the group had plans for 20, so I went for a quick two mile warm up through downtown St. Paul.

Mile 1 – 9:06
Mile 2 – 10:00

Then met my group, basically at mile 26.2. Today’s run was an out and back. 10 miles backwards over the marathon course and then 10 miles back. Coming into today I had 40 miles in, not counting the race on Sunday (since that was last weeks mileage but still, it was a factor to the week). The Fartlks on Tuesday and the somewhat failed intervals in the downpour on Thursday. I had a decent meal, similar to what I want to eat the day before the marathon (at my favorite restaurant) last night, got to bed, and thought before bed that I couldn’t wait till today, getting this last long run done. The long run with the group. Plan was long slow distance of course, BUT if you felt OK, run harder coming back…up the hills. So that’s what I did.

Mile 1 – 9:15 Mile 12 – 8:32
Mile 2 – 8:54 Mile 13 – 8:52
Mile 3 – 9:10 Mile 14 – 9:28
Mile 4 – 8:54 Mile 15 – 8:31
Mile 5 – 8:54 Mile 16 – 8:39
Mile 6 – 8:21 Mile 17 – 8:08
Mile 7 – 8:51 Mile 18 – 8:10
Mile 8 – 9:42 Mile 19 – 7:50
Mile 9 – 8:49 Mile 20 – 7:53
Mile 10 – 8:53 Mile 21 – 7:54
Mile 11 – 9:08

I’m pleased with the results. We ended up longer by a mile, I was fine with that. Average pace was 8:43, which is what I had been wanting to run my long runs at. The slowest miles from today are pretty much water stops, and the best part. The hills at Mississippi River road, which are the harder ones, are the hardest we saw and I’ve run them 2 other times with the group already. Everyone always warns that Summit is bad, the hills will kill you from mile 22-24…we were running Summit and one guy said “almost to the top”…my response…in seriousness, “we are climbing a hill?” Talk about feeling good!!

And in the beginning of the run, my legs were feeling a little tired, still kind of were at the end, but the main thing is I did it, and I think I did it well. And now let the fretting and worrying that comes with taper on…we all know it happens!! Oh yeah, and that makes 63 miles for the week, matching my highest mileage ever, and I'll be doing a recovery run tomorrow.