Three-weeks of taper is a tricky thing. Initially, you’re psyched for some well-earned down time in which you’ll spend hours of blissful sleep/rest regenerating every muscle fiber just in time for race day. In reality, the first week of taper doesn’t really feel like tapering, the second week (where I’m currently at) is when you question if you’re doing too much or too little, and the third week is just mayhem.
For my first week of taper, I still had to run 50 miles based on the 20% reduction rule off of my peak mileage (65). That’s still a lot of running! I ran 5 days last week, some of which felt great, some of which weren’t so great.
Monday: rest
Tuesday: 9 miles + Core Power yoga
Solid run with Julia around Wash Park x2 and some sweaty yoga after work. Mmm.
Wednesday: November Project workout + run before/after (7 miles total)
So many humans! Biggest NP5280 group yet.
Thursday: Core Power yoga
Friday: November Project workout + run before/after (11 miles total)
Super fun workout last Friday. We did a running circuit with some steady inclines/declines in between strength moves. There was a gorgeous sunrise, and I felt strong and happy the entire time. Julia and I ran before and after too, for a total of 11 miles for the day.
Proof of the glorious sky! I swear I don’t just go to NP because they take photos that I can conveniently use as a blogger.
Saturday: 7 miles easy
Sunday: 16 miles
A very stereotypical long run story: up too early, didn’t feel great for the first half, felt monumentally better for the second half. While I’d rather feel good for the entirety of my long runs (HA!), I’m glad that I seem to have a trend going of negative splitting my long runs in both pace and general attitude. One of my biggest hopes for Philly is to race, not just survive, the second half, so hopefully this is good practice.
Total= 50 miles
Generally, this week was fine. Nothing was groundbreaking, nothing was terrible; just doing to work and going through the motions. In terms of where I’m at now, I’ve dug a little mental ditch this week and need to get myself out of it. Things are just achy, and I’m questioning all training decisions by the minute (despite the fact that I’ve had it all planned out already). I’m really trying to just listen to my body, and I know more rest is better than less, but it’s all just kind of hard to gauge at this point. I’ve decided to not really abide by mileage targets anymore and just stay conservative.
I kind of can’t believe that the race is 10 days away. I kind of feel like I should take some time to internalize it a little more, because it doesn’t really seem to stay in the front of my brain. Maybe that’s a good thing, but I feel like after 14 weeks of this business, I should be getting a little more excited, nervous, something?! I’m certain to eat those words next week, but this taper just feels a little different than previous ones. I’m still trying to nail down some goals for the race, although I have a general framework of times that I think are possible, depending on the day.
I do know that I want to run a smart race. At my last goal marathon, Eugene, I hit the wall so hard I had a difficult time even enjoying the feeling of qualifying for Boston, and it was entirely my own fault. I know the distance will hurt no matter what, but I’d like to beef up my mental toughness a little more this time around.
More goal talk and taper talk to come, I’m sure. Thanks for sticking with me 🙂
Run Birdie Run 
Haha so true what you said about taper! First week doesn’t feel like anything, second week you wonder if u can still squeeze in some last minute fitness although you know you should rest, third week you just think about how your legs should feel lighter!
Your training has been great! I am rooting for you to have a great race !!