Monday, September 6, 2010

Taper

I've hit most of my planned runs despite a busy back to school work schedule. At first, I was disappointed that my marathon taper hit right at a three day weekend (my usual holiday plan is lots of long trail runs). My second thought was oooooh - rest! Rest I did.

Before that, I needed to complete my last semi-long run of 12 miles. Friday night, I received a phone call from one of Rebecca's friends and we planned to meet up for 5 miles of trail. Fun getting to know someone new! I combined this with 7 miles of road running, then slept for THREE HOURS! Guess I was tired.

Sunday, Buddy and I enjoyed the cooler temps with a four mile tempo run. One mile of warm-up followed by four miles of faster fun. The rest of the weekend? Sleep, food, good books, a new running magazine and lots of walking with Buddy.

I am catching glimpses of the runner I possibly could be if I were more dedicated to a training plan. Long strings of easy 10 minute miles have become normal, and during my faster 3-5 milers I see mile splits of 8:30's and 8:40's. This concerns me a bit for the marathon. Since I have no prediction for this race, I really hope not to go out too fast and then blow up. But, what is too fast? How does one know? Do I mimic my long runs? Or is that too conservative? I guess that's part of the game. To gamble or not to gamble? We'll see...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Does your marathon have lots of hills? If not, I'm sure you are going to do better with all that training on the trails.

Jo Lynn said...

You're so smart to schedule rest. ;)

T.C. said...

Rest is just as important as the miles are. Glad your training is going well!