Cleveland '08 Training by Bib808

I was about 7 or 8 miles into the 19 miler I was trying to squeeze in Sunday morning before church last week and I thought "I feel great!  I wish I had an extra hour or so to spare and I'd try to run a full 26..."

At mile 13 I thought "Yep, starting to get tired..."

Mile 17 the thought was "wouldn't mind stopping right now"

And at the end of mile 19 I thought "i sure am glad I don't have that extra hour of time!!"

All-in-all the run went well, I kept close to a 10 minute pace, just faster than where I want to be on marathon day to bring me in at 4:30.  Taking into account that I had run 21 miles between the Monday and Friday prior to the 19 miler, I think I'l be in good shape after the taper.

But THANKFULLY my last long run of 20 miles is this weekend and I can begin to rest.  I have really started to feel the fatigue in the last week or so and the pains in my legs and knees seem just a little bit sharper than normal.

My plan is to jump on the bike in the mornings of the taper for "low-impact, light-effort" workouts just to keep my legs moving and stretched out, does anyone think thats a bad idea?  The key would be the light-effort as the taper is obviously meant to rest. But after  falling apart at mile 21 in my previous marathon, I really want to make sure I'm in the best condition possible to get to the finish line with a strong finish this time around.

Please let me know what your taper plans are or if you think I should skip the morning workouts.  Enjoy the rest and the "carbo-load" :-)