Tapering: Two Concerns
Sep2520096:32 p.m.
The Chicago marathon is only 15 days away, and my very best training run already seems a distant memory. I had such an awesome 18-miler two weeks ago, then this past Saturday my 20-miler felt awful (see previous post: "How to Eat an Elephant").
My confidence took a beating on that run and I'm dealing with it. I would have been awesome to end my final long training run on a better note, but I'm going to try not to worry about it. I just hope and pray my next 20+ long run (aka Chicago marathon) goes much more smoothly!
On my first week of tapering I had runs of 5 miles, 6 miles, and 7 miles. What a struggle those first two runs were! I seriously started to worry, because no matter how hard I tried I could not make my legs go faster. My tired body felt heavy and slow -what's up with that?!!! Finally while running with the girls yesterday I was able to dial it up a bit and my body responded: We did 4 miles on the road in 36min 45 sec - my final 2 mile splits were 8:38/mi and 7:59/mi. Then I got on the treadmill for 3 miles of speedplay at a 8:00/mi pace. I don't know if I should have pushed it or not but I did; mentally, I needed "speed" (or at least my version of it!)
And there's the other "problem"...
Someone ate an entire plate of cookies at our house.... Every time I walked into the kitchen I noticed there were fewer and fewer cookies on the platter until finally they were ALL GONE. Seriously!!! Is someone having hunger control issues? Does someone want to carry an extra 5 pounds with them in Chicago?
Yes, I'M HUNGRY! AND I'M TIRED, too!!! What happened to the leaps and bounds of restless energy that supposedly comes from fewer training miles?! Not for this girl!!!
Well, tomorrow's another day and I've got 10 miles in the morning...maybe I can run off those, um, calories and focus on enjoying this crazy taper!!!
More later.
Tam
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Comments (2)
mlbarbee 'Stay strong. I don't know anyone who's better at staying positive and talking herself through tough times. You will be in Chicago in two weeks and all will be well. You've trained hard, you're strong, and you've got hundreds of miles under your belt. All is well...be at peace. (Sheesh! How many more platitudes can I stuff into this comment, huh?)' added 26th Sep 2009
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Alaistair 'Figure your saving the best for that Chicago road......I would rather finish the long runs on a low then step up to the mark on race day, so easy to peak to early in training. 15 days....grief.....its looming quick!!! stay well and take it real easy............. ;o)' added 26th Sep 2009
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