It's Time To Taper

Saturday was to be "the longest run" of ten miles. Due to my foot/ankle issue coach suggested I run two short runs over two days. So as the rest of the team struggled to finish their 10 - 20 mile runs I did my shorty & rested at the water stop chatting & passing out gatorade to my friends. Now that the race is two weeks away it is time to taper.

Every good marathon-training plan should "taper" during those final 21 days. That means you run less and rest more. For some people, the idea of backing off on their training just before the big race seems counterintuitive. "So many runners train hard right up to the day of the marathon because they're desperately afraid of losing fitness if they don't," says Patti Finke, who coaches 250 marathoners a year as co-director of the Portland (Oregon) Marathon Clinic. "What they don't realize is that in those last few weeks it's the rest more than the work that makes you strong. And you don't lose fitness in 3 weeks of tapering. In fact, studies show that your aerobic capacity, the best gauge of fitness, doesn't change at all." (Click that link to read the whole article)

Two weeks of short enjoyable runs.