Sunday, January 11, 2009

Taper Time!

After 15 weeks of consistent marathon training I have made it to the final 3 weeks of taper training. Today's run was a 20 miler and that was followed by a 10 mile marathon pace run on Saturday. The run seemed especially hard today because of the 2 inch snow covered trails. My legs felt and feel like they ran 30 miles. But I'm sure running a hard 10 miler the day before didn't give my legs much recovery time. I think Hal Higdon did it that way for the Advanced II program on purpose to toughen the runners up. The totality of Hal's program gave me the confidence and physical shape I need to run a good marathon. I missed 2 workouts early in the program, shortened a 19 mile to 15 mile run, but ran a 22 miler instead of a 12 miler. The quantity of the runs is out of the way but the quality will continue up to race day. And my focus now is getting to the starting line well rested. Yoga is my choice of recovery to get me prepared mentally and physical for race day. If I can do a little every day I'll be happy.

5 comments:

duchossois said...

Sounds like you are well prepared. I checked at the Mardi Gras Marathon website, and it looks like a good race, on a very flat course. The weather shouldn't be a problem. Have a great race.

Janet Edwards said...

Enjoy the taper! Best of luck to you at Mardi Gras!

Lloyd said...

Enjoy the taper and good luck with final preparations.

Brian said...

You're in great shape, no doubt about that. Your previous experience will pay off during the late stages of the marathon. I wish I could be there to pace you home!

Deb said...

Focus is everything and you've got it my friend! Hope this finds you and your family well and that the new year brings continued blessings, health and fun!

d