The first week of my taper for the NJ Marathon is done, and now comes the worst part. The week of so little running before the whole shebang. The week of incessantly checking the weather. Days of making packing lists. I’m so excited that Marathon Week is here, but I’m not ready for it to be (almost) over!
Monday: 13.5 miles (counted in Week 16‘s mileage).
Tuesday: 5 miles of recovery – a steady progression run. I planned to keep all of my miles in the 12’s, but the last two snuck into the 11’s. It was a perfect day for a run.
Wednesday: Rest – I was supposed to go to yoga after school, but I went to meet our new roommate before seeing Boston! (So many feels!!)
Thursday: 3.1 miles steady and easy around my neighborhood. It’s crazy how about a year ago, the hills near my place killed me, and now they don’t phase me at all.
Friday: Rest day
Saturday: 6 miles. I planned for 8, but randomly met someone on the trail and ran with her. It was a great change of pace. We ran a bit faster than I planned, which had me doing 4 MGP miles. I felt great after and don’t think the harder effort run really affected my taper much.
Sunday: 3.1 miles at the Columbia 5K. Seeing as I didn’t personally take a single picture, there won’t be a recap aside from this: I indulged too much the night before, almost didn’t go/run, kept it slow for the first 2.5 miles, then felt good enough for a hard effort to the finish. Despite the headache, it was a good confidence booster to keep my cool at the starting line of a race.
Week 17 mileage: 17.2 (30.7 M-F if you count Monday – which “week wise” I put in Week 17).
Seeing as how I still racked up a good amount of miles last week, this week is really going to be painful before Sunday. My plans are 2-3 miles on Tuesday, yoga at work on Wednesday, and 2-3 miles on Friday morning. I’m looking forward to sleeping in more during the mornings but I already dread how antsy I’ll feel in a few days. Nonetheless, I’m feeling great, and I can’t wait to share my goals for this race!
What are some of your taper tips and tricks?
See Sam Run 