What's Your Routine The Week Of?

Jealous Much?  FEAR IT!!!

(Thank you for all of your wonderful comments on The PR Beard.  It's clear that some of you don't FEAR THE BEARD like you should.  Dare I say some even "mocked" this vicious weapon ... but you're looking at three weeks!  Okay, now you can mock me because this is all I can grow in almost a month, and I'm a full-grown man ... allegedly.  Just for the record, I'm IN NO WAY saying that I'm going to PR at this race (I learned my lesson at Sioux Falls earlier this year ... not gonna make that mistake again)  I'm just not shaving until I do PR ... for my marriage's sake, I hope it's soon!  

As for today, this won't be another "tapering sucks" post ... but I'm always interested to hear what everyone does the week before a marathon?

What's your routine the week before a big race?

I used to be a religious taperer (that word doesn't sound right).  But one of two things was always true for me ...
          1.  I didn't workout enough and lost a little intensity.
          2.  I didn't workout enough and lost A LOT of intensity.
When taper weeks rolled around, I threw it into low gear and basically took two weeks off.  You guessed it, on race day - it seemed like forever ago since I had a good workout, and I was really sluggish.

So I changed it up a little and the results have been fairly positive.  First of all, I reduced my taper weeks to one week.  Two weeks were too many for me.  Probably more psychologically than anything.  My body still feels fresh on race day with only one week of cutting back a little.  And mentally, since I've had a long run fairly recently, 26.2 doesn't seem so daunting.

Secondly, I really try to keep as much intensity as possible, while lowering the mileage a little.  Typically I'll run about 70-80 miles per week.  During a taper week, I usually run about 50-55 including the race.  That might still be a little too much - I'm tinkering with cutting it down a little more.  But also, I try to get a decent Tempo Run and Speed Workout in before the race.

Today I ran a shorter 10 mile Tempo Run, averaging about 15 seconds below Marathon Pace on the tempo miles 4-9.  On Wednesday, I'll go on a 8-10 mile slow yyyyog.  And on Thursday, I'll probably do 7-8 at a fairly good clip with several sprints mixed in.  Then probably rest on Friday and Saturday with the possibility of a 1 or 2 mile slow run on one of those days.

My biggest problem during a taper is nutrition.  It always seems when I'm standing at the starting line with a full belly, I think, "Man, probably shouldn't have eaten so much!"  I never feel as lean as I think I should.  I'm currently tinkering with this too. But the challenge is getting enough food the couple of days before, without feeling over-weight at the starting line.

For me, staying fairly fast and intense, and trying to watch what I eat the last week before a marathon has worked much better.  Just curious what you do ...
... be great today!

Body v. Mind ... Not On The Same Page!

Tapering ...

My body ... "Ah, thank you kind sir ... the ol' left wheel was starting to wobble a little!
Great time for a break!"

My mind ... "What the heck man!!! 
Just when we were gettin' good you pull over to the side of the friggin' road???"

Okay, I promise not to whine about tapering during this post!  I think my friend Jason at Cook Train Eat Race put it best when he commented, "Tapering for Boston....that just sounds awesome even if it is hard to do. Think about what you are doing and just know that it is incredible."  Thanks Jason!  Great advice to be sure!  And to tell you the truth, even though it's a tricky process - the bottom line is I'm only 6 days away from standing at the starting line at Hopkinton! Yeah baby!

But in my further over-analyzation of the already beaten dead horse - I do find one particular point of interest in the "Taper Zone"... 

While my body was actually begging for a slow-down,

my mind is really confused about the whole process!

Boston will be my 10th marathon.  And with each taper period, it seems I learn something new, and make a few more changes.  I took a full two week taper for this marathon ... something I typically don't do, but to tell you the truth, my knee and ankle were pretty beat up and welcomed the rest.  But what to do with my racing mind?  Even though it's been proven time and time again that a good, well performed taper allows your body to recover and prepare itself for a race - I read very little about it being a recovery period for your mind.  The main thing I struggle with is SELF DOUBT!

As many of you know, I'm a diligent trainer and keep detailed records of the process for future reference.  Based on my training this time, I honestly thought I had a PR in the bag.  But the same thing happens every time I taper for this long ... questions about my performance slowly creep in.  Call it over-confidence, or lack of the same ... either way, I am now doubting whether or not I will run this race at the time I had planned.  But the truth is ... I'm 100% okay with that!  If it happens it happens!  I mean, they don't hand out Laurel Wreaths for the PR I would be setting anyway.  But it is so interesting to me what a difference a few days make.

A few weeks ago I ran a 21 miler and got faster and faster on the last 6 miles.  If it would have been the marathon, I could have slowed down 30 seconds per mile on the last five and still set a 5 minute PR.  I was on top of the world and never felt stronger!  There is no reason to believe I have lost any fitness.  I've also lost the 5 pounds I was shooting for.  And my body should be more rested than it has been in 3 months.  So why the doubt now about repeating that performance?

I think for me it's because I've had a few marathon disasters before.  The Austin Marathon was the first marathon I did not walk at all in a race.  Ever!!!  After 9 marathons, I'm just now figuring out how to run them!  So I know that's one of the main things weighing on my mind.  Also, it seems I've always been a "What have you done for me lately" athlete.  I seem to have short term memory loss when it comes to competing.  Now, this can be good and bad.  But it's like my mind doesn't remember that my body is perfectly capable of running my fastest marathon ever at Boston.

Whatever the case, the taper period always seems to rest my body - but over activate my mind!  But only a few more days and we'll be taking that plane ride to the East Coast!  And I can't wait!  So bring it on baby!  Even though my mind is playing tricks on what my body can and can't do ... I wouldn't change a thing!

Bring back Pia ... Seacrest out!
... be great today!