August 2, 2010
The Taper Plan
I have bounced this one around for months now. I have reviewed various strategies. Lots of ideas. It all comes down to how I need to prepare for this race.
So some strategies that I have looked at:
1. Do nothing in August
This one is so tempting. Why run at all? Just relax. Frankly, this was the early favorite. But we have 3 training weeks before the race and not moving between now and then is the wrong answer. My fitness will fall (graphs to prove it!). I will gain weight. I will feel sluggish. About the only advantage is that I probably wouldn’t have any aches or pains.
2. Walk or hike in August
This keeps things moving but doesn’t excite the senses much either. I feel like there is some sharpening that can take place here at the end. To me there isn’t a lot of distinction between this and number 1. So I will pass.
3. Run 200 miles a week
Reminder, I am not trying to win this race. Merely put out a great performance that reflects my prepardness. Sometimes reading all these race reports from top 10ers gets me thinking how awesome I am going to be. But reality will set in on race day so let’s stay focused on the goal at hand. I fucked this up at Lake City a bit when I started getting focused on time and place more than I should have when I had only 1 goal.
4. Marathon Taper
This is the one I have most experience with. This involves running then cutting down 2 weeks to 75%, then 1 week to 50%. No running for a couple days before. Then go time. It has been more successful than not for me but I have to get lucky to get it to play out perfectly for the marathon. It did at Boston. It did not at Denver 2009.
OK, so I have no clear winner but I have some strategies.
A. No more 7 days on weeks from here on out. That’s not saying much but at least I free myself from the chains.
B. No off days 5 days prior. This is going to be a key. Poop talk, again. I find that the days off cause my colon to put on the brakes and I start backing up. This is what happened at Lake City. I took it super easy and then on race day I had a lot of stuff to part with before the running started. Not looking to repeat this pattern that has taken years to figure out. Plan out be to run 3-5 miles each day. Enough to shake things loose. Once it does, I will call it. While I surely will visit the bathroom at Leadville in the course of 24 hours, I don’t want to spend most of the first 2 hours dealing with it.
C. Last long run isn’t done yet. Going to run long in Leadville again this Saturday. It won’t be a pace pusher but I don’t plan on walking much if at all. Feel like its the equivalent of the 13.1 hard I always run the week before the 26.2.
D. Mileage cutdown will be marathon taperish. Probably a normal load this week, then cut, then cut, then race.
E. If anything hurts, run less.
So I am flying by the seat of my pants on this one. Just going with what sounds and feels right by extrapolating a bit. Feeback welcome. I mean expected.
