For some reason, I remember tapering as a really fun time. I forgot how crazy it can make you. It makes you doubt your fitness (I'm not running enough), get fat (I'm not running enough), and spend too much time thinking about the race. I feel like I'm ready to run the race today. Well, I could, I guess. But, I WANT to run today.
The Lehigh Valley Half Marathon is next Sunday. I have 4 runs left between now and then (6, 4, 3, and 2 miles respectively). I'm going to try and run 3 out of 4 pretty slowly just to keep my legs fresh. I'm curious to know what I'm "supposed to" be doing this last week though. I guess I could go online and find an article that tells me what I should do. This one seems to say that I should do a "dress rehearsal" some time this week. It's a marathon taper guide though, not a half taper guide. Do the same rules apply?
Anyhow, I was curious to see how everyone else treats the taper. I have just over a week left of "relaxing". So, it would be nice to know how everyone else handles it.
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As the article mentions, tapering is all about reducing training volume to make sure you are fresh for the race.
For me, a big part in how much to taper depends on how hard I think I've been pushing my body lately and how important the race is for me. If a specific race isn't a priority, I'll taper less since I want to keep building fitness for later in the season.
Since I'd like to run reasonably well at LVHM, but I don't consider it an 'A' race anymore, I'm going to perform a 'mini-taper' and cut my volume way down for Thu,Fri,Sat, but still do fairly normal workouts earlier in the week.
If this was my 'A' race, I would do a shorter long run the weekend before and cut my overall weekly mileage roughly in half, but making sure I had a small bit of speed workouts to feel comfortable at race pace.
See you on Sunday!
I am tapering much like you. I have a 8 mile tomorrow, rest Monday, spin class on Tuesday, 4 miles Wed, 2 miles Thurs... and nothing until race day.
I am doing a bit more since I have taken it easy for the last week or so to nurse an achy knee.
Oh, and I think when you taper you should expect to spend a lot of money on shopping. At least that is what I am telling my husband.
Bill... Thanks Man. I think I would consider LVHM a "B" race for me too. If I run a half in my full training, I think I'll care more. But, I still probably won't have the luxury of tapering then either. Oh well. I'll stick with the plan.
E... Shopping it is. Except, in my world, shopping consists of buying Pergo and other home supplies at Lowes. Thanks for the idea. I wish you luck in your race.
Good luck in your race. When you're tapering, don't push your pace. Maybe run the last run of the week at race pace to have your legs remember what that feels like but keep the other runs at a recovery pace. The fitness gains over the last week will be minimal in comparison to all the miles you put in the preceeding weeks.
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