Tapir Madness - Day 4

I adopted a pet today. His name is Marathon:

He will be my constant companion for the next three weeks. Some of his endearing qualities:

• Tapirs near a water source will swim, sink to the bottom to allow small fish to pick parasites off their bulky bodies.
• Along with fresh water lounging, tapirs often wallow in mud pits.
• The thick skin on the backs of their necks helps to protect them from threats.
• When threatened, the creatures are able to run fairly quickly, considering their size and cumbersome appearance, and find shelter in the thick undergrowth of the forest or in water.

I think Marathon and I will get along quite well....

Taper Madness - Day 3

Let's see. Where do I start. First off, something that Adam (I Am Boring) left in a blog comment yesterday about taper time makes a lot of sense:

"...most people will say to keep the same intensity (speed) as before just reduce the volume. I like that a lot - keep you legs moving at the same speeds that they are used to."

That makes a lot of sense in a lot of ways. I mean it takes doing something for 20 days to make it habit, right? Can you forget a habit by *not* doing it for 20 days? 21 day taper? Hmm.

So, I kept my date with the hills yesterday and did my final hill repeats before the Big Day. Two mile warm up, 6 hill repeats (1/4 mile, 110 foot gain, followed by a walk/slow jog back down) and a 1 mile warm down. Oh yeah. Remember that stuff I wrote about yesterday? About watching my pace? I'm thinking 10:15 - 10:30 pace for race day. Pace on my first two miles? 9:30. FAIL!!!! Well - that's what these couple of weeks are about.

Today's taper gem - diet. The first week of taper means protein should be making an appearance in our diets. Time to fuel to repair damage from what should have been a hard final week leading to taper. Let's see - Monday dinner - pasta with meat sauce. Check. Tuesday - roast chicken and broccoli. Check. Wednesday - barbecued tri tip. Check. Thursday - soy chorizo with eggs and refried beans. Check. So far so good! (Of course, I fail to mention the ice cream that has been inhaled as well.....)

I have a rest day on the schedule today. I seem to have quite a few of those recently. Well, maybe not. I think the butterflies are starting to appear. This is common for even seasoned marathoners. The best advice for dealing with the butterflies came yesterday from Jill (Run With Me):

"What helps me is to make a list of all my anxiety and list who has control of it and how I can control what I can."

I've got my pen and clipboard out. Thanks everyone for putting up with me for the next three weeks!

Taper Madness - Day 2

I got out for my planned six miler late in the afternoon yesterday. I was pretty sneaky. The wind was blowing onshore (happens a lot in the afternoon as the rising air over the land draws the cooler air off the ocean). In my earlier days I would have put the miles in. Screw the wind. But demonstrating my higher intelligence (well, okay, the fact that it took me about a year and a half to catch on), I headed up the road so that I would be running the first three miles into the wind, which of course meant that the way back to the car would be with a tailwind. I'm not sure it helped that much, except to make it feel like the second half of the run was easier. Ah - the power of the mind. Final stats - 6 mile at an average pace of 9:29, 78% of MHR.

Speaking about the power of the mind - it's time to exercise mine a little during taper madness. This will be my third time doing 26.2. The first time was pure hell. The only thing that I was sure about was that I needed to do another to get the monkey off my back. The second time was better, but there was still a lot of experimenting going on right up to the start line (and maybe even beyond). I know I could have benefited from more planning. Anticipating what could go wrong before the race will leave you more prepared to deal with catastrophes during the race. Anyone who has been there knows what I mean. So, what I thought I would do here for the next couple of weeks is, with the help of yesterday's article and my own experience, show you how I am dealing with taper madness.

As we wind down the miles in week 1 of taper, there are a number of things we can do to get mentally ready:

1. Weather - It's time to start watching the weather. March weather can be such a crap shoot here in L.A. Average temperature is 70. Record for March 21 is 93. Rainy season won't quite be over. Um yeah. The start time is late (7:30 AM), and by the time my wave hits the start line, it's likely to be 7:45 or 8:00 AM. This means that I will be finishing around 12:30 to 1:00 in the afternoon. The last thing I want to do is be overdressed at the start and suffer later on as the sun comes out and the course heats up.
2. Goal pace: I'm going to start practicing running at goal pace if I'm not doing a tempo run. I need to run by feel. Right now I don't know that feel. Starting Sunday, if I'm too fast, I *will* slow down. No reason to be setting practice records at this point. It's always too easy to get caught up in the excitement of the moment and to go out way too fast. Believe me (experience speaking here) - it will come and grab you in the butt later on.
3. Clothing and gear: The carnal sin on race day is to be doing the race in something new. This weekend's long run will be done in the same shorts, shirt and socks that I used for Long Beach - not because I'm superstitious, but because I need to check them out to make sure that nothing has changed (either my body or the clothing) that is going to result in chafing. Believe me - I will be in enough pain. Chafing is the last thing I need.
4. Shoes: This is also the time to take stock of my shoes. My race day shoes currently have 271 miles on them. I have 95 miles left on the plan (including race day). I alternate shoes during training, which means I'll have around 320 miles on my race day pair. I typically put about 400 miles on shoes, so I should be safe.

So there you go. Enough to keep me busy for a couple days. On the schedule today - hill repeats. Six of them. Hey! Aren't I supposed to be tapering?

Counting Down to Race Day - Taper

Less than 20 days until The Day. March 21st. That means the bane of most marathoners has begun - taper. Most of us hear about "taper madness" - that time where we are told by our training plans to run less to prepare for running more. It seems counter intuitive. It's tough to cut a run short at 6 miles when you used to run 10. Most of you have been there before. And even though this is my third time, I've got to admit this whole taper thing is still a bit of a mystery.

I spent some time yesterday researching the value of the taper. There are tons and tons of articles on the Internet that tell you what to do, but very few that actually explain why. I found this gem at Runner's World that does a decent job of discussing the whys. In a nutshell:

"The primary aim of the taper should be to minimize accumulated fatigue, rather than to attain additional physiological adaptations or fitness gains."

In other words - what's done is done at this point. After 15 weeks of training, there is very little that I can do over the next three weeks that is going to enhance my physical preparation. But, push myself too hard though, and the consequence can be a Long Beach repeat - where I was dust by mile 13, or worse yet - injury. The goal now is to maintain my current level of fitness and to give my body ample time to heal before the big day.

So, over the next three weeks, I'll be doing slow easy miles. Like the 6 I did last night (10:32 pace, 73% MHR). I'm going to treat the next three weeks like a big dress rehearsal. Now that I've been through this a couple times, I know what *can* happen. Time to figure out how to recognize and fix issues before thy become big problems. Over the next few days, I'll be attacking the checklist that comprises the *rest* of taper (Oh my! What a pun!)

Are the Paddles Ready? Breathe. Breathe.

The time is near. Butterflies are fluttering. Nervousness is setting in .

What? The marathon on Sunday? Heck no! My Los Angeles Dodgers! They have their act together for a change! Last night's 2 out 2 run rally are the moves that winners make. An interesting stat provided by fellow Dodger fan Ms.V - this year the Dodgers have won 23 games in the last at bat. Go Dodgers!

Baseball is my favorite sport. I can watch baseball anytime. Anywhere. And not just the Majors. I've spent many a hour in minor league parks while on the road. One thing I miss about my middle son being in college is I don't get to watch high school ball games anymore. (Proud dad moment - here's a picture of him in action:)

I live for this time of year. World Series baby! All the better this year because the Dodgers may actually have chance! And no - I'm not an Angels fan. In fact, I'm not really an American League fan - but we'll save that for some other time.

Oh running? I took out my copy of The Competitive Runner's Handbook by Bob Glover and started revisiting the chapters on Marathon Countdown. I'm taking it pretty easy - scheduled rest day yesterday, emphasizing carbs without cutting the protein and fat, staying off my feet as much as possible (as my Twitter friends will attest to). But, it's always great to revisit the books - if for no other reason than to reduce anxiety. Some things left to do before Saturday:

() Figure out the parking situation: I can't tell you how many stories I read of people almost missing a start because of parking. Add to that that about 20,000 of my close friends will be running Long Beach - and parking can become a problem. I'm thinking about parking three of four miles away and taking the Metro Blue Line to the start.

() Figure out gear drop: This marathon starts and finishes in the same place. I just need to figure out what I'm going to put in my gear bag an make sure it's all there. My list so far: Dry clothes, dry shoes, dry socks, electrolyte tabs/powder, cell phone, wallet with cash, keys, towel, neosporin (for chafing). I'm sure I'll expand the list tonight.

() Visit the start/finish line: This will happen tomorrow when I go to the expo. I like to just take a look at the whole setup. That way, if I *do* end up short on time, I know where to drop my gear bag and then where to rush to to hit the start.

() Sleep: Sleep the night before any big event is always fitful. That means tonight's sleep needs to happen. No online poker until midnight!

Am I ready? Oh yeah - I'm ready!

Legs - You've Done Good

I put in a nice, relaxing run yesterday. I kept everything slow and easy, concentrating more on heart rate than pace. One thing for sure - my legs did not complain. No siree. For a change, not one complaint at all. They *have* been complaining lately. A lot of little tweaks and pains here and there. Tight hammys. Tired quads. Sore joints. All those things that signal the end of a training cycle and spent shoes.

But yesterday they were along for the ride. To be honest, I've got to give kudos to my legs, knees and feet for sticking around for this long. Head and chest rebelled a couple weeks ago and tried to put the kibosh on this marathon idea, but you guys have always been there. For twenty four weeks now - almost 900 miles - you have responded. Not always fast and not always without a little complaining, but two more days and we'll be at our destination. And you want to hear something really impressive? Sometime Sunday while you guys are slaving away, you will have taken the rest of us along for over 1,200 running miles this year! Thank you legs, knees and feet! I promise that I will get you guys some new cushions to land on in the next couple of weeks.

Yesterday's run stats - 6.1 miles at an average heart rate of 72% of max. Yep. Nice and easy for sure......

Well, the Finish was Respectable

For all that whining I did earlier this week, I finished up respectably. I kind of wanted to push and get a long run in today, but I though better of it and just settled in for a short recovery run instead. No reason in particular except to just get back into a training rhythm of a long run Saturday followed by a recovery Sunday. I finished up a 6.3 mile run that turned out to be pretty effortless. I was relieved to not have any coughing or hacking along the way.

So, I end the week with 28.5 miles. About 15 miles short of goal, but the way that it started last Tuesday - I'm relieved I was able to get the miles in. Nothing long and no speedwork, but at least the miles ended up respectable. Thanks folks for keeping me sane!

Now I need to turn my mind to important things. 21 days until Long Beach. This week begins taper. That's right. All this work is coming to fruition. On the schedule:

Monday: Rest day.
Tuesday: 7 miles general aerobic. Finish up with 8 100 yard stride outs.
Wednesday: 8 miles general aerobic.
Thursday: 4 miles general aerobic. Finish up with 6 100 yard stride outs. Looks like a good day to get to the gym for some stretching.
Friday: Rest day.
Saturday: 16 mile long run
Sunday: 8 miles - 4 miles general aerobic and 4 miles half marathon pace.
Total: 43 miles

It's supposed to really heat up this week (I hear snow is forecast in the Rockies?). The weatherman is saying low 90's here near the beach, and 100 to 110 inland. I may be doing some night running Tuesday and Wednesday!

Slow week...

Well, at this point I am in full blown taper. I know my body needs the rest - I've been really tired the past couple of weeks. On my runs I was feeling a few tweaks here and there - more probably from not hitting the weight room and doing my stretching, but this close to the big day, I just want to make sure I don't blow it and really hurt myself.

This week was three days at 30 minutes per day and a six mile long run on Saturday. I put in a little over 15 miles, so this week was at an easy pace. The good news is that even at an easy pace on Saturday (an it was pretty easy), I still beat my PR for a 10K! Something is working!

So, for now, it's one last easy week, and then MARATHON TIME!

Taper has Started

Well, I guess we are on the downside of our training program at this point. Our peak mileage week was last week at 33 scheduled miles. This week we drop our short runs from 45 minutes (4.5 miles) to 40 minutes (4 miles) Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We have a long run on 14 miles on Sautrday this week, and 12 miles on Saturday next week. Then we really do taper by droping miles down to 3 a day 3 times a week with a 6 mile long run, then 2 miles a day 3 times a week before the big weekend.

I'm looking forward to the marathon at this point. I want to be careful to make sure I don't injure myself prior to the big event. I am also looking forward to post recovery in a couple of months to work on driving mileage up closer to 50 a week or so.