Good morning everyone.
For those of you who haven’t checked the hoddle these last few weeks, then you might’ve missed that I’ve begun documenting my training for my next marathon, which is on 4 April. The goal is to smash by personal best and see just how close to a 3-hour marathon I can get (pretty close, I think).
The whole point of this is to almost document my anxiety from all this training. It’s a big commitment to run a marathon. The worst of winter has come and gone, although it could return
this week. Still, we’re counting down the remaining weeks until race day.
(Catch up on Weeks 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 here)
Week 15:
They call it a “taper tantrum” for a reason.
My marathon is less than two weeks away which means it’s now time to scale back some of that mileage, although this week comes with the challenge of trying to not cut it back too much.
Your hoddler-in-chief will be hitting the road this week, and that’s going to make it very difficult to go out running. That’s where the “taper tantrum” comes into play.
“Taper tantrum” is a common expression for the anxiety runners have in the final week or two before a big race. By design you’re supposed to scale back your mileage to help your body get the rest it needs for rest day. Most tapering plans are 1-3 weeks depending on the race. For the marathon, I’m tapering two weeks.
Part of my anxiety is to make sure none of the hard work I’ve been doing slips away in the final 12 days leading up to the marathon. I’m still trying to eat well, lay off the alcohol and continue my running pattern. I admittedly slipped up a little bit on that second one the other night, but I’m not going to let it totally derail me.
So where does this leave me? Well I’ve got at least one big one scheduled for Sunday before I take a flight out of Washington DC later that afternoon.
Sunday: 16 miles
This is my dress rehearsal for the marathon. I’ve got my raceday shoes, socks, shorts, tank and hat. And I’ve got a good distance at 16 miles.
This time I won’t be doing “easy miles”. It’ll be a two-mile warmup with the final 14 miles at marathon pace. Because I haven’t had the chance to do much running at goal pace during the winter, I think this’ll be a good opportunity to give that a shot.
It’s a longer stretch of the run I did Thursday (12 miles: 2 easy, 4 at MP, 1 easy, 4 at MP, 1 mile cooldown). And I felt in control of that for the entire time. This one just condenses the two marathon-pace blocks and adds a few more miles in there for good measure.
The good news is I’ll have plenty of time to sit on the aeroplane.
Monday: Rest
I’ll be doing my best to stretch while I can. Heck, maybe I’ll even bring my stretching rope or foam roller.
Tuesday – Friday: Run when able
There’s no plan here. I’m going to try to go out when it’s possible, even if for just a couple of miles. It’ll be nice to stretch those legs out and I’ll just have to live with the fact that my mileage is going to drop considerably this week.
Saturday: 4-6 miles easy
This is my optimistic take, since I’m flying back into DC on Saturday. If I wake up early enough I think I’ll have a chance to knock out a handful of miles before I head to the airport. And then hopefully I’m feeling in fine form when I prepare for my Sunday run back home.
Total estimated miles: 20? Maybe more? Hopefully not too much less.
Fitzie’s note: Since your hoddler-in-chief will be traveling this whole week, you’ll have some bonus hoddlers-in-chief the remaining four days. Do be on your best behaviour!
Fitzie’s track of the day: Tom Sawyer, by Rush
No links today!
