Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Starting the Taper
The Chicago Marathon is now less than three weeks away, so after my second 20-mile training run I'm going to taper off in my training. Two weeks ago my first 20-mile run went ok - it was the quickest I had run that distance but I really dragged the last 4 miles. After a "step-back" weekend (the two 20-mile runs are separated by a 12-mile weekend run) I ran the 20 again three days ago, and this time did even better. I had an overall average pace of 8:30, which is exactly what I'm shooting for during the race.
Not only that, but I was very consistent too - instead of going out faster and dropping off late, all my mile splits were within 25-30 seconds of my overall average. That's good because it means I'll probably be able to hold that pace for a longer distance than just the training run.
So now what? Now that the majority of the training is over it's time to gradually reduce the weekly miles, which keeps me in shape but puts less stress on the body, in turn helping it recover from training and prepare for the actual race.
Not only that, but I was very consistent too - instead of going out faster and dropping off late, all my mile splits were within 25-30 seconds of my overall average. That's good because it means I'll probably be able to hold that pace for a longer distance than just the training run.
So now what? Now that the majority of the training is over it's time to gradually reduce the weekly miles, which keeps me in shape but puts less stress on the body, in turn helping it recover from training and prepare for the actual race.
# posted by Joel Corbin @ 6:25 AM 
