The taper has begun. I don't like tapering because it makes me nervous. I know no amount of running this week will better prepare me for Sunday. But it's hard to back off something that has become very routine. I keep focusing on Tom's words: the hay is in the barn.
I had my last long run on Friday. Again, no garmin so I did it largely by feel. Started off a little slow but definitely felt my pace pick up around 5 miles. Did 10.5 at a 9:35 pace. I was surprised it was that fast but again, this seems to be the pace I've been comfortably settling into for these runs.
Saturday I took off which was a good thing. I had been having some issues with my right foot that were perplexing me. At first it was around my arch. I took Tom's advice and re-laced my sneakers which seemed to help. But then on Thursday and Friday I had pretty bad heel pain. I was wondering if it was the beginning of plantar fasciitis. I iced, advil'd, and immediately got new shoes. My shoes had 280 miles on them so it was close to replacement time.
Went out on Sunday for an easy run and my foot felt fine. It's felt fine ever since so maybe it was the shoes? Or some straining/bruising from the very lumpy local track. Who knows but it's gone now and thank goodness.
I have two days cheduled off this week and nothing more than 4miles. This morning I had a light tempo run and I used it as a chance to try out the clothes I was going to wear on Sunday and practice pace. I wanted 8:45's. Mile one came in right on. Mile 2--despite the fact I can track my pace with the gramin--was 8:25. I totally lost concentration and was thinking about this, that, and the other thing. And then the garmin beeped. Damn.
Mile 3 came in at 8:40. The miles felt easy to me and came and went with no problem. 13.1 is a long way to go though so I'm no dummy and I'm going to stick with my plan of 8:45's. I'm getting increasingly excited and anxious. For Broad Street I was definistely more anxious than excited so it's a nice change of pace. On Saturday we're taking the kiddos into the city via train to go to the expo. Should be a fun day!
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2 comments:
If you need an extra shot of confidence before the race and during the itchy phase of a taper, take a look over your running logs and/or your blog. You've done an amazing amount of work and lots of quality runs - you are ready, PDR will hear you roar! :-) Good luck!
You are going to do great Sunday!
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