Taper and pre-marathon thoughts

It's finally here! I'm only a few days and a couple of easy runs away from my next marathon in Gettysburg. The field is about 600 runners, so it's a little bigger than my last marathon (less than 400 total finishers). It's been a tough training winter, but I've done the best that I could.  I'm approaching the end of my taper, and this taper has been less frustrating than what I've remembered in the past.  Tapering is not an exact science, and cutting back mileage to try to strike a balance between being optimally-rested while losing the least amount of fitness is tough.   I'm a fan of the three week taper, but in the past I've mostly forgone workouts of almost any kind during the taper period, aside from one or two short marathon-paced runs.  All of that easy running let me feel rested, but towards the end of the taper, I would REALLY have to restrain my normal pace-pushing self to not crush every run.  This time, I included a few workouts and a race:

At the end of the first taper week, I ran the 10,000 meter run at the ROC City Classic as a final tune-up for the marathon.  Due to the general lack of 10Ks that I've raced since college, my PR of 33:32 was over three years old (although I did tie this during one of the Freezeroo races this year).  At the very least, I was hoping to run a new PR and break 33:00.  Talking with Dave the day before, I mentioned that if everything worked perfectly, 32:30 would be a possibility.  I initially thought of going out in 16:00-16:15 for 5K, but due to the small size of the field, this would likely mean that I would be alone in a suicide quest.  I planned to stay with the pack for 5K and go from there.  Of course, the race started and plans unraveled quickly; I hit the 5K split in 16:02 and got a little scared.  Although I slowed down a bit over the second half of the race, I still crossed the finish line in 32:28 for a huge PR.  For the end of a still fairly high-mileage week, this was a good sign.

Kicking in to a new PR.  Photo credit: Matt Roberts

The second taper week included more of a cutback in mileage, but I also wanted to included a little bit of intensity, more to increase mental confidence than increase fitness.  I included an eight-mile marathon pace(ish) run but also tried a track workout. The goal was 3 miles (17:00), 2 x mile (5:15 each), 2 miles (11:20) with rest in between.  The paces would be fast enough to be beneficial without being too taxing.  Instead, feeling good and employing my normal lack of restraint when that happens, my times ended up being 16:30, 5:07, 5:10, 10:50.  The paces didn't feel like I was pushing, and the workout was a good confidence booster, but I'll see if or how these paces (still 10 days out from the race) affect me.

I always have worried about the final week of the taper, despite all of the training being behind me.  I don't want to run too much to be tired on race day, but I also want to run enough as to not feel flat.   In the past, I've done about 30 miles in the week leading up to the marathon, which was on the low side.  I didn't cut back as much this time and threw in a small mid-week tempo to keep the legs awake.  Even with this being my fourth marathon, I'm still learning the taper.  Whether my attempt worked this time or not, I've learned for the next time. 

As the marathon approaches, I have a rough idea of what my goals could be.  At the very least, I would like to improve my PR of 2:35:31 from last year.  Anything can happen on the course, though.  I learned the hard way during my second marathon, the Buffalo Marathon in 2012, to stay calm early.  During this marathon, I thought I had a chance at sub-2:40 for the first time, perhaps even lower.  I started the race feeling confident and was through the first mile in 5:45 before I knew it.  Against my better judgement, I did not reduce my pace immediately; my first mile around 6:00 was mile 11!  After that it was a long, slow, painful 15-mile death march that caused me to be very far from my time goal.  As for my upcoming marathon, most of the uphills are in the first 11 miles.  Based on the numbers that I've found, I have the fourth best PR of the field, but that doesn't bother me.  All that matters is what happens on race day, and if I run smart, I can be competitive.  I just have to remember to relax, stay calm early, and trust in the training.