Pages

Saturday, May 20, 2017

Cellcom Green Bay Marathon Training: Week 18 Recap

The Race is tomorrow!  This is my last post recapping my training.

The taper gets a bad rap.  Many people hate it but I really love it.  There are no expectations on pace and it is a wonderful physical and mental break.  That said, I do struggle feeling a bit "off" during my taper runs.

"Why does my knee hurt?"

"Oh my god my toe is rubbing.  WHY IS MY TOE RUBBING?"

Or, my biggest freak out, "Why do I have no feeling in my left leg?!"  (Has this ever happened to you? This was the second time I ever remember this happening to me - where one of my legs suddenly feels asleep and like jelly from the hip down.  It starts to almost give out with every step.)

Oh phantom pains.

Thankfully, I have had experience with the taper (reflecting on my more recent previous marathons) and follow enough runners and running blogs to know that the freak-out is normal.  My goal for the taper was to honor the plan and the work that I have put in by really running all of the runs easy.  And not, "I'm pushing myself but it is still easy" but EASY.  Like, "I feel as if I am shuffling along and barely moving" easy.  I definitely accomplished this.

I also wanted to actually complete all of the taper runs on the plan.  During my past two marathons, I skipped taper runs thinking that would do my body good and because I felt tired.  Re-reading the "taper" section of the Hanson book definitely helped me this week.  Of course I feel tired. But skipping my runs would not be the answer and I would run the risk of feeling sluggish the first few miles of the actual race from being out of routine.  HELLO Boston Marathon!  I didn't run the 4 days prior to that race and definitely felt like a slug from the moment the gun went off.

So.  Goal for the week:  Run all the runs and run them EASY.

Monday May 15
Plan Says: 5 miles easy

What I Do:  For the second week in a row, the week was off to a rocky start when my alarm failed to go off and I woke up late to start the day.  I had a crazy day at work, having a big presentation, followed by taking my daughter in to get her "real" cast on her arm that afternoon.  0 miles

Tuesday May 16
Plan Says: 5 miles easy

What I Do:  Again, no Sense alarm.  (GRRR!  I have contacting customer service on my to-do list.)  Again not having morning run put a crunch on my schedule so I left work early to get a run in before the bus came as we were traveling that night to go to my niece's choir concert.

4.58 miles, 36:01 (7:51 avg pace)

That night I did the High Mileage Reset by JasYoga.  My left ribs are still tender but not constantly so I've crossed them off the worry list.

Wednesday May 17
Plan Says: Off

What I Do:  Having used my off day on Monday, I had 5 miles to do.  Actually, 5.4 miles to make up for the shorter run on Tuesday.  I set two alarms for a morning run and Hallelujah!  I was up at 5.

5.45 miles, 45:35 (8:22 avg pace)

Thursday May 18
Plan Says: 6 miles easy

What I Do:  I kind of feel that 6 miles is a long distance so close to the race but "Trust the Plan", right?  Dual alarms = up at 5.  The nice thing about 5 agfm runs is that I no longer need to carry lights!  So fun!

6.01 miles, 49:47 (8:17 avg pace)

Friday May 19
Plan Says: 5 miles easy

What I Do:  5 miles at 5 AM.  Going very slowly.

Saturday May 20
Plan Says: 3 miles easy

What I Do:  We needed to leave our house EARLY to get to Green Bay on time for the kids runs as both my 3 year old and my 6 year old were signed up to run.  Thus, I was up early to get this 3 mile shake-out done.

3 miles, 7:51 avg pace

Sunday May 21
Plan Says: RACE DAY

What I Do:  You'll have to come back next week to read the race report!

Weekly Mileage
Plan says: 24 miles (excludes race)
What I did:  24 miles

It's officially done.  18 weeks of "official" training plan work and 761.75 miles logged since 1/1/17 leading up to the big day.

1 comment:

  1. What a great way to finish out the training cycle. Congrats on being very consistent with the plan and trying something new.

    ReplyDelete