Terrible taper

Ah, the taper. 

No, not the guy that magnanimously records the Phish show to share with the rest of the world. That dude is so not terrible!

I am talking about the three week period between the final 20-mile training run and the marathon.

Usually, it provides a wonderful sense of relief, even triumph, knowing that the hardest part is over and the only thing left on which to focus is the race itself. You glide through the series of shorter and shorter runs, feeling your muscles repair and your strength building, so when race day arrives your legs are fresh and ready.

Usually.

For this, my ninth marathon, I do believe I overtrained and I am paying for it. I can not undo the damage done. I slogged through a 13-miler two Saturdays ago and even my mid-week five milers have felt efforted when they should have been effortless. My eight-miler this past Saturday was merely OK.

On the upside, my speedwork days have been rather successful. The last hill training day had me bounding up a one-third mile hill at an average of 2:07 each on four passes, and charging down twice at around 1:53 each.

On the final track day - just four 400-meter intervals - I burned through them at an average of 1:22 each. That is seven percent faster than my 5K pace.

Still, with less than two days until the race, I do not feel ready. My muscles do not feel like they have bounced back, ready to spring into action. I feel like I need more rest. But I am out of time. 

In about 22 hours, I will call upon my body to run 26.2 miles at a relatively fast pace - ideally 7:01, realistically 7:15. I have no idea whether my body will accept or reject that idea.