October 11, 2011

Training (Taper) Tuesday: Week 12

Ahh it's that time of the season: taper time.

A lot of runners, I've noticed, get the "taper crazies" when they hit this point in the season. I think those runners are crazy. (No offense). Meggie put it best when she said that because of school/work, tapering is a nice relief and I think that's the same case here. Tapering is coming for me at the same time as midterms, so it's nice not to have to be hitting that high mileage as school is getting a little crazy.

The last few training weeks (when I've skipped my Training Tuesdays) have been pretty rough. I was smart and took an entire week off to ward off an injury and now, I'm better than ever. Then, I ran two half-marathons in 2 weeks...which apparently qualifies me for Half Fanatic membership...and boy did those runs take their toll.

At the first one, I had a tough race, thought about quitting and ended up with a 2 1/2 minute PR.

Woo! Happy! I didn't quit!
At the second one, I had a brutal race. I added 8 miles to the start and walked/ran through a lot of it, coming in at an almost 20 minute PW. But you know what? I never once thought about quitting. I think I learned from Grete's Gallop that if I could push through and PR, quitting would never be an excuse.

I don't have pictures of this one...but I almost collapsed at the finish line so I really don't want to see those. 

So that means I'm ready for Marine Corps. I'm ready to take it all on. Part of me is terrified. I had an amazing first marathon. Everything went perfectly. Sure, I cramped up at Mile 18 but I stopped and stretched for a minute and still managed a negative split and an awesome race.

Woo! Look at me! I Just ran a marathon!
I'd like to have that again at Marine Corps. I don't want to feel the way I did at these last two halves. But you know what, I think I will. I think these two halves, as hard as they were, are exactly what I need to tuck away pull out when things start to get tough at MCM.

So this week I'm scaling back. I have 8 miles on deck but my body feels pretty trashed so I think I'm going to go for 4 or 5. We'll see how I feel. I have a short tempo run planned for tomorrow and then a few easy runs before tackling 15 on Sunday.

In the mean time, the Post Office lost my Garmin. That's right. They lost it. They tried to deliver it to the wrong address on Saturday so I didn't have it for Sunday and now they don't know where it is. I'm pissed. They also claim they can't be accountable because they supposedly left a notice at my door saying they tried to deliver it...which is funny because this building doesn't do notices, my staff at the front desk signs for all packages and when I was working on Saturday and got all of the mail and signed for other people's packages, it never came.

I'm not happy. But I'm going to go for a run and pray that when I get back, my Garmin is here.



7 comments:

  1. LOST your Garmin?! NOOOOOO. Who do we need to hunt down and when can we start?

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  2. I think I was craziest during taper for my first marathon. Now it just sort of is what it is...glad you are enjoying it! :)

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  3. Did you find your Garmin?! I can't believe they lost it. Thats absurd. My roommate keeps forgetting mine. she thinks i'm crazy for wanting a watch so bad...

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  4. Nooooo! Boo to the post office! I'm glad you're happy about your tapering, and I'm so proud of all the running progress you've made :)

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  5. I personally enjoy the taper. Its just part of the process and gives me time ot get the stuff done that I put off during the marathon!

    I'm glad to hear someone negative split a marathon as that's what I want to do for NYC -- I've always positive split :).

    Also, I was running with someone today and we were talking about going out too fast in some of my workouts/races and he was saying how its ok to go out too hard in a workout sometimes because then it teaches you/reminds you not to do it during a race or another workout. Swift kick in the butt I'd say.

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  6. hope your garmin got there yesterday!

    wow- 2 halfs in 2 weeks, and then a full and another half to look forward to! i love it! :)

    congrats on the many accomplishments! so excited for your MCM

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  7. You will ROCK MCM!!! I know it :)

    I'm one of those peoplw who go crazy during taper. I LOVE the short runs, but my mind goes crazy. Less running = more time to think. Not good! :)

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