Thursday, April 26, 2012

Tapering Towards Ultra

I’m in the midst of my taper for my upcoming 50k that looms a mere 9 days away.  I don’t find that I get terribly moody during a taper, I mostly get bored.  I’m so used to allocating time for running and cross-training that I just feel like there are holes in my day.  I even got up at 4:15 this morning to do a short run before an early work call, and because it was raining outside I went back to sleep and will do the run this evening.  It just didn't seem worth all the stretching and getting soaking wet for a short run.  That’s something I would NEVER do during the meat of a training plan.  Taper lazy more than taper madness for me.


I’m still not sure exactly what I’m feeling about this race.  Training has gone very well, and I feel good about my fitness.  I’m looking forward to my first run ever beyond 26.2 miles.  I’m just not sure about the whole beach/tide thing after my practice runs a few weeks back.  I’m mostly just hoping for good weather, and we’ll all just deal with whatever Neptune throws our way on the shores of the Atlantic.  I’m definitely looking forward to some good (bad) food after the race and a beer or three to celebrate.

They finally posted the times from the 5k I ran on Friday.  I finished in 2nd place with a time of 20:27.
I’m still surprised by my time and pace, and I think I could push it and go sub 20-minutes if I sign up for another one.  Depending on how recovery goes after next weekend maybe I’ll shoot for that sometime this Summer.  Haven’t really given a lot of thought to my running plans after this race.  Hopefully they don’t involve any doctors or PT.  That would be another first for me.

5 comments:

  1. I go through taper very similar to you although I don't taper very often. You are fast! Sub 20 is certainly on the cards.

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  2. Great job! I think it's fairly obvious the 13 year old should be disqualified...the 5K is clearly much harder when you carry about double the weight and size of most 13 years olds....that's atleast what I tell myself when they beat me:)

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  3. thanks for the support about this stupid leg of mine.

    best of luck with your upcoming ultra. no idea how you do that but kudos to you! and congrats on that 5K speedy.

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  4. That is one speedy 5k - sub 20 seems very doable!

    I hope both Mother Nature and Neptune cooperate for your Ultra - love that you are taking one of these on. Can't wait to hear how it goes!

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  5. I feel you on the fuel. If races were 18 miles long I would be in great shape. But alas...

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