Another post on the taper

He's faster and he said it better than I did - Adrian Marriott, a 2:18 marathoner, with a post on the taper.

I found Adrian's post on the LetsRun message board. Somebody was complaining how bad they felt during their taper. I have to say I feel the same way. Rojo, one of the founders of Letsrun, commented on the post saying that the problem is that runners expect to feel incredible during the taper - but, that's not always the case. Echoing Jake Klim's comment earlier this week on my blog - his final advice was:

"You're either in shape or not.

You don't lose it in one week of training or in one race.

Be confident and stop thinking.

Just run."

Other Boston Blogs

I feel very humbled that more people than just my mother and Ryan are reading the blog. It's definitely helped me to stick to my plan - and if it's helped anybody else then that's awesome.

Over the last few years there has been an explosion of running related blogs in the Baltimore/DC area. Just on the Georgetown Running site and Baltimore's TWSS there are links for almost 30 running related blogs - most of them from runners in the area. And those blogs link up with other blogs - forming a vast network of running geeks from all over.

I thought I'd share some of my favorite Boston marathon blogs. Probably the number one blog for Boston centric content is aptly named "The Ultimate Guide to the Boston Marathon". Although the blog is from 2007 - it has a lot of Boston info that is still relevant. I was hoping to have as much Boston related content as John H. - but, it didn't quite happen.

Another blog that caught my attention is from Tom from Anchorage - yes Anchorage, Alaska. Not only has he logged some decent training - but, he's done it in the winter - in Alaska. "Wow" - is all I can say.

There are two decent "main stream media" blogs/sites - Boston.com and Runners World. Plenty to keep us busy as our tapers suddenly give us more time in our lives.

The Taper

Many of you are fully aware of the concept of the taper - but, I thought I'd write a little about it.

Most of this content is from Lore of Running, by Tim Noakes MD with some support from Jack Daniels and Pete Pfitzinger.

The taper is that somewhat counter intuitive concept that in the last few weeks before a goal competition you should reduce the amount of training volume and intensity. The idea is that you cannot perform at the highest level while training at the volume necessary to develop your different systems (circulatory, muscular, etc) for the race. You actually need to give your body a break that is long enough to let it recover and short enough that you don't lose any fitness.

Volume and Intensity:
The standard period for a taper is two weeks - although the highest volume weeks are probably at least 4-6 weeks before the goal competition. Experts usually suggest running 50% of the highest mileage two weeks out and 30-40% the week before. There is some debate regarding intensity - some say that you should retain intense workouts - just decreasing the volume by the same percentage as your weekly mileage - others say you should cut out intensity completely in the last 10 days before a major competition. My plan is somewhat in-between - I am running a track workout tomorrow - but, it's much easier than any "hard" workouts I've run recently. I'm also running 4-6 100 meter accelerations most days to keep my legs fresh.

Nutrition:
It's as important to stay on track with nutrition during this period as any other period of training. Somebody like me, who puts on weight pretty easily, needs to steer clear of sweets and fat. I have to say that I didn't do great last week, being on the road, but I think that it will be easier this week at home.

Another nutritional suggestion that Noakes makes is to have a very high carbohydrate load regimen in the last 3-7 days before competition (he suggests 500g per day of complex carbohydrates per day). He also discusses the pro's and con's of including a carbohydrate depletion phase 7-10 days before competition. This phase is meant to "starve" the system of carbs, which is supposed to make the body more likely to retain carbs during the load phase. But, there is some disagreement on the effectiveness of the depletion phase and whether it might actually be harmful. I didn't really do the depletion phase : )

Mental Energy:
Noakes also writes about "storing creative energy" by avoiding creative activities in the last few days before the race. That's one nice thing about Boston being on a Monday - I have at least two days without working before the race. I'll probably bring a book along and read most of the time.

Noakes writes of a "colleague who missed one ultramarathon because of influenza now refuses to work for the last 7 days before a race. When not running during this period, he dons a surgical mask, takes leave of his family, and cloisters himself in a sterile environment, accompanied only by a library of Eastern philosophy. At such times, only those who are known to be free of marathon-destroying germs have access to him." Then Noakes writes that this shouldn't be though of as odd behavior - since Noakes did write a book just shy of 800 pages on running I think he might be a little blinded from what most people would consider odd.

Another part of the mental preparation for a goal race is mentally rehearsing the race. I'll talk through this a little later this week - when I go over my race plan.

One week to go! Current weather report for Boston on 4/20 - low of 41 high of 53 - 30% chance of showers. Not beach weather, but great marathoning weather!

Phase 5: week 4 of 4

Here we are boys & girls - the final week.

I was hoping to post more over the last few weeks before Boston - but, instead I seem to be posting less. I was in Minneapolis Sunday through Thursday for work - it wasn't a hugely stressful week - but it was pretty busy. And I spent the last few days in Orlando (or "The Do" as my wife and I call it). Actually it's probably best that I have some downtime from thinking about Boston. This blog has been helpful from the perspective of keeping my motivation up - but, as my high school coach used to say about me - "Ben, sometimes you analyze until you paralyze."

During my taper - the most important thing for me will be rest and nutrition. More on that tomorrow.

It's amazing that I only have one more week until Boston. That's the crazy thing about marathon running - it requires such a long cycle of training that the day is magnified even more greatly than it would be otherwise. Well, I should head off to bed - so, here is what I did last week and what I'm planning for this week.

Last week:

Monday: 6 miles
Tuesday: 9 mi 2mi easy 2X(2mi T pace 3 min rest) 5:25+5:19=10:44 5:10+5:13=10:23 3 mi easy
Wednesday: 6.5 mi 8X100m
Thursday: 8 miles
Friday: 6 miles 8X100m
Saturday: 6.5 miles
Sunday: 13 miles
Total: 55 miles

This week:
Monday: 6.5 miles 6X100m
Tuesday: 8 miles 2 mi easy 4X1200m 2 min rest 2 mi easy
Wednesday: 5 miles 4X100m
Thursday: 6.5 miles 5X100m
Friday: 0 miles
Saturday: 5 miles
Sunday: 4 miles
Total: 35 miles

Phase 5: week 3 of 4

The taper starts now.

My "dress rehearsal" on Saturday wasn't exactly what I hoped for - but, even with a strong wind, I felt stronger as the run progressed. With a smart taper, a little added adrenaline, and good luck with the weather I still think I have a chance of sub 2:30 - but, it's gonna be tough.

This week brings a little sanity to my running schedule and diverse weather. I'm writing this from the Twin cities - where I'll be working through Thursday. Then Friday, Kendra and I head down to Orlando for a few days. It's hard to believe that a little less than a week after I come back from Florida I'll be heading to Boston. It's been a long time coming. Over the last 22 weeks (the first week of November, when I "officially started my Boston training) I've run over 1,700 miles or an average of almost 78 miles per week. The barn is bursting with hay - now I just need to rest and eat smart.

Last Week
Monday: 6 miles
Tuesday morning: 4 miles
Tuesday evening: 14 mi 2X(3 mi easy 3 mi T pace) 1st 3 miler: 5:26+5:22+5:17=16:05
2nd 3 miler: 5:29+5:31+5:26=16:26 2 mi easy
Wednesday: 14.5 mi
Thursday: 9 miles 8X100m
Friday: 6 miles
Saturday: 19 miles conditions - windy 2 mi easy (5:52;5:57;5:52;5:52;5:55; 11:45 (missing marker) ;5:43;5:44;5:50;5:42;5:48;5:59;5:39;5:40=1:27:22) 2 mi easy
Sunday: 8 miles
Total: 80.5 miles

This Week
Monday: 7.5 miles
Tuesday: 10 mi 2mi easy 2X(2mi T pace 3 min rest) 4 mi easy
Wednesday: 6 mi
Thursday: 9 miles 10X100m
Friday: 4 miles
Saturday: 6.5 10X100m
Sunday: 13 miles
Total: 56 miles

Quote of the Day: Once A Runner

This is an excerpt from the chapter in Once A Runner by John L. Parker Jr., where the main character, Cassidy is starting a third "set" of 20 X 400m @ 62-63 sec. Basically 15 miles worth of running at 4:08-4:12 pace - a little unbelievable - but, sometimes you have to push reality a little to get at a deeper truth.

"He began the melancholy ritual as night was falling. After the first five he was running by the soft glow of a huge clear moon. Cassidy thought, Bruce thinks of everything.

Then he sought out the mental neutrality that is the refuge the contained wan comfort of the runner. He grooved his mind upon the thin platinum rail of his task, a line that stretched out in front of him and disappeared into the gloom, further than he could contemplate all at once, even if he had the desire to, which he did not. When his trance broke and a word or phrase popped into his mind, his dizzy mind played with it like a seal with a beach ball, in a disturbing, gibberishly mad way, the way your mind acts in the druggy twilight before sleep. In a very controlled, abstract way, he knew how much he was suffering; the slightest break in this concentration allowed self-pity to well up in him instantly.

He was, in a manner of speaking, accustomed to this distress in the same manner that a boxer is "accustomed" to being struck; but the familiarity of experience in no way lessens the blow or mitigates its physiological effects. It merely provides the competitor a backdrop against which his current travail may be played, gives him a certain serenity in the face of otherwise overwhelming stimuli, allows dispassionate insight where otherwise there would be only a rush of panic. In a hail of killing blows, the fighter's quiet center of logic, schooled in brutality, will be calmly theorizing: We are hurt pretty badly. If we do not cover up and take up the slack we will soon be unconscious.

Not that this quiet center of logic fears unconsciousness (indeed, how welcome it might seem at times), but it knows that one can't win while unconscious. Likewise, no highly trained runner slacks off because he fears pain, but because the quiet center of logic says he will win nothing if he runs himself to a standstill.

All of this availed Cassidy not at all. His deeply ingrained conditioning and his mahogany-hard legs merely allowed him to push himself that much more. He had the mental ability to literally run himself right into the ground like Sambo's tiger. He knew that Denton expected him to do exactly that, and, just as each repetition made the next seem more impossible, he knew that without question he would do it. There was no refuge in injury, his body could not be injured in this way. There was no refuge in mercy, there was nothing to forgive, no one to issue dispensation. And at last he saw: There was no refuge in cowardice, because he was not afraid. There was no alternative, it just had to be done."

Army 10 miler

Such is distance running that you have to look forward to the next goal before you've completed the current one. Registration opened today for the Army 10 miler. I'm excited because it's a relatively fast course - and I think the distance is a little more natural for me than the marathon. It will be fun to focus a little less on running long runs and a little more on speed.

So, do I have a plan after that? Well, yes I do. I'd like to run a fast 5k or 10k on the track next spring and then find a flat and "fast" marathon for the Fall of 2010. Beyond that - I'm not sure. I have a slight itch to try my hand at the triatholon - but, we'll see. Do they allow arm floaties in the swim?