Sunday wrap

Last night I decided to change my workout for this morning. I went from 3 x 2 mile to 10 miles at mp pace. This decision was a very easy one. I was looking for some feedback on where I really am fitness wise. What level, what pace and generally where am I? I warmed up easy 25 minutes a few strides and I was off. The course is one that I have done in the past very up and down with a lot of little turns. Not fast at all. I felt good during the warm up so I was confident this would bring me back confidence wise. I cruised through the first few miles in 19/25/16. By now I was feeling good and very confident this would go well. The next two were 22 and 20. So at the turn I was 26:42. 2 seconds shy of goal pace. I was contemplating what to do now. Do I really hammer and see what I have in the tank or do I continue to run pace and finish strong and live another day knowing that I have some left. I decided with 13 days left I needed to cruise in and that is what I did. I finished with a 5:17 and a total of 26:39. So I was slow by 1 second for a total of 53:21. A real solid mind helper? Yes. I needed this. Two days of easy jogging followed by a easy marathon pace workout.

The taper. I will not change a whole lot on this taper. I have used basically the same approach in tapering than I have in all of my marathons. Drop the mileage a bit the week before the week. Or 2 weeks out. I hit 96 this week so that means mid to lower 80s this week. I will use the middle days as easy rest runs on grass if possible with the remaining days hard but very controlled efforts. Strides will also be more important and this is the time to sharpen and be ready to feel terrible and then great Nov 3.