The Taper

With my longest run completed a little over a week ago, and a semi-long run this past Saturday, I am now entering "The Taper" - that counter-intuitive period of training when we hold back the pace, reduce mileage, and concentrate on building up reserves of nutrition and strength in our muscles. 

"Bob Cooper, a veteran marathoner and contributing editor for Runner's World, points to medical studies as evidence that the final three weeks of any marathon-training program are the most critical stage of training; a review of fifty studies on tapering indicates that optimal levels of muscle glycogen, enzymes, antioxidants, and hormones, which are significantly depleted by intense endurance training, are achieved during a taper." [Wikipedia]

That is a pretty solid body of evidence, and I have always felt that I benefited from a taper.  But in my own experience, I totter uneasily during these last few days between the extremes of doing too much and defeating its purpose, or doing too little and feeling that I am becoming "stale."  Everything feels a little off-balance, and I swing between days of high energy and days when I am convinced I am becoming sick.  In fact, I have gotten sick during this period of time in the past, and at least one study I have read claims that once the intensity of training slacks off, our immune system starts to fall apart in some unknown way and our bodies are more susceptible to sickness (though not as much as during that period immediately after the race). 

So today I decided to run my 3 miles at about marathon pace, since I had a rest day yesterday and will have one tomorrow and the mileage was low.  My first mile was an alarming 10:37, so I picked it up the second mile and ran an exuberant 9:21, which was even more alarming.  Now is not the time to run anything faster than marathon goal pace!  I finally slowed down.  And I need to stay slowed down until Race Day.