Tapering

This is the final week before the Twilight 5-K on Saturday ("only a 5-K!") and I am in taper mode - that time in training, whether it is 5-K or marathon training, when a smart runner backs off and runs a little less and a little slower.  The saying I used to hear in marathon training still applies no matter the distance:  "There is not much you can do at this point to improve your performance, but there is a lot you can do to make it worse."

Monday I ran an easy four miles, but I included two 400-meter intervals at race pace based on that one-mile I ran on Saturday (see previous post).  Race pace for me is 9:20/mile, and so the projected 400-meter time should have been 2:20 and I was pleased to run 2:19 and 2:19.  And, more important, the effort felt easy.  Today I ran an easy three miles, stopping to stretch here and there.  It was tempting to throw in a fast interval, because it was cool and because I felt strong, but I did not.  And tomorrow I may run another two or three, walking a little here and there, just to keep moving.

The weather forecast for Saturday predicts temperatures in the 80s and high humidity, so the prudent runner (I'm till trying to decide if that describes me) will adjust his expectations in such conditions, especially the runner who has not been running in the heat of the afternoon.  Will it rain?  Anything short of a downpour might be welcome. 

I remember hearing marathon great and Olympic medalist Catherine Ndereba (AKA ‘Catherine the Great”) tell reporters on the eve of the New York Marathon many years ago that she never paid any attention to the weather forecast.  She had decided to pay attention only to those elements of a marathon that she could control.  That is a good philosophy to have . . . for running and for living!

Catherine Ndereba