Last week was a great first week of my taper. I still ran a 4-mile tempo run (at an insane pace for me!), a 16-mile long run, and hit 34 miles for the week, but I had an extra day off during the week and it was a decrease in mileage from the previous 3 weeks. My 'real' taper will start this week, where I'm only looking to do about 20 miles with no more tempo runs before the marathon.
I was a little worried about how my training would progress after a vacation to Hawaii in early September, but after 4 really solid weeks of running I'm very optimistic heading into the Marine Corps Marathon. In the last 4 weeks I've had (1) 12-mile run, (2) 16-mile runs, and (1) 21-mile run and they've all been right on pace for where I want to run MCM. In fact, my average pace for those 4 long runs is about 45 seconds per mile faster than my average pace for the 2009 Seattle Rock 'n' Roll Marathon.
It's crazy to think where I started from in training for this marathon. I remember when I was running 2-mile runs in June, and I was excited when I broke 20 minutes. I started out running around 10 miles per week, and I averaged 40 miles per week for the past 4 weeks. I feel like I've made a drastic lifestyle change, and, regardless of my performance at MCM 2012, I'd really like to keep this momentum. I actually feel like a runner now, and that certainly wasn't the case in Seattle.
That last paragraph got me flipping through my training log, and it's actually a really cool thing to have. I've got the distance, time, and average pace for every run I've done over the past 4 months; roughly 400 miles of memories. If you've never kept a training log, I would absolutely recommend giving it a try. It's actually quite gratifying to look back on all of the weeks and remember what I was going through, either struggling with or proud of, at the time. The training log has also given me quite the confidence boost as I see, in tangible terms, how I've progressed.
I feel like I should give a little explanation for my relatively slow pace for my last 16-miler. My Camelbak bladder sprung a leak during the run and soaked my back and shorts. I stopped for a couple minutes to check that out, and I also spent an unusually long amount of time waiting to cross streets, parking lots, etc. due to traffic. If I subtract my 'stopped' time I was actually at a 2:27:10 which equates to a ~9:12/mi pace, which is right in line with my other long runs. Nonetheless, I got to rest for all of that stoppage time so I figured I'd go with the 'clock time' instead.
Training Summary for Last Week:
Monday: Off
Tuesday: Off
Wednesday: 6 miles; 54:20; avg. pace 9:03/mi
Thursday: 4 miles; 30:10; avg. pace 7:32/mi
Friday: Off
Saturday: 8.04 miles; 1:10:25; avg. pace 8:46/mi
Sunday: 16 miles; 2:35:43; avg. pace 9:44/mi
Total Mileage: 34.04
Total Time: 5:10:38
Average Pace: 9:08/mi
Happy Running!
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