Awesome Week So Far plus Taper Question
Sweetness. I rested on Monday, then decided to change up my training plan. Did breezy 4.2 this morning with 10:46 miles (nice!), followed by 3.5 this evening up wicked steep Tumamoc Hill with friends from work (and Johnny and Will/Bill too - I don't think my coworker will let me exercise with her husband anymore, we had too much fun egging each other on - can we go faster? can we run this part? let's go!). Tomorrow morning, I'll take another 4.2 with Paki. Focus, I love it when the focus comes in. Focusing on high mileage helps me focus on everything else in my life. So even though it seems I have so much going on, I feel like I can handle it all - and more! In other words, the more I take on, the more I can do.
In talking with J-boy yesterday, I realized that I'd like to have a 20+ mile long run before my taper. The best weekend for that would be this weekend, as the following weekend = moving, and then taper. So this means I have to choose between Wrightson (I made a vow to climb it this winter) and a long run (would be very beneficial in preparation for Sugar & Spice!). I still haven't figured out what I'm going to do, because for that long of a run, I'd like to go with someone, but Johnny's mom isn't in town to watch Ash, which means J can't come with me. Also, I still have a longing to do Wrightson. But Wrightson will always be there.
Question: when they say to take a two or three week taper, does that include race week? I'm trying to figure out my taper this time around, and don't know if I should count race week. Cuz it's not really a taper week, it'll have tons of mileage! Any thoughts or advice is greatly appreciated.
Comments
I'm leaving it to the experts to answer the taper question. Are you and Johnny pretty evenly matched in speed? Must be nice to run together. Eric and I are too far apart - so I get a birthday run, a Mothers Day run and an Anniversary run. He slows way down for me and it still pushes me!
Posted by: backofpack | May 9, 2006 08:15 PM
i heard that there were only 8 people signed up for S&S as of last wekk...is that still the case?
Posted by: matt | May 9, 2006 10:20 PM
great run to have runners to tease and compete with....sorry, I can't give much advice about tapering...
Posted by: susie | May 10, 2006 01:32 AM
When I do a taper for marathon I do 2 weeks. And that includes race week (with the week ending on race day)
For Tri I only do 1 week!
But I would like to know what is recommended for Ultras. I kind of think the 2 weeks would still work, especially if I did most mileage on trails, but who knows. It seems there isn't quite the wealth of knowledge out there on Ultras as there is on other distances.
Posted by: Elizabeth | May 10, 2006 04:39 AM
Race week definitely counts as a taper week. The ideal amount of tapering totally depends on the individual. I've tried 4 weeks, which was too long, and three weeks seems to work better for me. I'm toying with the idea of a 2 week taper, but will only decide when that time comes round again.
Posted by: Thomas | May 10, 2006 05:13 AM
from what I understand, the taper includes race week (but I am not sure for these longer races) Good luck!
I have also found that when I am running, even though it seemingly takes more time out of my schedule, I take everything a lot better...
Posted by: turnip | May 10, 2006 06:27 AM
Cool, great to hear you're happy with your results!
I always counted race week as a taper.
Posted by: Bella | May 10, 2006 08:28 AM
Yes, taper includes race week. 2 or 3 weeks is variable based on how "major" the race is compared to others, and what volume of training you did beforehand.
One more thing...tapering should be somewhat relaxing! Don't stress out too much over it.
Posted by: Donald | May 10, 2006 08:30 AM
I hope you get things worked out so that Johnny can run with you. My hubby is so much faster than me that when we run together, he is practically walking and it's a tempo run in my book. Ahhh.
Posted by: jkrunning | May 10, 2006 09:06 AM
With your runs going so well and your focus staying strong, you need to take those question marks off of Zane Grey '07 in your "upcomming races"! Thanks for the link and the vote! I WILL see you next April . . . .
-Melissa
Posted by: Melissa | May 10, 2006 05:30 PM
2 to 3 weeks like others have said, including race week. I saw your Bio on the ultra list just a little while ago. Be prepared for the barrage of e-mails and bickering.
Posted by: Rob | May 10, 2006 05:50 PM
haha...i'm laughing at donald's "tapering should be somewhat relaxing! don't stress out to much over it."
tapering is when i *twitch* the most. he nailed it, though. it all depends on how hard you're going to hammer the race and how much training you've been doing. definately count race week as a taper week, and 2-3 will work just fine for you this time around.
good luck on the 20+!
Posted by: jeff | May 11, 2006 07:40 AM
I found your blog through Olga's (or maybe I found her's through your's???) Anyway, good luck with the rest of your training for S&S! My parents live in Tucson so I'm somewhat familiar with the places you run. Have you ever run up Pima Canyon? That's one of my favorite hikes when I'm in town. One year we hiked up Pima, camped somewhere on the top and hiked down Sabino. Cheers!
Posted by: Sarah | May 11, 2006 10:08 AM
Yeah, sometimes these long runs can be really inconvenient. I wanted to hike a mountain for Mother's Day after running 22 miles the day before. It could work.
Good luck during the taper. If you enjoy it and recommend it, I may come out there and do it next year. The timing should be good.
Posted by: Anne | May 12, 2006 05:04 PM
It would include race week, the week of my M I ran 15 miles total, the week before 25, the week before 35, and for several weeks before that I had been running 40-45 miles.
Posted by: Rae | May 12, 2006 05:42 PM