13/4/16 – Don’t Fear the Taper

As wonderfully magical and gob-smackingly BRILLIANT as all the fundraising events have been over the past few days, it’s also nice to get back to writing a blog post about running.

The other day, Marc sat me down over a post-Paris Marathon large glass of Red (for him) and a pint of diet coke (for me) to discuss Tapering.

Having just come through my 20 miler – slowly but relatively unscathed – I was feeling rather chipper and looking forward to a period of gently winding down.

Marc, however, struck a cautionary note. The gist of his sermon to the first time marathon runner was: On some days, you will feel like you haven’t trained enough, on others, like you’ve done way too much – resist all temptation to try and correct this. Every twinge and ache will become magnified to such major significance that you think you won’t be able to run… sniffles instantly become Man Flu. Parts of you that haven’t given’t you a moments trouble in your life will start hurting for no reason. Your stomach will do somersaults and – how can I put this delicately…  your normal toilet routine goes out of the window (not literally, lovely neighbours). In short, you’ll become a basket case. Managing the taper is all about keeping your head together and keeping physical discipline in your training – don’t, don’t, DON’T go off-piste now!

We reviewed my intended plan and intended nutrition intake (i.e. Don’t try and lose any more weight, just eat sensibly!) which met with his approval. Do-Re-Mi, So Far, So Good.

The plan for the rest of the first week of tapering went something like this: a Gym & Swim, incorporating some work on the cross-trainer to ease the impact on the old knees on Wednesday; A 5K on Thursday around the classic course – I was running well and got a bit carried away trying to break 30 minutes – I missed this by 26 seconds. Immediately I stopped realised my mistake at trying to go flat out and vowed to dial it down on Sunday’s Half Marathon.

Of course, I followed my own advice to the letter – NOT! Croydon is the hilliest of the seven Half Marathon’s we’ve attempted, but it was a course we knew well, being in essence, two laps of the 10K route, with a different start point and an extra hilly mile added on. We’ve both run it couple of times before, so no nasty surprises – we could both take it steady and use it as dress rehearsal.

That was the plan, but the morning dawned bright and gorgeous with just a little nip in the air to keep you feeling fresh. Ideal conditions, in fact – if Marathon Day is like this, I’ll have no complaints.

I got chatting with one of my Parkrun buddies, Mel, who is doing her first Marathon in Brighton next week. Mel is much faster than me these days, having quickly taken her running to the next level, something I’ve never been able to do. Currently though, she is suffering with knee/ITB problems brought on by over-training and was wearing the scariest-looking knee brace ever.

I thought it would be fun to try and keep with her, for as long as possible, after all she was tapering too. My plan, thus, went out the window again.

I was simply having too much fun. Mel would blister past me on the flat and downhills and I’d struggle to stay in touch. However, I’d claw her back on the uphill sections as she protected her knee on the gradient.

On the really long uphill between 8 and 10 miles, I pulled away from her and realised that I was on for possibly my second best time, besting the 95% flat Tomoka result. The last mile-long downhill, aided by a trusty caffiene gel, was taken at almost a sprint, but the last undulating mile scrubbed the gain straight back off. I didn’t struggle as such, but slowed significantly. I was glad to reach the top of the final incline and see the finish clock.

Hmm, ok, it wasn’t going to be my second best time but if I could just get another wriggle on, I’d just get under 2:20… off on another mad sprint again, hitting the mat at 2:19:37 (chip time 2:19:18). My fourth best time out of seven marathons, but waaay faster than my taper plan. Oops! Marc is going to be cross – not even a Carter USM pun will get me out of this one.

Mel came through exactly 2 minutes later, happy with her race and how her knee held up, giving her a big shot confidence for Brighton next week.

Sue clocked her third best time coming in 2:44:44, however, we both agreed that – regardless of the times – these were our strongest Half Marathon performances yet. We kinda glossed over the fact that we’d both being aiming for slow and steady training pace runs.

We were so ridiculously pleased with ourselves that we forgot to do the traditional post race selfie with our medals. Indeed, we didn’t take any photos at the race at all. Oh, how very blasé we have become about Half Marathons in four short weeks.

After a pain free rest day on Monday, payback came for us both on our 5K recovery runs on Tuesday. We both did the classic course an hour apart from each other and both ran into problems.

My legs felt as if as they’d just continued direct from mile 13 on Sunday, no spring in my step at all. I trundled round in a shade under 35 minutes and consoled myself that, at least, I’d managed one run this week at intended marathon pace.

Sue felt her left calf suddenly tighten ominously on the first uphill and thankfully stopped, trying to stretch it out. She continued with a walk/run strategy, determined to at least finish the distance, which possibly wasn’t the best idea. Could this be one of those tapering phantoms that Marc mentioned?

Her session in the gym today suggested so, although she was still aware of some odd sensation in the muscle. Certainly one to watch on tomorrow’s planned 5K.

For myself, I felt happier during today’s gym session, so overall I’m feeling positive again, but still eyeing the calendar suspiciously. It’s suddenly moving way too quickly.

Marc was right, this tapering malarky is a bloody minefield! And I’m willing to bet we’ll manage to set something else off in the last 10 days.

Question is: What?