Time to Taper

I can hardly believe that in just 3 weeks the marathon will all be over. On Saturday I completed my last very long run before marathon day and now I need to cut down my training so that my body can recover enough for race day.

To be perfectly honest, the run was quite a slog. I tried eating a while before running, but I think my body needs some extra time to digest breakfast before setting off on a long run. It took me about 8 miles to settle in and by then I wasn't running very easily, but I was running okay.

Another thing that I did differently with this run was that I ran later in the morning to be closer to real race conditions. Starting off, it wasn't nearly as cold as usual, but I ran into the wind for 8 miles and then the sun came out so when I was running back with the wind, it was really hot, something I'm not used to. I love the warmth, but it can be rather sapping. We'll just have to see what the weather is like in 3 weeks time.

Having learned so many hard lessons like these, I can see the importance of training and trying everything out before the big day. From my experience (not just Saturday), I seem to run better on a smaller meal pre-race and not taking in fluid too early after the start.

Anyway, that said, I am very pleased that I can ease back for a while, just keeping up the weekly training but reducing the long runs and so hopefully be quite ready for 26th of April.

It does occur to me to consider what I will do with my running after 26 April - probably just enjoy it for a while before any more big races.

Peter Lindop, 06/04/2009