Monday, April 02, 2007
Time for a "Taper Tantrum"
Did my last long run yesterday - 15 miles in 2 1/2 hours - so I'm now officially into the "taper" period leading up to Boston. This means that for the next two weeks my runs will all be relatively short - 30 to 60 minutes - which will give my body a chance to rest prior to the big effort that looms on April 16th.
One of the things that many runners experience during the taper period is angst about how little they are running. There's a fear that you're losing your fitness level or something. The experts all agree though that now is the time to recuperate from all the tough training. They say that at this point "the hay is in the barn", meaning that one's fitness and endurance levels are where they need to be and that further hard training at this point has negative consequences rather than being of benefit.
So, for the next 13 days, I'm going to enjoy the decrease in training level and concentrate on being as mentally prepared as I can possibly be.
One of the things that many runners experience during the taper period is angst about how little they are running. There's a fear that you're losing your fitness level or something. The experts all agree though that now is the time to recuperate from all the tough training. They say that at this point "the hay is in the barn", meaning that one's fitness and endurance levels are where they need to be and that further hard training at this point has negative consequences rather than being of benefit.
So, for the next 13 days, I'm going to enjoy the decrease in training level and concentrate on being as mentally prepared as I can possibly be.
# posted by FreddyBeachPete @ 12:49 PM 
