TheTaper.....

This weekend will be three weeks prior to my New York marathon! Time has flown by so fast! I remember the night I got the email saying I was selected in the lottery draft.  I woke my husband up to show him the email.  I thought it was a hoax or spam email.  But after checking into it, I found out it was real.  I was beyond excited.   For me this is probably a once in a lifetime thing.  There are limited ways to get into this marathon.  It's not like the local marathons here where you just click a button and pay to register.  You must either qualify by time, be selected in the lottery draft, or fund raise for one of their charities (and the minimum is something like $5,000 you have to raise!).  So YES, I was extremely excited to be selected in the lottery.  A runner has like a 20% chance of being picked in the draft.  I was lucky to be in that 20%!

A past year image.... look at all those runners! Normally 50,000 in the race...I just can't imagine!

So tonight after being extremely sore all day from a "NEW" tone class I went to on Tuesday, I decided to refresh myself on the proper taper.  What is taper? Well, it's kind of like a rest time prior to a marathon for a runner.  Normally a taper is around 3 weeks.  It usually starts after your last longest long run.  I have a 20 miler this weekend which is my last longest run on my training schedule therefore after Sunday, I will be in taper mode with three weeks until the marathon!  

My daughter and coworker made fun of me for being sore today from the tone class.  My daughter said that with all the miles I run, bike and swim that she did not understand why or how I was sore from a 30 minute tone class.  I told her it's cause I used muscles that I don't use when doing those things.  And let me just tell you I am SORE! All day getting up and down out of my office chair was a chore.  I felt like I had already ran my marathon!  (yes, you first time marathoners... you'll be sore after the race..unless you superhuman...ha)

So hence the refresher on the taper.  I had thought I might continue this tone class but after reading runners world tips on the proper taper, I believe I will just skip it until after the marathon.  LOL  

Runners World's tips on the marathon taper:

~ "It's best to cut out cross-training in the final two to three weeks before the marathon. Save your energy for the race. Drop leg or lower body weight training and spinning at the beginning of your taper period. 

Every good marathon-training plan should "taper" during those final 21 days. That means you run less and rest more. For some people, the idea of backing off on their training just before the big race seems counter intuitive. "So many runners train hard right up to the day of the marathon because they're desperately afraid of losing fitness if they don't.  What they don't realize is that in those last few weeks it's the rest more than the work that makes you strong. And you don't lose fitness in 3 weeks of tapering. In fact, studies show that your aerobic capacity, the best gauge of fitness, doesn't change at all."~

 Go taperless? "That is, going into the marathon without any reduction in mileage or intensity. It can be done, but more often than not you end up with a less-than optimal marathon performance and burnout or injuries to boot. There are some runners that can train like this, but for the vast majority, it leaves you performing at less than your best."

Not every runner needs 3 weeks of tapering.  Some can get by on 2 weeks.  It's important that each runner do what's best for them.  I know that I've ran my best marathon time in the past by doing a 3 week taper so as soon as I finish my 20 miler this weekend, the TAPER is on! I had planned to continue this new tone class, but I think I'll wait not until after the marathon. As sore as I was today when I woke up, I do not want to run 26.2 miles feeling like that. :>) I should know better than starting something new 23 days out from a marathon! Plus as a friend told me today... "You're not 17 anymore".... ha   I'm cray cray already and tape hasn't officially started.....

Some runners get very cranky during the taper because they feel lost when they aren't running a zillion miles a week.  So beware..... 

I will try to not be any of these at work or at  home if possible.  However, you've been warned. hee hee 

So to all my peeps........ help keep me sane over the next 3 weeks! 

Love,

D