The Taper

It is less than 3 weeks until the Chicago Marathon, so that means it is time to taper.  Most marathon training plans call for a three week taper.  They say it is important to have your legs feeling fresh for the start of the marathon.

I sort of have to laugh about my taper.  Basically I have been tapering for the past 6 weeks.  So my mileage during the week is not really going down.  The only thing that will be a taper will be my long run.  This weekend I only have to run 12 miles.  

I don't really love taper time.  Because I love to run.  The more miles I run, the better I feel (well usually when I am not hurt).

Today I ran 6 miles with Alyssa.  The first 2 miles I felt great, including my foot.  It definitely showed in my pace because the second mile came in at 8:14min/mile.  But then this very annoying foot pain came back.  Ugh...  Overall our average pace was 8:30min/mile.  I just need to accept that this is what I am capable of now.  I want to be able to run 10 miles at a 8min pace and have it feel easy, but I am not there now.  Someday I will get there again.