Six more sleeps until race day.
Taper week 1 = not much taper. Coach doesn’t let off the gas quite as abruptly as some other plans, so this was sort-of business as usual the first half of the week. Plus it was a weird week with a lot of after-work obligations. Stupid taper antics included chafing courtesy of my key on Monday, hitting my knee with a solid wood door on Tuesday, getting attacked by my pants hooks on Tuesday, and stepping in a hole on Thursday and nearly eating sidewalk. This phase of training involves three things: don’t get sick, don’t get hurt, pray for good weather.
Monday was an early, easy 8 miles. We had tickets to hear renowned ballerina (and native Louisvillian) Wendy Whelan talk in the evening — she was terrific.
Tuesday was a workout but I got started way late and ended up on the treadmill because it was already getting dark. 10 miles with 4 miles at steady-state (85% max HR) with surges every 2 minutes at faster-than-5k pace. Sounds easy, but isn’t.
Wednesday morning I ran with my friend Rebekah, our standard 6 mile loop. Only this week I didn’t have to tack more miles on at the end! I had so much extra time that I was a half-hour early to work. Taught Pilates that evening.
Thursday was the flop of the week. Moderate 8 with strides, normally around 7 minute pace. It was windy and humid and I couldn’t find my groove. Not the worst day, but not as easy as I hoped. Taper truths. No Pilates class after work because I had two different cocktail receptions to attend (yet only had one cocktail, fail).
Friday I ran with Rebekah after work … just 4 miles. It felt silly but in a great way. And I had tacos for dinner at a place we hadn’t been to yet. Good day.
The weather decided to cooperate Saturday morning for my last workout. 12 miles with 8 miles at marathon pace, but the MP was “blind” — no watch feedback. Run by feel. I went out to the Parklands where it’s easy to run uninterrupted — no streets to cross, no traffic, etc. After Thursday’s meh run, I was hoping to get some confidence back on this one. And I nailed it. Coach organized a group run to do this in Indy, and they were submitting their predictions to see who got closest. I cast a write-in guess — 6:55 pace at 165 HR, because it had been hot all week. Turned out I hit 6:55 and 155, which is way better. The first mile was a little slow (and has a big uphill), but after that I settled in nicely. Good time to practice mantras for race day, too.
I slept in Sunday and then went out for an easy 6 miles, sweating my face off, 68* and humid. Finished listening to part 1 of the Jimmy Smith interview on the “Finding Mastery” podcast.
Pre-race reflection post coming later this week.
Totals: 54 miles, 1 Pilates class taught. (54 miles????)
TGRUNFIT 