Taper-worm

Mmmm a new favourite

I confess I'm forcing myself to write this post simply in an attempt to avoid continuing to sit here stuffing myself full of junk. 

Yes, that's right. Food has found me. 

I don't think this is an unusual thing when tapering, as the advice given on Marathon Talk last week was to try to avoid getting to the marathon start line a stone heavier.  I've now cut the volume of running which means I can't burn as many calories so why can't I stop eating?

And I must resist the temptation to write it off as my body needing to store carbs before race day because even I know that's a load of rubbish. I don't think I even need to start carb loading until the Thursday before the race. So even I can't stretch it to two weeks before. 

At this rate, I'm going to need a whole new race outfit because I won't be able to squeeze myself into my shorts. How attractive. 

It's been a funny first week of tapering. After rejoicing that it was time to taper following my last long, long run of 18 miles, I've gone into it pretty hesitantly. It's so hard to get the balance right between not overdoing it but not undoing it either. 

Last week, I went to my usual Monday night class on running efficiency, aka olympic bootcamp, where it is impossible to under-do it as it's such intensive training. Coach Ilona had us doing plyometrics much to everyone's amusement as I think it's fair to say we were all really bad at them. This was followed by a circuit of hurdles, then out onto the field for three laps of a circuit involving sprinting, hurdles, burpees, box jumps and star jumps. Then moving onto a pyramid of hill sprints, after which we were rewarded with half an hour of core work. Phew!

Unsurprisingly, by Tuesday following a particularly painful sports massage session, I was too shattered to move so decided to 'listen to my body' (as I keep being told to do), and instead of doing my usual run with the Saltaire Striders, I rested (oh and ate). The problem with this method is that if I listened to my body all the time, it is unlikely that I would ever move from the sofa. 

Thursday was back to the track, which was a far cry from the previous week's beautiful run in Aberdovey. Horsfall track seems to have its very own micro climate of rain and gale force winds. It was another tough night of more plyometrics followed by 10 lots of 400 metres at effort with 200 metres recovery after each effort. This was made harder by running with Amanda and Claire again who are both faster than me so it was tough going to keep up with them even with Brian shouting at me to 'stay with the pack'. I do love the track though. It pushes me harder than any other type of training, and I never fail to drive home on a high. 

On Saturday, I headed out for a two hour 'easy' run with Karen, and we managed to cover just over 12 miles. It's hard to believe that a run which is almost a half marathon is classed as cutting back the training. We had a lovely run though, and we do a good job of keeping each other going as we're a similar pace. 

On Sunday, I snuck in a 10k race in Wakefield. I think I probably shouldn't have been racing at this stage but it was with work not club so I somehow convinced myself it didn't count. It was a lovely sunny morning, and we headed out on Horbury Road. My legs were tired so I struggled a bit but tried to pretend I was running on the track where discomfort is obligatory. I didn't wear a watch, so I was ecstatic to realise that I had managed a PB of 49.33, finally getting below 50 minutes! 

So, the final long(ish) run is planned for next Sunday, and we marathon trainers from club have planned a 90 minute run along the canal - 45 minutes out and the same all the way back to Toby's Tea Room, where I will be indulging in, yes, you've guessed it, cake! 

The storm (marathon training) predicted back in December has passed. Let calm resume. 

Just the small matter of 26.2 miles to complete.