And now, the end is near...

Less than a week to go! This time next week i fully expect to be struggling backwards down stairs and generally basking in the glow of knowing i have usefully borken myself. For now though, tapering and all the frustration that brings.

Reaching the end of a marathon campaign is an odd experience. It is very much a case of going out with a whimper rather than a bang as the training decreases over the final three weeks towards race day. When an old bit of timber has been under load and is suddenly releieved of that tension it is going to creak and groan a bit. So it is with my tapering experience. Whilst one would expect to feel bright and energetic when the requirement to run long distances and high volumes is removed, the reality is actually the opposite. My legs dont feel especially fresh. I know i am fit but i still feel slightly sluggish. This doesnt translate to race day though as properly rested and prepared, it all feels better when you are moving.

The more frustrating side effect of the taper though is the taper lurgy. Distance running seems to have a pretty positive effect on the immune system but reducing volume has quite the opposite effect and thus i am suffering (slightly) from the cold that has been working its way round the office. I am not suffering so much or so close to race day to be too bothered by this. Yet.

Last time i wrote here i was still to run my final prep race. I had planned to run the Southside 6 at marathon pace. My Garmin tells me i didnt quite do that, sitting a few seconds outside of my 8:11 mile target. My Garmin did however record a slightly shorter distance than was billed. If the race was actually 16 miles or more then i was pretty much spot on. To be honest though that doesnt much bother me. The 6 turned out to be a pretty challenging event in its own right. I know the area it  is run in very well but i am not so familiar with racing over such a hilly course so have to admit to being surprised by quite how much it hurt. I have pictorial evidence of that too. This now ranks as my favourite photo of me, taken at the top of the steps in Queens Park. Ouch!

 

Sections of the course were also really quite muddy so definitely challenging. Good soup at the finish though and certainly one i would do again.

So now thoughts turn very much to the marathon. We fly friday morning and i am spending far too much time running over my preparations in my head. I dont want to be travelling without necessary kit and i want to be at the start line feeling relaxed, properly and safely fed and watered and in good health to go on sunday morning.There are many more variables when doing a race abroad so a greater degree of risk. One of those risks is the weather. As i type this the forecast is veering between just about being ok on race day and being absolutely atrocious. I need to expect the worst and plan for the latter option. Not that it involves much planning to be fair, it will mostly involve just doing the same stuff but much wetter. And with more vaseline. But that is not a subject for a family friendly blog...

Update

I think i have missed a couple of weeks here. In part this is because i was suitably chastened to discover that not everyone finds the running chat utterly riveting. Really? For shame!

With the sarcasm button set back to 'off', my absence from this journal has been more about injury (minor, resolved) and motivation fatigue (ongoing, managed). I am at the stage in my training schedule where i can see the light of the oncoming train and i am just about ready to taper and have a bit of a rest. Whether this is connected to my slightly creaking body isnt certain but my calves are again problematic. A niggle meant a couple of runs missed. Unfortunately one of those was my last 20 miler. Not a massive problem in itself but getting towards the sharp end i find myself with no real scope to accommodate that run elsewhere.

Thus i am left with a vague feeling that no matter how fit i am (fitter than i have ever been i feel), a lack of long runs will be my undoing and i am not well enough prepared. Logically there is some merit in this. More miles would mean i was *better* prepared but in reality i should know that my preparation has been excellent. My overall mileage has been good and while the programme has a whole and indeed the entire year, has been patchy, i am in a good place fitness wise.

That was demonstrated at the weekend with another PB. Jedburgh half was in my schedule as my last race effort and the means i would use to finalise my target marathon pace. That meant i needed to hit it hard. On top of the 2 hour drive, the miserable weather and my niggle calf, i just didnt feel particularly up for that. There are some runs that you just dont fancy and i hated just about every step of this race from start till finish. I felt like i was about to detonate from about mile 4 onwards and my HR data confirms that feeling with a higher average heart rate than my hilly 10k PB from a couple of weeks previously!

For all the negativity and despite an annoying headwind on the way back in, i came home below my target and a good 3 and a half minutes below my previous best  with 1:39:27. A fantastic result in the circumstances as it was run off almost no taper.

So, thats it decided, my marathon target is 3:35:00. Online calculaters suggest my shorter race times ought to translate to something south of 3:30:00. These things always overestimate how well normal people can translate times to longer distances so i am playing it safe and going for a slightly slower time with the proviso that if i miraculously get to 18 miles and feel fantastic i can push on a bit.

So i am here now with less than 1 week of proper training before taper. As i sit here and write this i am of the view that i am not recovered properly from Jedburgh so i can see this week being a challenge. Last night had me doing one of those batshit mental interval sessions that seem to pepper this particular schedule. 5*1200m reps @ 5k pace. Failure to operate my Garmin correctly meant i was hitting each rep somewhere between 5 and 10k pace but to be honest i doubt i could have given too much more. The legs are heavy this morning and tonight's 14 mile run seems like a thoroughly stupid idea.

But this is my last chance to get something into my tank before easing back so i intend to push through it. The fatigue i am accumulating will make Sunday an even better marathon simulation. I am running the Southside 6. 16 miles through the streets and parks of Glasgow's southside. Undulating if not actively hilly but well within my normal long run territory. The plan is to run it at or around marathon pace. All going well this will prove to be an enjoyable confidence booster. If things dont go quite so well then i have the excuse of tired legs. Still, fingers crossed for the former...