The Seattle Rock n’ Roll half marathon is this Saturday. This final week of training is a taper… a measly 10 miles this entire week! The concept of the taper is a reduction in the distance and intensity of training runs in order to give your body time to recover and heal so you’re at the top of your game on race day. All training plans call for a taper. I use Hal Higdon’s training plans which recommend a 1 week taper for ½ marathons and a 2 week taper for full marathons. I know this probably sounds great to most people – a chance to chillax after weeks of grueling training. In reality, taper weeks are some of the hardest weeks of training – at least they are for me.
When I was training for the full marathon in Fort Collins, the taper weeks drove me crazy. Apparently there is actually a term for this phenomenon: Taper Madness. I had it bad during the last 2 weeks of marathon training. After building up to 40 + miles a week, putting on the brakes during the final two weeks was incredibly maddening. I was scared I was going to lose fitness, I was afraid I would gain lbs that would slow me down on race day. I freaked out over every ache and pain. I was even convinced I had swine flu at one point before the race. After all the training, all the logged miles, waiting for race day truly can drive one nuts. I have experienced taper madness – it isn’t fun.
This week’s taper hasn’t been too bad – mostly because my race this weekend is a half-marathon vs. the full 26.2. I am looking forward to running at sea-level in beautiful Seattle! I hope the hills aren’t too bad… I am a little anxious but at least I am not experiencing complete craziness this time!
