Final Week of Tapering

Time and time again, the final week of tapering proves to be the most frustration week of training.  Tapering requires a lot of patience.  Training shifts from physical training to mental training.  With less physical training, the mind begins playing games with my confidence.

It requires a lot patience.  I finished my last long day on Sunday, eight miles.  I want to run more.  I sternly tell myself not to run farther than what is required. The body the time to recover from repeated strains of training.  Muscles heal.  Glycogen stores build.  The longest of the long day arrives in less than four days.  My body needs to be ready.

Tapering requires trust and faith in the months invested training.  Training conditioned the body to run this distance.  It gave the mind the fortitude and experience.  I need to trust that my training has been ingrained in me.  Actions become automatic, instinctual.

Each day, I study the course.  It reassures me.  I provides a few minutes of peace. I begin falling into a routine each day that mimics marathon morning.  It relieves some of the uncertainty of race day preparation.  Although I participated in marathons in the past, taper week never changes.  Past marathons become another long day to learn from.  Everything is new.  Nothing is taken for granted.

I won’t finalize my goals until Thursday.  I consider this a maintenance marathon to remind my mind, body, and spirit what the marathon is.  Therefore, my minimum goal is to at least match the time I earned in Philadelphia.

The Illinois Marathon starts in less than four days.