Three Taper Runs

Wednesday, October 10, 2012:

Today we went to the park, where I ran 5 miles on the paved trails.  I ran somewhat faster than marathon pace, run 60 seconds, then walk about 25.  I went even a little faster than that, toward the end, finishing the five miles in 49:24,m for a pace of 9:50.  I’m happy with that, and there was a lot more left in the tank.  No pains.

Monday, Oct 8:

Medium-length taper run.  How do you train for a marathon two weeks away when you ran one just a week ago?  I consider that the recent marathon was the long run for the upcoming marathon, so everything after that recent marathon is a taper run.  Hoping to avoid injury, I normally run just ten miles two weeks before the upcoming marathon, and that is what we did today.  We went to the Gateway Trail, which shielded us from a cold wind.  I ran marathon pace: run 30 seconds, then walk about 25.  Time was 1:50:42, pace 11:04.  No pains.

Splits: 11:19, 10:48, 11:13, 11:27, 10:38, 11:17, 10:51, 11:00, 10:52, total 1:50:42.

Saturday, Oct 6:

St Croix Valley Runners, 7:00 am, Northland Park tennis courts.  This morning was the day before the Twin Cities Marathon, and in our tradition, those who are running that marathon gather to walk about three miles together.  I wasn't running TCM, though, so I ran the usual five-mile route, with Lisa and Jim.  Both are much faster than I am, but Jim intended to run the TC Ten-Mile the next day and wanted to go slow, and Lisa is thoughtfully and carefully recovering from an injury, so they were kind to me and ran my pace.

I did slow to a walk several times, and was not able to do as well as I have recently on that same route, but I ran a marathon only 6 days before, and it’s just fine.  Time for the five miles was 46:24, pace 9:17. No pains.