The Taper

After my long at China Camp I came to realize a few days later that it might have been just a bit too intense. I felt very good and felt inspired to keep a strong pace but my legs just felt sluggish for the next three days. I had an easy mountain bike ride on Monday followed by a bike commute on Tuesday. So it was not until Wednesday that I went for my first run. I felt a bit sluggish during the warm-up but at around 30 minutes the brakes just came on. I am not sure what happened but my energy level dropped so low that all I could do was walk. I tried to pick it up again about 5 minutes later but could only last another couple minutes before I had to stop again. I was able to finish out the run by the end but it was rather depressing. I decided to ride again on Thursday and then run on Friday. After that weird Wednesday run I was able to get my pacing and energy back again and can only speculate on what happened. It was probably that I had a bad nights sleep combined with fatigue from my long run.

I don’t really enjoy tapering but I decided to stick to my plan. I still recall how my Dipsea taper went awry back in June. Three weeks before the race I came down with a really bad cold. It lasted up until the week before. I was forced to miss all my planned workouts and on Sunday, 7 days before the race, decided to run the course from Mill Valley to the top of Cardiac and then back. My legs for fresh and I took off. It didn’t help that there were a lot of others out on the course as well. I met another guy who was also out preparing for the race and we ran harder than I would have on my own back from Cardiac to Muir Woods. Overall that run was great but my legs just didn’t have that freshness that I was hoping to feel. I improved my time by 2 minutes but I decided that the next race prep will be different.

Back to the plan for my 25K; I wanted to get in three runs, one Saturday and two more the next week. A light run Monday and then my last run on Wednesday. Saturday went just right. I ran a total of 55 minutes with about 20 minutes uphill at Tempo pace. Monday was a light but hilly 45 minutes and then another hilly 35 minute run Wednesday. I commuted on my bike Tuesday and Thursday. That route is 10.5 miles each way which takes me between 35 and 40 minutes. I think I am ready to go.