Running Easy

One of the strangest things is the taper. This is that period at the end of a training period where you dramatically reduce your running. We are now only just over a week away from the Big Comrades...89km of fun, pain, joy, suffering, pleasure...etc. And so the last 3 weeks of our program have seen our mileage drop off significantly. 

We did a peak week about 4 weeks ago with one long run (being Two Oceans Marathon) of 56km and a 21km and a couple of shorter ones in the week to get us close to the magic 100 for the week. Since then we have been in the taper, dropping down to about 50...30...20...etc. It just feels weird every time we do this. You think "I just don't feel ready. Surely I should go and run a long run of 30km today". Yet this is when your body is actually getting fit. It is this rest that is so important. With 3 weeks to go there is little that can be done to build cardio or infrastructure fitness. You can maintain, but most importantly you need to rest so that the body can strengthen.

Yet even though we know this it always feels strange...but the great part is that it feels amazing go for a 10km run at a slow pae and hardly exerting any energy - that is really rewarding.

Only just over a week of the strange taper to go, and then the feet will hit the road for the Greatest Human Race!