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!

As of today it is only 3 weeks to the great Comrades marathon! We are now well into the taper...it has been a bit of a longer taper as we used the Two Oceans 56km as our Long Run, and the rest of the week as the Peak Week. But, it is always fun to be in the taper as this is when the body recovers, and even though it feels like you are doing a lot less, you are actually now getting fit. The illusion is that fitness is created when you're running. In fact this is not true. This is when the body breaks down, and it is in the rest periods that fitness starts to build up. So today we're off to run a 21km run and maybe another next week as we wind up the program.

The big challenge in these 3 weeks is to stay away from snot and stuff. There is nothing worse than to get this far and get attacked by a bug at this stage and have to pull out of the great event. So.....it's time to get back to the road and enjoy a leisurely 21km around the rolling hills of Westville.

C:-)