Ticking Over in the Taper



Jimmy Carter


Fast minute sprints with 2 minutes recovery meant that although last night's club session was hard, the long recovery ensured that I finished it feeling fit, strong and full of confidence. You might also note the lack of ' ' around the word fast... yes, I actually felt like I ran fast... Okay, I wasn't breaking records - we've discussed this before and concluded that I never will, remember?- but I certainly ran faster than I have done in a long time, hitting a 6.29min/mile pace on some of my minute intervals; a long forgotten pace since my marathon training began.

And it felt great.

And ten intervals later, I realised that all the stresses and tensions of the day had dissipated and I felt great.

And that's great.

It's all great because ultimately I enjoyed running last night; and it's been a little while since I truly said that. Marathon training has been hard; and, quite ridiculously, it turns out that tapering is hard! The Sensible side of my brain, and Obsessive side are arguing with each other constantly so in my head, it sounds a bit like this:

Miss Sensible: Now, let's rest and take it easy, eat well and get lots of sleep.
Miss Obsessive: Come on... let's go for a run... just a little one, it won't hurt... come on... you know you want to!
Miss Sensible: No. Rest. You're feeling tired, it's warm outside. What good will it do you? Rest.
Miss Obsessive: Okay, okay, I'll rest... but... maybe... just a little run? you know you love it!!!

As you can see, not only have I completely flipped (although I'm thinking that's nothing new) but I am also struggling a little with not running quite so much. Which is weird because, as anyone who will listen knows, I've found the increase in training and the long distances hard, so you'd think I'd be happy with this forced period of low running... maybe that's the problem - I've never liked being told what to do, even when it's me doing the telling! Or maybe it's just that I've realised, once again, how much I truly LOVE running.


Arnold Hano, Writer.

 Distance: Thursday - 3 miles
Feeling: Great
Weather: lovely