Marathon Quest 2011 - Week 15

TAPER TIME!!  *in Oprah voice*

Can you believe it?!  I have 20 more days to go....less than three weeks until the race, and I'm busting right out into taper mode at the moment.  So many important things to take care of - making sure I keep myself healthy in all aspects, figuring out what my race strategy is going to be, and deciding on what I'm going to wear.  I'm praying to the running gods that we have a good day - I would be happy if it was cool, dry and not windy but we'll see what we end up getting....I just gotta roll with it.

Without further delay - this week's recap:

Sunday - rest day
Yesssssss!  Much needed rest day...I was feeling pretty tired and sore after the tough 29er that we had the day before. 

Monday - bootcamp
Yipeeee!  Glad to be back at bootcamp and see my buddy D.  Sarge was teaching...and she was on fire, I tell ya.  It was all legs...she took us to a hill and made us sprint or do exercises up and down...and once we finished the hill torture, we did all sorts of plyo, lunges, squats.  I just knew I was going to be sore the next day.

Physio that night after work - she's pretty happy with how I'm doing, but I was tight in my back so she killed me with needles all in my middle and lower spine.  I was just about to say I couldn't take any more when she finished up.  Again, I know it's all for the greater good but I'm not gonna lie - I'm going to be really, really glad when I don't have to do IMS anymore!

Tuesday - rest day
Yep.  I was sore all right.  Ha!

Wednesday - 6K run outside
Wow, is it ever dark out now.  Glad that there's only a few more weeks to go, as it's pretty hard to run when you can barely see the ground. 

Thursday - 6K treadmill run
On the road again...had to head to Kamloops for work, and had looked into the place I was staying to see if they had a gym.  Wheee, yes they did...and the website said it was first class. Excellent!   After going to a dinner banquet that was at the conference I was attending, I headed off to the gym for a late night workout.  Um....I gotta say, "first class gym" is a bit of an overstatement to say the least.  The first treadmill I got on was stuck on an incline, and it kept jerking and speeding up unexpectedly.  Grrrr.  I moved on to the other treadmill, and luckily that was better, thank goodness.  For whatever reason, the heat was just pumping in that room so I was sweating buckets, but I pounded out the run, did some pushups and tricep dips to get in some upper body work and then headed back to the room to shower up and get some sleep.

Friday - rest day
Flew back to Victoria, and was really tired after a late night and an early morning.  I was going to do a quick workout, but knew I had a big run the next day and decided to save my legs and energy for Saturday.

Saturday - 32K run
OMG...so excited that this is the last really, really long run that I've got scheduled.  Next week is 23K...but that actually feels short by comparison.  Crazy, right?  Hubs and I met up with M at 7am, and we ran the trail by our house.  It was perfect weather - nice and cool - finally!  I love the sunny weather, but it's pretty hard to run when temps get really warm.  We ran 18K with M, did a couple more kilometres to get to 20K for Hubs, and then we went back home and I finished the remaining 12K doing the loop around my house.  Now I don't know what it was - what I ate on Friday (a lot of carbs), the cooler weather or what the key factor was, but I felt good.  Even...dare I say...great?  When we left M, I couldn't believe how good I felt after having run for 18K.  As I continued on, I did feel a slight twinge on my right knee so stopped a few times to stretch it out...but still felt like I had something in the tank after finishing the run and being on my feet for close to four hours.  I've been running 6:30 - 6:45/km splits and my last few splits were around the 6:15/km range.  What is up with that?!  I walked back home (even up the monster hill!) and didn't crash like I have been in the afternoon.  Hubs and I went out and got some dinner and rented a movie that night, and it was only at around 9-ish that I got tired so we headed off to bed early at around 10pm.  I'm pretty sore today though...legs are achy, back is a bit sore, but going to concentrate on lots of stretching to stay limber.

Twenty more days to go.  I can't wait.