Well… I made it! It is officially race week. I have finished the 2nd week of my taper and I head into the last few days of preparation before I leave for Denver on Thursday. I feel a lot of different emotions including excitement and fear, but, most of all, I’m just happy that I made it this far. Baring any absolute disasters on Sunday, this time next week, I will be sore, but I will be a marathoner.
This Week’s Training:
M: Rest + Yoga
T: 4 miles easy + Yoga
W: Rest + Yoga
T: 3ish miles easy – no watch + Yoga
F: 6 miles Tempo + Yoga
S: 10 miles LSD
S: 5 miles easy trail run
Total: 28ish miles
It was a good week that felt okay. My easy runs were slow and they were probably the highlight of my week. On Tuesday I ran the Linear Trail and was feeling like I had to hold myself back from going too fast and Thursday I forgot my watch at home, so I just ran without it.
Sunday evening, I decided that I was sick of running around my town and hit up a small park called Top of the World. I’ve been struggling a lot with finding motivation to run, so I figured that since trails are always a happy place for me, that I should be able to find some motivation there. And I did! I took it pretty chill and even stopped to talk to a few of my friends that I bumped in to. It was definitely the highlight of my week.
I struggled through my tempo run with some stomach issues. I ate some spicy food about 40 minutes before the run and it definitely came to haunt me. I still managed to keep it at pace, but I must say, it did not feel pretty!
My long run was a bit of a slog. I ran from my house to the campground a few of my friends were staying at that night. I had a rather packed Saturday and couldn’t get out until around 3:00 pm, when it was over 90 degrees. I took a small backpack of water, since I knew that I wouldn’t come across any water fountains, but it was still rough. I got pretty overheated and stopped a few times. Honestly, it has been pretty hard to not let this run hurt my confidence going into Colfax.
The week had some ups and downs, but that doesn’t matter. It is race week!!! I have a few more short runs before I walk up to that starting line in Denver on Sunday. Oh! And I seem to have gotten lucky with the weather… It’s predicted to be cloudy with a low of 45 and a high of 68. The race begins at 6:00 am, so that sounds a lot like perfect marathon weather to me!!
I’ll be posting later this week about goals for the race and athlete tracking. Hope you all had a great weekend! Any goal races coming up?
She Runs the Wasatch 
Don’t let the sluggish feeling get to you. That means you are RIGHT ON TRACK! I do understand feeling like the last long run hurt your confidence, but remember all of the work you’ve done all winter long. Your legs should be tired now, which is probably why the run felt like a struggle (plus the conditions sounded ROUGH, with the heat!). You are tapering for a reason – so your legs feel fresh on race day! They WILL feel fresh, and you will crush it! Just stay nice and controlled and remember – if you aren’t worried about running too slow in the first half, you are probably running too fast. Someone told me that once, and anytime I can hang onto that mantra in the first half of a marathon, I feel GREAT in the second half. YOU GOT THIS!
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Yeah, the long run was bad. Every mile was slower than the previous and I ended up walking up the last hill. It was just such a torture-fest. It was definitely the worst long run of the cycle.
That is some good advice. I trained for a 9:00/mi race, but the 4:00 pacer should be at 9:06-9:10-ish, so I was going to run with them for a while. That should feel a little slow to me. There is a section called the “screaming downhill” that goes from mile 16-20. I’m pretty good at running downhill, so I was going to hold back until then and let it fly. And I guess I’ll just try to stay ahead of the pacer until the end. Haha! At least I have a plan.
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That is A GREAT, SOLID PLAN! You got this!!!
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Don’t read too much into your taper runs. They really don’t mean anything in the grand scheme of things. At this point the only reason you are really running is to keep your legs moving. Your body doesn’t just forget how to run fast after one bad run.
You’ve done enough training at your goal pace you will probably just lock into it on race day. If you start out with the 4:00 pacer and they are blazing above goal pace, make sure you slow down. That kind of thing can tank your whole race if you try to stick with them. You’ve done the training at that pace so just trust your body that it knows what to do. A pacing fiasco is pretty worst case scenario, as most pacers do a pretty good job, but just trust your instincts. If you have to ask yourself in the beginning “is this too fast?”, then it probably is. The last 10 miles of the marathon do not feel like the first 10, so don’t trust how “easy” things feel at the start.
But honestly, you will do great. Even in first marathons, once you get out there and start running, your instincts and muscle memory will kick in and your body will carry you through. It’s hard not to worry but I have no doubt that once you are out there you will rise to the occasion.
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Thanks! I have been feeling a little down since my long run. It was really terrible. The hot conditions definitely made things worse, but I just totally let my head get the best of me. I finished the run feeling like that 10 miles had been like 100 miles. I do tend to do well in races and I do rise to the occasion when it counts. I just keep reminding myself of that.
Thanks for the advice about pacing. I will make sure to start slow. I don’t want those last 10 miles to be miserable.
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Echoing Hanna and Allison: don’t let these sluggish taper runs get you down! Any run in the 90s is going to feel awful. Especially this early in the summer when your body hasn’t had a long time to acclimate to the heat.
You are ready for this marathon!
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Oh it was so bad! I ended last summer feeling like those bad temps were ok… but I guess I acclimated to the cooler temps. I know that I am ready, I just can’t like my mind get in the way.
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Prerace runs are rarely good! I think it means a great race. 🙂 I hope the forecast is right for you (and wrong for me — a lot easier to run 13.1 in bad weather, tho!).
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I’m glad that I am not the only one. I always suck at running during a taper. it’s like my body forgets how to do it… Good luck on your race! I’ll be rooting for you. I hope your weather is good. It is no fun to run a half in bad weather.
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Weather is looking better. Hope yours is good! Do you think altitude will be an issue?
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I don’t think it will… My half PR is at 7000 feet and I don’t remember having any issues then. I assume 5000 shouldn’t be too bad, but I’m going to stay very well hydrated just in case.
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I can’t wait to hear your race specific goals and yes I will be tracking you!
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Haha! I should try to remember that when I want to slow down… “don’t disappoint Megan, she is tracking you!!”
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HAHAHA! How about “I better stick to my race plan, Megan is watching” teehehee!
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Eeeeeee, I can’t wait to hear about the race!!!! I’m so excited that your training went so well and you’ve made it through taper!
I’ll be tracking you!
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Almost there! I’m getting pretty excited. Getting to the start line of a marathon is a lot of work!
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I am really looking forward to tracking you and virtually celebrating your successes this weekend!
For me any run in the 90s is going to feel brutal, but especially during spring! Like you mentioned in a comment above, during the summer we acclimate to the heat, but the first few runs as the weather heats up are just awful! Your race day temps sound beautiful and you won’t have to worry about the heat dragging you down! The crisp, cool air will invigorate you and help propel you towards your goals!
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That long run was so brutal. The sun was relentless and I just felt like I could collapse. I kept the pace super slow since I was getting scared about heat exhaustion and I even considered having Frank come get me. I can’t wait to get out to Denver where it will be cloudy and cool on race day.
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