PM1-6 miles with 1 MP mile to get the nervous system awake. Did the Rio Loop with 8x2 min of hard fartlek at 2 mile race pace intensity. Took 1 min recovery run between repeats. Kept the heart rate up this time by running the recovery a little faster and shorter than usual in order to get a good vo2 stimulus. Felt strong right up to the last repeat which is a good sign. HIIT training all though seemingly counterintuitive for marathon tapering is actually more effective at stimulating fat burning after the session vs other methods as recent studies have shown. Eventually I will do these as laid out by the original protocol which employs shorter work periods at higher intensity. For now though I want to experiment and have fun with something closer to Gerschler's methods coupled with a longer and more drastic taper. It may be wrong and it definitely goes against traditional/conventional marathon tapering procedure but I want to experiment and try a new angle. If done correctly without too much volume/intensity I think it may optimize muscle recovery while giving a nice sharpening effect. In fact I was reading that it takes 4 weeks to fully repair muscle damage incurred by high mileage marathon training. So does it make sense to keep banging out high mileage coupled with that last killer long run before a marathon? How much real benefit will I get? Then again will this disturb the carb to fat burning ratio during the race itself? These are questions I was asking myself the other day while running and meditating in the rain. PM-2 4 mile recovery jog at 8/min pace or so.
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