Warning: wordy post. Had to get some of this down for reference ;). Last longish run. I got rained on and it was fabulous. Marathon is in 12 days...
After how i felt at Utah Valley in June i decided to experiment a bit this time. I believe I felt flat because I cut it back too much during the taper. This taper will be shorter, the volume will not be cut as much, and the intensity will not increase. I won't be running faster than race pace on the few workouts left and most of the runs will be easier.
I know this is weird and some may not agree and that's ok :). I figure i have had a hell of a cycle that was built off of the Utah valley cycle that was foiled by the 20 mph head wind. I am in unknown territory for me, I have had my best races this fall and am in the best shape of my life. It was my decision to toss the schedule and it's worked very well. If this taper works too then great, if not then I learned something for next time. :) The important thing is that I have learned to listen to my body much better by not having my daily run be dictated by a spreadsheet or paper. Not knocking it at all, it just wasn't working for me anymore. It was making me feel boxed in.
I am a believer that for me the static philosophy is not the best way. My training has to be ever changing, experimenting, incorporating new things each time to hopefully keep from plateauing as long as i can. I am not 25 (unfortunately lol), and I want to maximize what I can do in the short term while trying to be smart and take risks at the same time (crazy person balance).
Thanks so very much to my great friends Scott, Dan, Matt, Reed, and Curtis for pushing, inspiring and advising me. You guys are all class, choice people and it has been a pleasure. You're all going to kick some major butt! This has been the very best year of running and this cycle for St. George has been just great. Training for and running Boston is going to be quite an experience I'm sure. Looking forward to the miles!
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