I finished my final training block with a 20 mile run three weeks ago. It left me with a newfound confidence because it was the first long run where I actually quite wanted to continue at the end. I’m glad I didn’t though because that block where I pushed from 15 miles to 20 miles over five weeks left me feeling totally broken once it was done. I hadn’t understood the cumulative load involved in adapting to that distance. If I’d pushed further on that final run I fear it might have tipped me over the edge. Likewise if I’d gone for a two week rather than three week taper I doubt I would have been ready for the race on Sunday.
Indeed I spent much of the last fortnight worrying that I wouldn’t be ready. After seven miles the first weekend of the taper I was immediately ready to finish. I was then astonished last week to discover that I could barely run a mile. Even when I relaxed into a 5k on Monday my legs still felt like jelly. It was only when I did a gentle couple of miles at the nature reserve this morning then started carb loading that something seems to have clicked. I am mentally exhausted from work but my legs suddenly feel like coiled springs and I am desperate to go for an evening run. I want to put acid techno on and sprint through the rain. The sense of weariness I’ve been carrying for weeks has suddenly lifted like a dense fog leaving me suddenly obviously ready for Sunday.
I really don’t like the taper. It feels weird physically and I find the disruption of routine deeply unsettling. I’m not working on a book at the moment (I’ve got a backlog of co-authored papers to clear) and removing running from the equation makes me realise how much my psyche revolves around these twin commitments. If I work on my book and go for a run then minor frustrations just don’t touch me. When I have neither of these things I’m far more irritable. However my first experience of tapering illustrates how powerful it can be. After a two week taper for the AJ Bell half in Manchester last May I knocked 9 minutes off my personal best without even trying. If I’d realised how big an impact the taper was going to have then I suspect I could have added an additional few minutes to that.
The challenge now I think will be to resist doing much over the next couple of days. If this energy increases over the next few days, I’m at risk of setting out far too fast which seems the most obvious way to mess up my first marathon. The plan is to keep myself to 10 mins 30 secs a mile for the first ten miles and take it from there. After months of niggling injuries finally resolved by a brilliant physio (who weirdly not one but two of my friends are independently seeing) I am absolutely pining for this race now. The last hour is going to be excruciating but there’s zero fear now of anything that comes before then. I am ready for this ✊
