Sunday, October 15, 2006

Too Much

I’m almost one week into my taper, and the madness is slowly taking hold of me. It started on Wednesday. The symptom: I can hardly remember my runs any more. I run in the mornings, and then I forget what I’ve done. All Wednesday I was thinking how I only did a recovery run, only to remember each time that, no, actually I did a 12-miler at decent pace. Weird.

I did a tempo-run on Friday, the first tempo run in ages. As I’ve done all week, I left home without my headlamp and just ran under the moon. As a result it was too dark to make out the HR figure during the tempo phase and I had to run purely by effort. I’m not sure why I still bother with the HRM. I never check my heart rate during a normal run, and when I do a tempo run, where I always used to check my HR to make sure I was doing them at the right intensity, I can now tell from the effort if I’m going ok or not. A simple watch would do me these days. I guess I’m just so used to running with a HRM that I always strap it on, automatically.

You know the feeling during the taper that you’re bursting with energy and just feel that you have to do “something” to burn it off? I know that I’m supposed to be resting during this time, but mentally I’m not quite prepared for that. It’s still 15 days to the marathon, and I can’t justify to myself lazing around when there are so many thing to be done in the house. As a result I spent a considerable amount of time and energy yesterday to go to the dump. I got rid of 160kg of rubbish – and I’ve got the receipt to prove it. And since that wasn’t enough, I spent between 4 and 5 hours working in the garden today, after running 8 easy-ish miles before breakfast. Note to self: relax. Take it easy. Tapering is important. Next weekend I’ll just relax. No strenuous work. No gardening. No big chores. Read a book, or watch a film. Just stop doing 100 things around the house, you idiot.

13 Oct: 9 miles, 1:08, 7:40 pace, with 5 miles at 7:00 pace
15 Oct: 8 miles, 1:06, 8:15 pace, including 9x100 strides

10 comments:

  1. Thomas ... you're going through exercise withdrawls. You are in incredible shape and your body wants to be taken out for a real workout. Just go to your happy spot, stick with the program and take it all out on race day.

    Best of luck this week.

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  2. Tapering is just that - not to be replaced with strenuous garden work, lol. Enjoy these next three weeks...

    BTW. All that running I did (BC) before children? I know I did the races, I have the certificates and medals but, you know what? That seems like it was another person, not me at all but someone I used to know - and my running has been very sporadic (AC) after children, lol.

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  3. Phil's got it right Thomas :)
    But it's hard to stay away from house hold chores.I know they are always whispering my name. Especially this time of year before winter sets in.
    Do your best to take it easy!

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  4. Exercise withdrawl, I'll have to remember that. Tapering is hard, it just doesn't feel normal. I think my wife enjoys when I taper - I get so much done around the house.

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  5. Great. I thought I was just weird when, after doing 16 yesterday morning, I spent the whole afternoon thinking, "Have to get my run in. No, you ran 16 this morning idiot!" Good to know that's just a taper-week-one symptom.

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  6. relax is hard ;)...i agree to that.

    I try to remind myself that the body takes a lot of time to recover. On the other hand, i love to just do something idfferent. Like go for a walk or a movie.

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  7. Tapering can be the toughest part. You've got all the miles in the bank and you're ready. Let the marathon be a celebration of all your hard work and dedication.

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  8. You are way funny. Do what your heart tells you. Just don't run 20 miles at tempo pace:)

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  9. It's getting close now. I probably would not woory too much about extra chores this week, but would definitely take it easy next week. And Yes, I know I often do not follow my own advice, but I am trying to be better.

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  10. Exercise withdrawal--now there's a name for that restlessness. Take deep breaths, relax and don't do anything rash (like playing soccer/football)

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