Time to taper

With less than a week until my next ultra, this last week of training has been about tapering off my volume to freshen up for the race. I sometimes find the taper period quite difficult as I tend to feel worse doing less than I do in my big weeks where I am running significantly more kilometres. I am not sure why this is but it happens regularly enough to mean that it is not a one off phenomenon.

Monday was my scheduled day off for this week and I really needed it. I was asked to come in to work at short notice and work a night shift on Sunday night, so that by the time Monday morning came along I was a wreck. I was looking forward to a run on Tuesday but I was asked to work a second night shift and then I received a text from Mel at 1:30am to say that she had been vomiting. Sport and in particular endurance sport means that I sometimes need to be quite selfish with my time. My running is very important to me, however my family is more important and comes first so when I got home from work at 6am I got their breakfasts and lunches ready and took the kids to school before having a short sleep and then looking after Mel. Thankfully she was feeling better but she needed to get her strength back so I picked up the kids, helped them with their homework and got dinner sorted. I could've gone for a run if I really wanted to but I thought that it was better to help at home and given that I was tapering, having two days off together would help me freshen up for the race.

On Wednesday I ran when it was starting to get quite hot. It was definitely a challenge and I had to refill my water bottle three times during the run to try and cool off and stay hydrated. I was careful to apply sunscreen and felt pretty good considering the hot and humid conditions. On Thursday I ran with Sean quite early in the morning and as usual really enjoyed the run chatting away with a mate. I used the run as an active recovery session and felt pretty good by the end. On Friday I ran an easy 10km as a further recovery run to stretch out the legs.

On Saturday I ran with the group and for the first time in a while I drove there instead of running for an hour and a half before meeting them. My goal was to run anywhere between 25 - 30km. The conditions were better than the previous week but still humid. I managed the run quite well and varied my pace and efforts to keep the body guessing. Michael and I left the group at the end and completed an add-on which took me to 30.5km for the day with a pretty good average pace. I had a couple of patches where I felt pretty average but on the whole it was a very enjoyable run.

On Sunday morning I set the alarm for 6:30am to knock out an easy 10km before breakfast. When the alarm sounded I turned it off and went back to sleep. The second alarm went off five minutes later and I turned that off and went back to sleep. I woke up later and decided that I would take the day off running. After the night shifts earlier in the week I had been working late shifts where I finish at 10pm. With early rises to run before it got too hot I was missing out on crucial sleep so I decided that the most appropriate course of action was to take an extra day off running and catch up on my sleep.

The fact that I was tapering and needed the extra sleep justified the decision but I still felt that I was missing out. I know that I need to reduce my volume in the taper phase but I really enjoy my running and want to do lots of it, additionally I am still pretty focused on the 100km/per week average for the year. However, I have to remember that I am already well up on that target and being properly prepared for the up-coming race is more important.

Week 5 Summary:

Mon - Rest day
Tue - Rest day
Wed - 20.15km - 1hr 44mins 41mins - mainly flat solo run in the heat
Thu - 15.10km - 1hr 28mins 42secs - recovery run with Sean
Fri - 10.10km - 52mins 56secs - flat to undulating easy run
Sat - 30.50km - 2hrs 37mins 08secs - mainly flat group run
Sun - Rest day

Weekly totals: 75.86km - 6hrs 43mins 29secs
Monthly totals: 75.86km - 6hrs 43mins 29secs
YTD totals: 614.78km - 57hrs 17mins 32secs

This week the focus will be on further recovery, hydration and reducing overall volume even further before the big run on Saturday. I am really looking forward to the event, however I am fully aware of the difficulty of the race and the challenges that I will face while I attempt to run around a 500m track for 12 hours straight through the night. My goal is to complete at least 100km and any distance over that will be a bonus. My resolve will be put to the test and I am sure that I will have to dig deep and focus on my new mantra 'no excuses'. Stay tuned for my race report next week and remember to..........


Keep running.