Now that the hard work is done, it’s time for tapering. That means tending to phantom injuries, freaking out every time I hear one of the kids cough that they are getting the flu and I will catch it too, and checking the weather forecast every 8 minutes.
But it also means filling up the liver and muscles with glycogen and running every mile knowing that I’m only doing it to stay sane, not for fitness.
I haven’t fretted over data/times/pace for this training session like I usually do. Part of that is because I have so much other stuff going on, and part of it is that when training using the FIRST program, it doesn’t really take over your life the way a 6-day-a-week program does. It’s kind of nice.
I did a 23 miler for my last long run yesterday, and I averages 8:59–much faster than I’d planned on running, and a little surprising. I’ve figured out that I need to eat a LOT more than I had been eating (no complaints here), and as a result I have yet to feel the wall this time around.
Anyway, I was going back and comparing this peek week training to the peek week of my best marathon. I’m liking these results:
2003 Peek Week
42 total miles (4 sessions), 6 hours and 35 minutes (9:24/mile average)
2012 Peek Week
40 total miles (3 sessions), 5 hours and 59 minutes (8:59/mile average)
The two big things I notice are that I ran roughly the same miles in both years, but this year I’ve done it in one less session, and at a faster pace. Also, my longest run in 2003 was 20 miles instead of the 23 I did this year.
I’m hoping this means a faster race. 3:49:59 was the original goal. Starting to think 3:44:59 may be a real possibility. It’s all going to be in the execution.
I’ve been running negative splits every day. Do I start with the 3:55 group for the first half and chase down the 3:45 group, or do I just start with 3:45 and try to hang on? That pace sounds tough for me right out of the gate.