Taper Madness: Part II

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Lots on my mind these days. Taper is driving me crazy. Honestly, I am staying away from the boards because I start to go more mad the more I read (I am supposed to be worried about THAT? I hadn't even thought to worry about THAT!!?? Maybe I should start now.)

I seem to flip flop between feeling totally confident and completely bewildered. For a brief moment this weekend I thought... "No way... I can't run that race. I can't do it." And then I sat down and looked at my past running schedule. 17 weeks of checked off boxes stared me in the face. I have come... so... far. Why, oh why, would I come through weeks and weeks of training and not run this race??? I am blaming this moment of insanity on taper madness.

My legs are feeling decent. Although, honestly, my hip bothered me a bit while I was running my last eight. I am trying to forget that fact and concentrate on feeling 100% by race day. After my ice bath on Saturday, it did feel better, but I can tell it's still tight. I keep thinking to myself, "When are my legs supposed to start feeling like they are recovering?" I keep reading everyone else's blogs and a theme seems to be recurring... "My legs are feeling so fresh from this taper!". Ummm... can someone sign me up for this miraculous "fresh" feeling that you all seem to be referring to? Because, well, my legs have not felt fresh since my last twenty. I mean, I've had some decent runs, but my legs have not felt FRESH. They've felt consistently "heavy" or "so-so" at best. Sigh. I hope that the next week brings about a miraculous change.

I think I've nailed down a good fueling plan for the race, thanks in part to an excellent article posted by Greg$. My plan is to use strictly Vanilla Bean GU, although I might carry one chocolate in case I get really tired of the vanilla. The vanilla just sits so much better in my stomach than anything else. The other fueling product I am going to be using is Sharkies (something like fruit snacks..). I used them during my last twenty and they worked beautifully. They are a great reward system too; I plan on pulling them out towards the end of the race and rewarding myself with one every quarter mile or so. I don't plan on using any powerade, unless I feel like I am crashing and am not ready to take another gel. Otherwise, I will use only water. It just sits nicer in my tummy. My gel schedule is as follows: 5, 9, 13, 17, 21, 24. I may or may not skip one of two of these and eat some Sharkies instead. I don't want to overload on GU. I guess I will go with the plan unless I start to feel sick. I followed this plan on my last twenty and everything went really well... soooo... fingers crossed that it will be the same during the race.

Okay. I have something to talk to you all about. I have been looking at pacing charts for Twin Cities and trying to determine a pacing strategy. Twin Cities Marathon has pacing charts that are made specifically for the race and for the course. They take into account "the hill" at the end and other factors of the race. They all feature a slow warm-up start, a faster middle, and a slower end. They seem very reasonable to me. Now, the pace teams at TCM don't use this strategy, but instead run even splits. Also, there is no 4:40 pace team... which seems odd to me. I was originally planning on following the 4:40 team at the start and possibly easing up to the 4:30 team from there. Oh well... I don't really want to run with a pace team anyways, so I guess I'll do my own thing. But, back to the pacing charts. I have been studying them and trying to determine what one is reasonable for me to attempt to follow. Here's my thoughts on my finishing time....

1) Worst case scenario: My legs freak out... I can run... I finish before the 6 hours limping and walking across the finish line.
2) I run a decent race, but my leg bothers me and I come in around 5 hours.
3) Things go pretty well. I don't run as fast as my twenty, but I keep a steady pace OR I run a good first half and crash a little at the end but still come out with a 4:40.
4) I run a good race... start slow, speed up, and finish strong... run a 4:30.
5) The stars align and God smiles upon me. My legs miraculously have speed and I run a 4:20.

Obviously I am not going to be using the 5 or 6 hour pace chart... so the question I have is... should I use the 4:40 or 4:30? I am not going to use the 4:20... because that is a stretch goal and I don't want to blow myself up and crash badly in the end. Here's the link to the 4:40 pace chart http://www.mtcmarathon.org/pacecharts/index.cfm?chart=440 and the link to the 4:30 pace chart http://www.mtcmarathon.org/pacecharts/index.cfm?chart=430. If any one of you is bored during taper, maybe you could take a look at these charts and let me know your vote for which one I should follow. I am tempted to start with the 4:40 chart and ease into a faster pace for the middle of the race... something like what I ran my 20 in (9:40 ish). I guess I am using my twenty as the comparing factor.... If I could run that run exactly again and then hold a decent pace for the remaining 6 miles, I KNOW that I could run a 4:20 - 4:30. Sigh. I just don't know... Maybe I am overthinking all of this and I should just run the race as I feel.

Alright. Enough rambling. You see what this taper madness is doing to me!!? I start to analyze and think through EVERYTHING a hundred times and in painful detail.

I just looked ahead at the last notes from Hal's Novice Program. Here is what he said regarding race day. It's priceless...

"Sunday: St. Paul once said, "Do you not know that those who run in a race, all indeed run, but only one receives the prize? So run as to obtain it." (St. Paul, 9:24) I don't know, Pauly, that message might have been accurate 2,000 years ago, but if you were around today and had an opportunity to experience today's mass-participation marathons, you might agree that more than one runner receives the prize, or benefits from their participation. (That might make a good sermon subject for my former teammate at Carleton College, Bill Hendren, who is now a minister in Ventura, California.) Regardless of whether you expect to win a prize in today's race, take St. Paul's advice and run so as to obtain it. There's not much more we can say other than this is the day and the moment for which you have spent 18 weeks. Remember everything you learned over those weeks. And have a very good day!"

... I love the part... "This is the day and the moment for which you have spent 18 weeks..." Wow. So true. So much work to get to even this point.

Every day I drive over the Franklin Avenue bridge... the same bridge that I will be running over between mile 19 and 20. And everyday I picture myself running over that bridge with strength and stamina... I picture a smile on my face and I think of my mindset being set with determination and excitement. It's a little mental exercise that I do, and I am hoping that come race day, the prophecy will fulfill itself and I will be running over that bridge feeling like a million bucks.