Saturday, February 2, 2008

Saturday 8 miles + Taper thoughts.

am) 8 miles very easy jogging.
Taper: Tomorrow is supposed to be my last long run and I had every intention of running 20miles with 4 miles tempo at the beginning and then 8 miles at the end at goal pace. Pretty tough. After Thursday's run though- I feel confident in my fitness at this point. I talked to Mike- my buddy who I'm running Austin with- and he said to not do anything stupid... he knows me. I cut an afternoon run today to rest and I am going to cut my long run tomorrow and I'll still end up at 90 miles for this week. Tomorrows run is going to be the same structure as I had planned, but shorter. 4 miles at HR 170-175 then the last 4 miles at goal pace.
Next week- ~70 miles. 2 key workouts:
2 X 2 miles at LT.
Long run- 13 miles with 2 X 2 miles at goal pace.
All other runs will be easy.

3 comments:

Chuckie V said...

The key to tapering:

FRESH BUT FIT.

You've got the latter down, but now's time to work on the former.

Tapering is basically because you're seeking a peak performance Tim. And peaking is: "the state of perfect physical, psychological readiness which allows the
athlete to perform at his or her very best," or however you care do define it. Tapering should be designed to produce that end.

The idea is to reduce the training load, which will reduce fatigue, but, at the same time maintain, or even improve, performance. Peak performance occurs when fitness and emotional arousal are at their highest, while fatigue is at a low ebb. Your cardiovascular system always wants more (and can generally take it) but the rest of you doesn't work this way...give your muscles and cells a rest...those are what run the show on race day.

I'd think you'd need to just work on the key workouts (2 x weekly) and jog---REALLY JOG---the rest, no matter how you "feel" when you do them. (Don't bank on feelings.)

Aim for softer surfaces on recovery days (dirt, rubber and even grass) and pavement on harder (so to speak) days...if the race is on pavement, which I assume it is.

Anyway, my two cents Lucho. A penny for your thoughts means I'm making some money here!

Lucho said...

You know yours is one of the opinions I value highly.. you earned my respect long ago and I'll listen. I'm even going to get a massage next week!
I plan on all of my second runs (if I run twice in one day)to be aqua-jogging..
Thanks Chuck.

Chuckie V said...

You know, also...I'm sure you could pick Alan's or Benji's brains about some of what they've done for their big marathons when it comes to tapering. And though it wouldn't quite fully apply to you, there'd be some value to it, I'm sure.

The soft surfaces is KEY in my mind...you still get your intensity up (and even your speed) but limit the structural stress. You want to be "snappy" for this race. But, with all your training, even if you felt flat on race day, you'd still eat it up. Again, don't bank on feelings; they don't mean performance. You eat nails and shit thunder Lucho! Chuck Norris is a pussy compared to you. Rambo?...give me a break. You shit bigger than these guys.