Marathon Training: Week 16 Recap

I'm blogging from Wichita tonight... so you know what that means!!! Yep, if I hadn't forgotten my camera cord at home you'd all get to see pics of Parker Alexander tonight. I guess you'll have to wait until tomorrow. On with the training recap:

MONDAY: Rest / 8 Miles. We ran at night, in the dark. I had this mystery sharp pain in my back that kept me from taking a deep breath. That makes for a super fun 8 miles if you were wondering.

TUESDAY: 5 Miles / 5 Miles.

WEDNESDAY: 4 Miles / Yoga. Are you kidding me? Our mid-week long run was supposed to be 4 miles? WTF? Who is in charge of reading the training schedule? Why did I run 8 miles on Monday???

THURSDAY: 5 Miles / 5 Miles.

FRIDAY: Rest Day / Yoga. I'm loving this new yoga workout I found on Exercise TV on Demand. It is awesome!!!

SATURDAY: 12 Miles / Bike. Brooke had a fever and we decided to let her rest. It was a team decision. Just kidding. I went to the gym and did 40 minutes of bike. Boring.

SUNDAY: Cross Train / 12 Miles. Yea! Its our last double-digit run before the big race. It is so nice to have this over with! It was cold. I'm serious... I was wearing pants and a jacket. Blech cold!

Total Mileage: 26 / 30 Really?? That was dumb. I'm annoyed.

***Marathon Training Tip of the Week: Taper Seriously. Tapering is tricky business. This is how I tapered in prior marathons: skip workouts, run slow, eat lots, rest lots, no cross training. This results in Jamie reaching the starting line feeling soft and a little bit fat, not gonna lie. Duh, you can't take 3 weeks off before the marathon. Just because you are tapering, it doesn't mean your training is over. Some tips for tapering successfully:

1. Mileage goes down, intensity does not. Do all of your workouts at a level consistent with prior training. The decrease in mileage will leave your legs feeling rested for the race.
2. Stop eating so much. That's common sense. When your mileage goes down you aren't burning as many calories and you can gain weight easily. It is easy (really easy for me) to get used to the "I can eat anything I want because I'm training for a marathon." mentality. Watch out for it!
3. Cross Train, but don't do anything out of the norm. No playing basketball and risking an injury! Are you kidding? Can you picture me playing basketball? No. There is a reason I run.
4. Read your damn training schedule so you don't run 8 when you should be running 4. Can you tell this irritates me???

Runner's World Magazine has a really good article on tapering in their October issue if anyone is interested on tips from someone who actually knows what they are talking about!