Taper Week-The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Ottawa Marathon week is here, which also means (unfortunately) that taper week is in full swing.  Sticking with our training plan we started to slowly cutting our mileage 2 weeks ago.  We were still running 5 times a week but our daily mileage was less then our peak weeks leading up to taper.  This was somewhat tolerable.  But this week...Oh this week...Four miles (family run style, with the stroller) on Monday and that is it until our 3 mile shakeout on Saturday morning.  That's. it.  So here's the lowdown on the good, the bad, and the ugly of two tapering (hopeful) marathoners.

The Good

• Sleeping in.  With midweek runs of 10+ miles I was hauling it out of bed around 5am, usually (accidentally and completely unintentionally disrupting Leigh's sleep). With midweek runs of 0 miles I get to sleep in until the boys get up, and Leigh gets to sleep in until he needs to get up for work.
• Getting to sleep in means we can watch Flashpoint on Netflix for longer...Every evening.  How did we miss this show when it was on TV??

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• Less laundry.  Eliminate running and workout clothes from our laundry, and our hamper rejoices, empty AND less smelly.
• Leigh's injuries have healed.  He has been running his taper runs completely pain free.  He's good to go for Sunday.
• We are not in a constant cycle of eat, feel hungry, eat, feel hungry.

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• Carbo loading starts officially tomorrow.  This is where we get to fill our muscles with as much glycogen (sugar) as they can handle.  We are aiming in essence to fill our tanks to the brim.  This means we get to indulge in all sorts of yummy things.  Leigh is at physio right now, and has promised me a carbo loading kick off surprise when he gets home.

The Bad

• I miss my daily hit of endorphins.  I am an addict, I need my runner's high.

I need this shirt (source)

• I miss the mind clearing, mental relaxation, solo thinking time I get from a morning run.  Entertaining 2 wild animals preschool aged boys all day seems much more challenging when my day doesn't start with a run.
• My muscles and joints feel tighter then normal, and every ache and pain I feel is a catastrophic injury that will negatively impact my race, throwing months of hard fought training down the drain.
• I feel fat.
• When I see people out running I feel jealous, horribly, awfully jealous.

The Ugly

• I am doubting my training.  How am I supposed to run 26.2 miles when I am not running anything right now, won't my body forget what to do, won't I get weak, and tired, and my muscles will shrivel up and whither away...
• Every time I pass the fridge I stop to look wistfully at my training plan, all those runs, all those miles...Sigh.
• I am not sleeping well.  Between race dreams where I inevitably have forgotten something, or get lost, or the course has turned into an obstacle style race, and more sleep/less activity, I just can't sleep. 

http://heyrunnergirl.tumblr.com

So there you have it, a look into the warped and frantic mind of a (not yet) marathoner.  Can't wait until Friday at 2pm when we hit the road and head to Ottawa.