Tapering 3 Weeks Before a Marathon

Tapering is the term for slowing things down in the lead up to a race. It is in order to let your body rest and repair so it can work at its full potential on the big day. By the actual definition of the word it also means gradually.

3 Weeks to Go to the Marathon

Sunday Long Run

Okay so with 3 weeks to go before a Marathon I should have built up to my highest mileage week. My long Sunday run being 20 miles. Trouble is I hadn’t built up to high mileage as Winston’s Wish I only asked me the week before.

I thought I would follow the tapering advice all the same. I did indeed do a 20 mile Sunday run and then loosely followed advice on what to do from there on in.

This week I tried jeffing a 2:1 whilst my friends ran. It didn’t feel it worked quite as well as the 3:2 did the week before. I am wondering if actually a much shorter ratio may work with them.

I had ice-cream with my friend when we finished the 20 miles and hubby took me to Toby Carvery for dinner.

Monday Rest Day/Cross-Training

The Monday after I had a rest day. I was so tired that it wasn’t really going to be much else. My teen did convince me out on a bike ride of just over 5 ½ miles. I am not good at cross training either, so at least this was a bit of a tick off my list.

Diet was appalling: We had pizza. I couldn’t even put it in the oven I was that lacking in energy.

Tuesday Club Night

Tuesday was club night and I booked on to do 4 ½ miles. Trouble was it turned out to be interval training. It was pretty much just jeffing and not very much at that. I had to try really hard not to go all out though as the guidance I read so no speed and no hills in these last 3 weeks.

I did better on the food front though and had chicken salad.

Wednesday Middle Mid-Week Run

The middle of the week should be somewhere between the long and short runs. I read that I ought to be aiming for between 8 and 10. Considering that I hadn’t built up to these miles in the first place I decided on 8. Oh and the fact that my legs were crying out to stop. I also aimed to go slower than my marathon pace. Not that I know what that is. I just tried to keep it slow and steady. I had plenty of time to kill anyway.

I forgot my headphones though and although found it a bit difficult it was actually nice to speak to passers-by more than I would normally have.

Food again I had really started thinking about protein sources. A lot of chicken and eggs had been consumed. Then I was reminded about peanuts.

Thursday The Long Short Run

I needed to fit in a long short run so I did 5 miles. Again I had some time to kill whilst running around after the boys so was able to keep it slow and steady.

Diet was super bad. We went to the chip shop. I had had a meal deal at lunch time again this time opting for a Nak’d peanut bar. Omg delicious. Decided they were good for me and ordered a box of 48!

Friday Slow Short Run

Running slowly is hard when you know you aren’t going far. When I say running I have actually being jeffing, and I think this made going slower even harder. I was only meant to do 3 miles but it was too tempting not to just round it up to 5k. This jeffing session was helped by the fact that my husband came out with me too.

More chicken salad for tea.

Saturday Busy Day

Saturday was a busy day doing things such as having the brake fluid replaced in my car. We also visited our eldest as he needed something fixing. The day just disappeared so it was a good day it was down as a rest day.

We had lasagne with lots of different types of cheese.

I have also been trying to keep my water intake up. I have been trying to cut back on my coffee too. But this was a day we did actually end up in Costa!

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