Tapering 2 Weeks to Go Until the Marathon

I was asked by the charity Winston’s Wish if I would run the Virtual London Marathon to help them raise funds. They have lost such a lot of money due to the pandemic and now more than ever children and young people now help to be supported by bereavement. You can sponsor me here.

Last week I also talked about what I did when I had 3 weeks until the marathon. I thought I would share my progress from last week for those who want to follow my journey.

2 Weeks to Go to the Marathon

Sunday Long Run

So the Sunday long run needs to be about 20% shorter than the week before’s I think. I took the advice to do 20 last week and the same article said to do between 12 and 13 this. I thought I would opt for the shorter of the two because well I hadn’t fully trained up to the miles and this tapering should mean I am recovering not pushing it up.

As it happens I got my period on the Saturday and well day two is always really heavy. I usually have a whole rest week every month because rest is important and this seems a good time to not run. It isn’t even about the cramps just the flow is too much.

But the group of us who usually run on Sundays had become just two of us to run this weekend (well locally at least) for one reason or the other. The other lady is also taking part in the London Virtual Marathon so we both needed to get out and get the miles done!

We started our long run by joining a local runner who had turned 65 and so was running 24 laps, one an hour, to complete 26.2 miles. This was his last one as he had run all through the night. We did not keep up with him at all. His total marathon time was 3 hrs 22 minutes and 47s. We were tapering so had to keep our long run slow!

Neither of us had a route in mind and we opted to run around a local field which usually has lots of sheep on it. I don’t even know how I did not spot the fact that we were running towards COWS! There has been a lot of talk of cows killing people and what to do, and what not to do. Apparently you should not run as then they think that you want to play. One such cow did think I wanted to play and you have no idea how hard it is not to run with a cow charging towards you! Thankfully it did stop and turn around!

We ended up out on a route that went out away from where we live so we couldn’t give up. We did do a bit of walking and end in the end I switched my watch to jeffing intervals. With a mix of running and walking my total mileage by the time I got home was 17 miles.

That evening I went for a walk with my family too. I am always trying to encourage them to keep moving. They spend more time than I would like on screens at the weekend so this short walk makes me feel a little better.

Wednesday Middle Mid-Week Run

It was nice to have a good few rest days but Wednesday the plan said to be back on it. I did just 6 miles jeffing knowing that I needed to keep it slow. I am not sure what it was but mentally and physically I found it really hard. The doubts of whether I would manage a whole marathon crept in.

Thursday

The training plan said just to do 4 miles today. It was a wet miserable day and I had already agreed with my husband that we would go to the river. You see the thing is I knew that if I didn’t go wild swimming soon I would not be able to later. It was actually August since I had last gone in. I thought it would be a good opportunity for my husband to practise on the stand up paddle board. Instead though he wanted to test out the boat. So he paddled and I swam.

It was raining and we even got a beautiful rainbow. It was so lovely – and all the leaves dropped into the water. Plus it was a lot less busy, in terms of parking and in the water. We only had one boat go by. Getting in took my breath away but I quickly adjusted.

Getting out however was a different matter. We had swam away from the car where we had left the towels and hot drinks. We ran back and saved our picnic for when we got home.

I didn’t really have the enthusiasm for the 4 miles but it is 2 miles to town and I had promised to get a birthday card. Otherwise I am not sure I would have managed it.

Friday

My legs ached. The doubts started to really come. Had I now over done it and not rested enough? I skipped the 4 miles I was meant to do. My husband did encourage me out for a late night walk though so at least I did meet my step count.

Saturday

Saturday was definitely the day my boys wanted to spend time with me. First I took the almost a teen to the river. It was much warmer than when I went with my husband, but still a lot colder than August. We only walked back to the car rather than ran.

We had just got back when the teen wanted me to go on a short bike ride with him. Only to the shop and back which is just over 3 ½ miles. Again my legs were killing! He went slowly for him, but I don’t think it is all that slow!

Diet and Hydration

So I tried a bit with the diet this week and have avoided pizza, pie and ice-cream (embarrassingly some of our staples when rushing around) – we didn’t even have take-out! I had a lot more rice than usual and thought about carbs more. Unfortunately I didn’t think as much about protein and know I didn’t hydrate enough!

One more week to go!

Then my race number turned up! One more week to go.

Thank you once again to everyone who has sponsored me