The start of the taper

Less than 2 weeks to go to Chicago, 5 weeks to NYC.

I did my last long run (22) two weeks out from the marathon, more for the mental boost I’d get from having another “20+er” in the bank. For some reason, I don’t feel as confident about having put in the long sustained runs. Perhaps because I remember missing more than I actually did while I was sick (post here) Who knows.

It went great, and it was a beautiful day. Plus, we had the Vakava skiers down to our house for their long ski and I was able to tag along on foot with Mesa. It made the miles go by pretty quick.

That evening, though, my throat started to get sore. Monday I was full-blown sick and today (Tuesday) I don’t think I’m going to head out for my PM run. I just want to get over this as quickly as possible!

Oh so true. Photo by cooktraineatrace.com.

Seems like stuff like this happens every time I just start the taper! Grr. In addition, the outside of my right hip has been really sore lately. It’s been on and off for about 3 weeks, but more off than on. I went in to see Jim this Monday and he thinks the tensor fascaie latae (TFL) has a knot in it, so it’s pulling on the connection to the hip bone. Super. He did some deep active release and I’ll be back to see him mid and end of week. Hopefully I can nip this in the butt. It’s not fun having every step be a little painful. Still run-able at this point, but I know this kind of pain isn’t good.

Cross your fingers!

Anyone had a sharp pain here before? Advice? Links? Things that did/didn’t work?

So, as you can see, the taper has started off with a bang. Hopefully I’m just getting all of the bad stuff out of the way early so the next week and a half can be smooth sailing!

Plan for the remainder of the two weeks, which is slightly different than what I’ve done in the past:
Thursday: 3×1 mile
Sun: Last “long” run of 15 miles
Wed: 2 miles at MP-T (need to confirm)
Sun: RACE!
… and in between, just a little bit of mileage and some fast striders. Should be fun!

I still need to recap the Birkie Trail Marathon, a recent economy test at the U of MN and other great recipes. Now that I’ll have a little more time in my day, I may actually get around to those sooner rather than later. Stay tuned!