Trust in the Taper

Ah! This is the point where I start to freak out.

I know, know, this happens to others, but why is it that when you taper, everything seems to fall apart? For you non-freakish runners, tapering is the last phase of training before a race. The idea is that you cut back on running to let your body rest up and be its freshest for the race. While you decrease how much you run, you're supposed to keep up how hard you run. For a marathon, it's typical to have a 3 week taper. After your hardest week, you have 3 increasingly easier weeks leading to the race. This really plays with your psychological confidence. You feel slow and sluggish, like you're getting out of shape. You feel like you're just an eating machine, but without the exercise to burn it off. The last week, especially, you feel like, "Gosh, this whole week I haven't even run as much as I will have to run at one time."

More than that, I really think once you start cutting back on the intense training, your body says Oh, okay, I can finally let myself fall apart. Little aches come up: my knee gets a pop when getting out of the car. My hips start cracking when I step out of bed in the morning. My heel tightens up and a little plantar fasciitis sneaks in. A little sniffle and morning cough starts showing up. What!? I've trained hard for 4 months for a cold or an ache to make me have a bad race? Am I going to make it to race day? Will I make it through the race?

I just have to keep reminding myself that this is all normal. My body is let itself "let loose" and break down a little before pulling it together for a strong, healthy race day. I'm giving myself rest after all those runs: the hot summer runs on unshaded Highline canal. The crappy races at altitude, after which I decided it was finally time to do track workouts. Those painfully slow first track workouts on the dirt track at South High. Those runs on Monday night at 6 p.m. after my 12 hour school day, in the dark, by myself. That 12 miler during that 2 foot snow storm in October. The 18, 20, 22 milers alone, because my friends were already tapering for their marathon. Staying faithful to the "No Halloween candy" rule. So, here I am. Following my plan. Running less. Sleeping a ton (um, Hi, 9 1/2 hours a night!?). Eating more than I need. I have a new mantra for this phase of the training:

Trust in the taper.