Mile Markers: Taper Down

Last week’s training began tapering/sharpening for the Snohomish Women’s Half Marathon. Tapering for the half marathon can be tricky; you want to bring down the volume while maintaining enough intensity to sharpen up for the race. The balance seems to change each time, depending on how training went, goals, and life factors. It’s not the like the marathon taper where I’m super excited to decrease mileage – the half marathon taper can feel weird. But I did get in some confidence-boosting workouts this week while holding back my temptation to do more this week. 

Monday: 6 mile easy run

Ollie and I ran six miles at a comfortable, light effort. Especially as my race approaches, I have no problem keeping my easy runs at least 2 minutes per mile slower than goal pace. 

Tuesday: 6 x 1K repeat (7 miles total)

Tuesday morning was warm and sunny – one of those mornings where it feels so refreshing to be outside. I reduced the number of repeats but maintained the same intensity as when I do a longer version of this workout. After the first repeat in 4:18 (6:55/mile), I ran all the repeats in 4:14-4:16. The first interval is always the slowest!

Wednesday: 6 mile easy run & strength training

I split this run between the dogs: three easy miles with Charlie, a quick switch, and three easy miles with Ollie. In addition to tapering down my volume this week, I ran fewer hills throughout the week and stuck to a flat route for this run. 

I completed my last strength training session before the race and decreased the volume of it as well. I stuck to my normal kettlebell, mini-band, and modified pull-ups (halfway down and then back up) but only completed two sets rather than three. 

Thursday: 10 mile long run 

Thursday morning was warmer and sunnier than normal, which offered a good opportunity to run in warmer weather than I’m used to just in case race day is warm. I folded a four-mile tempo at goal race pace into the middle of this run: 7:17, 7:19, 7:16, 7:15. 

We saw Avengers: Infinity War on opening night. This movie easily lived up to our (very high) expectations and was simultaneously highly entertaining and emotional. 

Friday: Rest day

After staying out late the night before, I opted to take Friday as a rest day. We ended up seeing Avengers a second time to fully digest the entire story. 

Saturday: 4 mile easy run

To be honest, I didn’t feel like running more than 4 miles, so Ryan and I only ran 4 miles. The weather was unpleasant and I didn’t want to spare any mental energy on motivating myself through it. So we ran four miles, which got me to a sufficient mileage for the week, and then grabbed some coffee at Starbucks to warm up. 

Sunday: Rest day 

We enjoyed a lazy Sunday morning: church, brunch (French Toast from the Run Fast, Eat Slow cookbook, except we used cinnamon swirl bread), and a complete rest day for me. We took a short walk in the evening to keep the legs fresh.  A little extra rest feels both mentally and physically good before a race! Several of my athletes raced and I enjoyed tracking their successes throughout the day! 

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