Foothills and Mini-Taper

"...But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom comes responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not yet ended."

--Nelson Mandela

*****

This next couple of weeks my plan has me working in a sort of mini-taper for the Eastern States. I'll still be running 18 or 19 miles in my long runs, but my weekly easy runs are cutting down to about 6 miles at a go.

I'm feeling OK about the work I did this winter. Hoping my legs wake up on race day, and I surprise myself but I'll still plan to have fun at the Eastern States and not go totally nuts about my pace.

As training plans go this one has what I think of as "training foothills" because I will build up to another 50 or so mile week before Big Sur at the end of April. I'm hoping this second taper period will also leave me in good shape for the marathon. At this point I am confident I can handle the 26.2 mile distance, but unsure of exactly what the pace will look like, not having run the course before.

Ended up not spending much time at home because of the work schedule and the training this last week and come Thursday night I was the only person who could soothe my daughter. Strapped her to my chest after hours of her fussing and she went to sleep after a half hour or so of my soothing her. My wife suspects that she missed me. I feel bad about that, but I'm not really sure what I could do. I have made a choice to be ready for this marathon. I am thinking that I will plan to take the full week off after Big Sur and spend it at home with my wife and daughter. I want to keep racing, so I'll pick another plan but I need some downtime after what has been a really busy winter.

Want to start getting the dog out for at least a mile a day, too. We'll see how the weather keeps up in March (because she hates snow, cold, and frost) but it would be good for her to lose some pounds after a really stressful and sedentary winter. She isn't the best running partner, but we had fun on our runs together (I stopped taking her out when I started running longer distances, but I'm hoping if I can get her pace together, maybe my wife can run with her when she resumes training.)

Got around to some errands that I'd been putting off for too long. Registry stuff, some bill stuff. With all the new responsibility parenting brings it has been hard to find space for everything else. Still need to get the inspection done on one of the cars, and get the dog into the Vet's office for her vaccinations. Fortunately my wife and I have a plan worked out for that.

My long run this last week ended up being abbreviated due to some stomach issues. Not sure what that was about, but I knew I wasn't going to stick out three hours on my feet by about mile 5. Managed to carry myself back on my own feet, covering about 11 miles total. Not what I had planned (19) but have to know your limits when your stomach gets mad.