Three Things Thursday: Taper

1.  THE COUNTDOWN
Just 10 days until the Wisconsin Marathon!  In a way, it seems like I've been training forever for my second marathon, and then again, it seems like race day has come quickly.  I threw a 10k and three half-marathons into my four-month plan.  Some questioned if that was too aggressive, and yes, I was slightly worried about injuries and burnout. However, the warmup races have broken up the monotony and kept training alive and exciting for me.  Most of all, I think cross training has been instrumental in staying healthy. (Knock on wood... anything can happen in 10 days!)

I'm super excited but also very nervous.  I started off with a goal to get below the 4:30 mark... then my Yasso 800s had me thinking 4:20 is possible... and now I'm down to 4:17 as my goal, which would be exactly one minute off each mile from marathon #1.  Not 100% confident that's possible, but I'm still willing to give it a shot!

2. PREPARATION
The taper can give some runners a mental breakdown.  It's hard to trust your training and decrease mileage so far in advance of the big day.  Last week I ran only 30 miles and it felt weird after pounding out 45 mile weeks.  I've been trying to use the extra time to get ahead on the work-front - so I'm not stressed/busy next week.  Plus we celebrated Little Girl's 4th birthday for nearly four days.  I like to make a big deal out of my kids' birthdays, but after last night's big Chuck E Cheese party, I was done.

To keep myself run-ready, I've been knocking out 5 miles daily at a healthy pace.  Short and sweet.  This weekend I'm looking forward to a solo long run.  I've been blessed this training cycle to have buddies on all my long runs, but I'm also a firm believer in the solo run - to prep myself mentally for the long race that lies ahead. I need to be able to push myself... by myself.  I also try to add extra Yoga into my taper routine. I love the stretch and calming aspect of it.  Every time I do yoga, I think to myself, "I need to do this more often."  That's why I signed up for the May Yoga Challenge here.

Finally, I'm working on the marathon outfit, which goes along with weather stalking! We finally got a look at the extended 10-day forecast today and it's looking sweet... but you know that will change 10x before race day.

3. SUPER-MOM!
I've entered this photo of me and my kiddos into the iFitness Mother's Day contest.  You can only vote once (per IP address), so please VOTE NOW HERE.  You might as well get it out of the way now - or else I'll be begging you for the next two weeks... :)  Thank you!

Note:  I did not make the nuun Hood-to-Coast team (named an alternate) in which this picture was originally taken for.  I was pretty bummed as I was convinced my video was a winner.  Oh-well... but congrats to those ladies that did.  I'm sure it'll be a great time!