More taper talk

Only 2 days and 12 hours and I'm still in one piece physically and mentally. All the do's and don'ts have been done and not done for the most part and all that awaits is the very long 14 hour drive and the last minute preparations.

So what have I done in the do column? Just easy runs for the most part this week as per the schedule. On Monday I did an easy 5 mile with the 'other Andrew from work' but he was feeling punchy and the pace (7:57/mi) was a little faster than planned but we were both feeling good. The plan called for a second run of 4 miles easy but I dropped that, just because there was no real need for it. Other good do's were in the diet and rest categories with extra sleep and only one piece of chocolate cake (but no ice cream, which was hard).

On Wednesday Pfitz has you doing a marathon test run where he suggest gearing up in all your clothes & shoes that you plan to wear and then do a few miles at marathon pace. I decided to ignore the clothes thing for a couple of reasons, 1) new Mizuno shoes have already been race and long run tested with 60 miles on them 2) my skimpy Canada shorts are only for special occasions and I wouldn't want to scare the locals too much. However, the marathon pace is a good plan to remind the legs what's in store for them so I did an 8 mile run with 6 miles of progression pace as I'm planning for the 1st 6 miles of the race. The Garmin is perfect for this task when set to autolap for each mile and in lap mode so you can track your average pace within each mile. After the 2 mile warmup the splits (and how they felt) went 7:58 (jog), 7:50 (fast jog), 7:47(still felt easy), 7:40 (easy controlled), 7:26(now working with a hill), 7:08 (final race for the barn and let the horses go). Great workout, didn't strain at all with overall pace of 7:50 for the distance. That night I splurged and had a beer and ice cream too!

Today was just an easy 6 mile loop around town. Nothing special, nice sunny fall day with light winds, pace about 8:05. The achilles was a bit twingy for the 1st mile once again for the 1st time in about a week but after the warmup and post run it was fine. I'm now cut off from the beer and ice cream until after the race but will still enjoy my bagels and peanut butter.

The plan still calls for a couple more 4-5 mile runs on Friday and Sat. but will play this by ear if I feel the legs need a little stretch. I wouldn't mind jogging the last few miles of the marathon route the day before, but again will have to wait and see what the days bring. The latest forecast for race day in Corning still looks like the initial prediction from 5 days ago and that is 'Cloudy with a 40 percent chance of showers. Highs in the lower 60s.' This is near ideal, no direct sun, coolish temperatures with the 9am start and as long as the showers hold off or are just short in duration we should be fine. Bring it on!