Taper time

The BMO Bank of Montreal Vancouver Half Marathon is just over three weeks away.

Today's LSD (long, slow distance) run was 11 miles. This is the longest run in the training plan that I'm following. I ran it on a treadmill and I felt good and I probably could have maintained the pace for another couple of miles. I must admit, though, that I did entertain the thought of cutting it short at 8 miles. I ran at a 5.5 mph pace which projects to a 2:23 half marathon finish. I should be able to beat that on race day.

After the run, I felt more fatigued than I have for any other run so we'll see how I feel tomorrow.

From now until race day the training runs will be shorter allowing my body to recover from the training of the last few months so that it will be in peak condition on race day. This is known as tapering. By now, I have attained the level of fitness required to run the half marathon so the remaining runs will be used to maintain that fitness without risking injury or fatigue. A lot of runners find it difficult to taper as they stuggle to adapt to reduced mileage. I don't foresee that as a problem.