Fit Tip Friday: The Magical Taper.

Here I am in the midst of taper madness for the Outer Banks Marathon.

The taper: you know, that magical place when you sit back and enjoy all this extra free time and relish in all your hard work over the past 18 weeks....

Wait, what? It doesn't feel magical to me!

In fact, I'd say the taper kind of sucks.

Why does the taper suck?

• You start second guessing all of your training.
• You worry about the race.
• Your body feels sluggish.
• You feel lazy.                                                                                                          
• You feel like you should be doing more.
• You catch a cold.
• Your muscles ache.
• You feel heavy.
• You are a little heavy- you gained a pound or two.

 Sound magical to you?

To clarify, the taper is the weeks before a key race where you cut back your mileage and let your muscles repair. Your body recovers from all the hard work you have been putting it through during training. You focus on replenishing all your glycogen stores in preparation for race day.

The general recommended taper for a marathon is 3 weeks, though some people do a 2 week taper.

For me, the taper isn't magical. Instead, it can suck a little, but I put together a few tips to help make the taper a little less "sucky" and maybe a little more "magical."

Don't overload. 

Yes, you can replenish your glycogen stores and carbo-load, but don't go crazy.  Keep it simple, keep it light, keep it easy to digest.

Don't cram. 

Now is not the time to make up for lost time. Don't try to cram in extra runs or miles. They will only hurt you at this point.

Don't stress about every ache or pain. 

Most of those phantom pains are part of the rejuvenation process that the is going through during the taper. Try to think of this as a good sign-rather than a pesky problem or cause for alarm. Your body is getting stronger during this healing process.

Finalize your race day outfit. 

Make a checklist for race day. Re-read this post for managing race morning. Finalize your race outfit, but don't forget- nothing new!

Mentally Prepare

Review your training log and pick out a few key runs where you felt strong. Focus on THOSE run and how great you felt! 

Pracice your mantras. 

"This is just me getting closer to my goals!"

Stay away from germs.

Become a little bit of a hypochondriac.  There's nothing wrong with Purell, Airborne or whatever other preventive measures you take to ensure you don't get a cold.

Stay busy.

Stay busy, but not with extra cross training or running, but with other activities. Grab a coffee with a friend, pick up a new book. Do some online shopping (one of my personal favorites). Keep your mind off running a bit.

Sleep.

MinneapolisRunning had a great post here about the importance of sleep and a good night's rest is even more critical leading up to race day.

Relax.  

You got this.

**I know that this post isn't all that timely since most of you are done with your fall marathons. But there are a few of us still counting down the days until our next marathon (9 days for me!!!)

There is a big group in the CBRC running the Philadelphia marathon November 23, so hopefully this post is helpful to them when they get into their "magical" taper time!

Weekly Recap: Tapering for the Outer Banks Marathon and the Brooks Heritage Line

Welcome to the final week of October! Can you believe it? This month has been so much fun, but it definitely flew by. 

Let me fill you in on what's happening at the Right Fits in Fitness and Fitness Fashion this past week.

Here's what's happening in fitness:

Monday: 6.75 miles in the morning with my friend Kelly and my dog Matilda. Then, [solidcore] MSP in the evening. I loved [solidcore] MSP so much, but honestly I was sore for three days! It kind of made the rest of the week a challenge for fitness.

Tuesday: I was still sore from [solidcore] MSP but I had a track workout on the schedule. It consisted of about 2 miles to warm-up, then 2 sets of 1600-800-800. There were 30 seconds of recovery between the 800's and one lap (400) between the sets. I did about 1.5 miles to cool-down for 8.5 miles total. This was a tough night for me. I struggled to hit my goal paces for this one. My legs were tired from the 60 mile week the week before and of course from the [solidcore] MSP workout. It's time to really focus on resting now during the taper.

Wednesday: 4 miles easy.

Thursday: 7 miles with 20 minutes of tempo pace, 1 hour kettlebell/strength class with Ericka at Balance Fitness. Great class!

Friday: complete rest day.

Saturday: 15 mile long run. After my long run, I checked out some of the speakers at the Minnesota Blogger's Conference. I learned some useful things, particularly on the technology side, which is not my strong suit. Stay tuned for some big changes on The Right Fits!

Sunday: easy 4 mile run with Matilda

Summary: 2 strength days, 1 rest day, and 6 days of running. My mileage decreased by about 25% from last week's 60 miles. I plan to decrease it another 25% this week to about 35 miles.  

It's definitely taper time now for the Outer Banks Marathon. As often happens during the taper, I caught a cold, which I consider the "curse of the taper." I've been taking it easy trying to fight it off but I'm hoping I'll be back to full strength by November 9th.

For more tips on the taper, check out this post.

Here's what's happening in fitness fashion:

All the real Brooks ambassadors have been blogging about this for months; I'm a little behind the curve.

Though I may not be an official Brooks ambassador, I think I am a Brooks ambassador at heart!
I mean, I have been running in Adrenalines and Ravennas for all 16 of my marathons...

I can't help but get excited about all the cool stuff Brooks is coming out with.

Hold onto your sports bras, ladies, there's some fun stuff coming your way from Brooks!

First of all, they have added shoes to their Nightlife line. These are basically one step down from glowing in the dark, with totally amped up reflectiveness. You might remember the Nightlife line from an event I attended last fall at Marathon Sports running store (read about it HERE).

At that time, the Nightlife line only included apparel. I'm really excited to see that it now includes shoes, especially since it includes my shoe of choice, the Ravennas!

Secondly, Brooks has launched this awesome Heritage Line of sneakers. I think this gold pair of the Brooks Vanguards are my favorites.

I also like the simple blue ones

I am definitely considering ordering a pair of these soon.  I love the throwback style and I have also read that these Heritage shoes each represent a piece of Brooks history. Each shoe has a story that comes with it, including the famous athletes who wore the shoes- so fun! I'm hoping that Brooks adds some apparel (fitness fashion!) to the Heritage line, as I am sure I would love it.

Let me know what you think of these new shoes from Brooks!

I hope you had a great week! Did you try anything new in fitness or fitness fashion? Did you check out the MN Bloggers Conference? What did you think?
Please share!

Fitting Remarks: Tips for the Taper and Supporting My Favorite Runner

I survived my peak week of training for the Flying Pig Marathon. Now it's taper time! 

Basically, the idea is that I have done 16 hard weeks of training, and for the next three weeks, I will maintain that fitness, but let my legs recover and rebuild to feel strong on race day. Lots of people freak out a little bit in the taper, but I am trying to remember that now is the time to trust my training....

This week was my first 50 mile week this training season. When training for the Berlin marathon, I hit 60 miles during peak week, but that didn't seem to really work for me, as my performance at the Berlin marathon was not that great. So this season, I focused on resting more between workouts, rather than focusing on high mileage. Therefore, I only hit 50 miles this one time. I'm hoping that this method is the right fit for marathon success!

Here's how it went:

Monday: 7.75 easy miles in the morning, 1 hour barre class at Balanced Barre in the evening

Tuesday: 10 miles, "track" workout- 2 mile warmup, 5 miles hard with about 1 minute between each one, 2-3 mile cooldown.

Wednesday: 4 easy miles in the AM with Matilda

Thursday: 9 miles with 5 miles of hills at marathon pace with Kelly

Friday: Complete rest

Saturday: 22 miles- whew! A lot of this long run was in the pouring rain too....

Sunday: Complete rest. 

Ideally, I would have fit in some yoga today (Sunday), but I spent a bit chunk of the day being a supportive wife to my runner husband. 

Yes, I'm patting myself on the back for supporting my favorite runner on his long run.

He was traveling for work yesterday, so he missed the long run with the Calhoun Beach Running Club. Instead, he had to run his 22 miler today. He did a "capitol" run as his route. I waited at three different spots along the way with Gatorade, water, and GUs..and some encouraging words.

It was pretty relaxing for me. I just drank my coffee and read my book (I'm reading The Fault in Our Stars- really good!)

However, it was a tad more challenging for Dustin, whose back was really bothering him after sitting in conferences for the past three days...He made it though the run though, and now he can join me on the lovely taper before the marathon. He said he really appreciated my support.

Like I said, some runners go a little crazy during the taper, so I'm sharing these 12 tips for tapering that I found on "Complete Running"

1. No more long runs: Your final long run should be no less than 14 days before the marathon. If you’ve missed some of your scheduled long runs, it’s too late to make up for it now. Anything above 15 miles now will most likely hurt your performance on race day.
2. Cut back the mileage: Decrease your total weekly mileage by about 40 percent starting two weeks out. During race week, reduce your overall mileage by at least 60 percent. For example, a runner whose weekly training mileage peaked at 60 miles should run 36 miles the week before race week, and no more than 25 in race week. During the last four days before the marathon, don’t do any runs of more than three miles. If you’d rather take the last two days completely off, that’s OK too. Don’t worry about mileage during race week—you’ll get your fill on Sunday morning.
3. Maintain the intensity: Even though you are cutting back on your mileage, it’s important to maintain the intensity of these workouts. Run at close to marathon pace, so your body is accustomed to the effort level you will demand during the race.
4. Avoid the hills: Don’t run any hills during race week—it helps your legs recover more quickly. It’s just like with the mileage: you’ll get plenty of hills on race day.
5. Choose your weapons: Decide what clothes you will wear on race day. Pick comfortable shoes, socks, and running clothes that you’ve already worn on a long training run. DON’T wear anything new on marathon day, unless you want to have a graphic chafing story to tell your family about afterwards.
6. Gain a few—but not a lot: Since you are running less, pay close attention to your diet. It’s normal to gain a few pounds as your muscles stockpile the glycogen they will need during the race. But gaining more than five pounds will make you feel heavy and sluggish. Eat a bit less than usual, with well-balanced meals, and don’t start any fad diets.
   Remember, carbo loading doesn’t mean overloading. The night before the race, just eat a regular sized meal with a higher percentage of carbohydrates than usual. On race morning, eat a small portion of a bagel, banana, or oatmeal to top off your tank—but don’t load your stomach to the brim. Twenty-six miles is a long way to run with a stomach cramp.
7. Wake up early: If you’re not accustomed to running in the morning, try a couple of morning runs, so your body gets a taste of exercising at that time of day. Marathon start times are frequently at 7 a.m.—and if you’ve never run at that hour, it can be a bit of a shock. You might as well get it over with prior to race morning.
8. Eliminate extra activities: If you do any cross training activities, don’t do them during race week. Don’t do any unusual activities that might cause muscle soreness afterwards. This isn’t the time to catch up on housework or repair projects. If you have extra time on your hands, just get more rest or take a nap instead.
9. Cut your toe nails: Do it five or six days before the race. Trust me on this one.
10. Be paranoid: It’s fairly common for runners to get minor illnesses while tapering, so stay away from sick people. Wash your hands after touching anybody. 
11. Visualize success: The mental side of marathon running is extremely important. Beginning today, picture yourself running relaxed and strong, and having a great race. Repeat this scenario each day. Be confident in your ability to succeed!
12. Enjoy yourself: Yes, you should take the precautions above, but don’t get so overwhelmed with worry that you forget to enjoy the experience. Think of how far you’ve come in your training, and resolve to have a great time on race day.

Good luck during your taper runners!