The first week of tapering and it was a bit of a damp squib really. After the high of Oakley last week I’ve felt a bit flat – that could well be the sugar comedown – do you think you can get addicted to High5 gels?
Anyway, the rest on Monday went as planned. I didn’t feel too bad. Legs ached a bit but no worse than expected. Tuesday’s run had to happen early morning which was an effort in itself, especially as it was still dark as I left the house. I was supposed to do 6 miles with 6×800 fast in there, but within half a mile of setting off it was obvious that the fast stuff wasn’t going to happen – one calf felt like I’d strained it and the rest of my body was just in general pain. I opted for a slow 6 miles and ice on the calf for the rest of the day.
After some rest on Wednesday, I thought a brisk 6 mile would get the blood flowing again and for 2 miles it was fine but after a lengthy hill both calves felt like they were going to pop. After a good stretch and slowing down to a jog I managed to get 6.5 miles done, but again, as with last week finished in the dark – I’m not to good with the sunrise/sunset thing!
To try to sort my calves out I rested Friday with plenty of stretching. On Saturday tried a 3 mile jog instead of the ParkRun in but still a bit sore. Then spent Saturday afternoon trying to buy a foam roller – bit of a rush on them in MK at the moment with London around the corner, closely followed by the MK Marathon a week later so after a bit of searching on the web for suitable alternative stop gaps – found a rolling pin can be just as effective. So I gave it a go and well, the long run on Sunday – no tightness…!
The long run this week felt a bit weird. After 20 miles the previous week and 17 and 18 the two weeks before that, a 12 miler seemed a bit tame. But it was quite hard work to be honest and I was quite relieved when we’d finished. I was glad I had run it with DLRR otherwise I don’t think I’d have completed it on my own. With loops backs it actually came in at 13 miles and although I don’t feel I’ve gained much from it, I know it’s all part of the taper. It’s just a bit difficult to adjust to after so many weeks of pushing so many miles.
Anyway, mustn’t grumble, this time next week it will be less than seven days to go…gulp!
Miles for the week – 27.5, quite scary to think that in two weeks time I need to run just under that in one go…
runwithchips 