Week 8 - Tuesday

It's taper time!! What is that you ask? Well, it's since there are officially only 2 weeks left to the half-marathon, now more than ever I need to focus on good recovery, proper rest, good nutrition and proper form. Saturday's 11 mile run was the last long run before race day. From now until then, I have to cut down on my weekly mileage by up to 20%-30%. I also have to make sure that on my cross-training days, I don't do anything that could injure me or unnecessary strain the leg muscles too much.

I really had to wrestle with the idea of tapering properly.. perhaps because it is my first big race. For me, personally, a jump of one mile every week is doable - it keeps my nerves at bay. I think: ok, I just ran 8 miles, I can do 9. The next week I do 9 and 10 doesn't seem so difficult. And that's how it's been these past few weeks. But if am to taper properly (and which I am), 11 miles was it. The jump will be of 2.1 miles and it's making me a little nervous.

I know I just have to trust the process a little more. It's worked perfectly for me so far, and I've had no disappointments. So there's no reason for me to believe that tapering won't work. All the experts and our runner friends recommend it for optimum performance on race day. And more than anything else, I want to finish. So I'll have to tough it out, be patient and not let my nerves get the best of me.

So officially, I just have 2 runs of 4 miles each, one 8 mile run and one 2 mile run left before race day. I did a 4 mile run today which was just so-so, basically because I'm still recovering from the 11 miler. But I'm looking forward to Thursday's run too.

12 days and counting!!