Week 1 of the taper went pretty much as planned. I met up with Anne, Mo, and Pete on Tuesday for a nice and easy jaunt through Half Day Forest Preserve and followed that up with the Wurst victory ever at the Beer Market. We won a gift card so I guess that means we have to go back at some point.
Wednesday night was a return to the track. I was a bit nervous since I had promised one of the Redditors that I would pace her through an 8x800m workout. One of the guys decided he wanted to try it along with us. I told Kelly I would try and keep our splits around 3:20 which is about what I did when I did the same workout a month ago. I started the first interval a bit too fast and the guy let me know so I reigned it in a bit and we completed it in 3:23 which was close enough since I was straddling lane 2 and 3 meaning I ran an extra 15 meters or so compared to the others on the inside. The next interval was at 3:21 and I was locked in from there on out. The guy dropped out after the 2nd one, but Kelly kept right with me. She had never done more than a 6x800m in the past so this was pushing it for her. I felt oddly calm and relaxed during the intervals. They were tough, but not as tough as I thought they should be. I can tell my fitness is still improving. I could have probably gone a little faster, but didn't want to lose Kelly. We finished our last interval with a fun sprint down the straightaway and a 3:18 split that was the fastest of the night. Kelly complimented my pacing and said I should pace her during the marathon. I told her I have no idea how I'm going to pace myself. I still don't know how I'm going to run and will just do it by feel. I should land somewhere between 3:30 and 3:45 which is such a huge span.
Friday and Saturday I found myself completely drained. I had such a hard time dragging myself out the door to even run. I just hoped I wasn't getting sick. Sunday was a bit better and so I headed out. There was a charity walk going on right where I started my run so I started at a faster clip to just get clear of them. They were not nice at all and mocked me when I asked to pass on the left. I was just a little pissed and decided to let it ride for the rest of my run... all 14.5 miles. I made sure to stay a little slower than marathon effort, but it was nice to open the throttle a bit and get a preview of what things will be like. I wound up averaging 8:38 min/mile for the run.
Mon - 2.31
Tues - 4.18
Wed - 6.66
Thu - 3.57
Fri - 5.44
Sat - 7.53
Sun - 14.19
Week - 44.2
Month - 198.94
On Sunday, I ran into a charity walk taking up both lanes of the trail. I had to run on the grass to get around them. I wish the organizers would force the walkers to stay in the right hand lane. They are walking not racing, so it should not matter. Anyway, sounds like your taper has gotten off to a good start, good to hear that you did not catch a cold. I had a "phantom sore throat" over the weekend that did not materialize into anything. Gotta love taper madness.
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