The first week of a Pfitzinger taper is no cakewalk. I ran 72 miles this week, which is a significant drop from my usual, but the intensity of the workouts remain. Well, at least they are supposed to. After my recovery Monday, my Tuesday tempo run was a bust. I got my mileage in on Wednesday, but it was work. Thursday's track workout was a joke and after another recovery day Friday, I thought I was going to be primed for a successful 5k tune up race on Saturday. It was a cool beautiful morning and conditions were ripe for a great race. It was a small race, so I thought I could win, but there were some young guys with Eden Prairie singlets on, who would prove me wrong. About 6 or 7 of us went out fast and we hit the first mile at 5:45. Right where I wanted to be, passing the third place dude and still had the second place whipper snapper in my sights. Something happened at mile 2; I wasn't working that hard, but my turnover just wasn't there and I completed the second mile in 6:00 flat. I was still gaining on the 2nd place fellow, but the first place runner was nowhere in sight.(winner ended up running a 16:44). I managed a pathetic push at the end, but finished with a disappointing 18:12. Good enough for 3rd overall and an AG win and $40 in gift cards! Not sure why there was no strength to push that last mile and a half, but lets chalk it up to fatigue. Today, I was back on the trails for my last long run of the cycle and the legs were shot. Barely got under 9 minute average for the 17 miles. Yikes! So, the taper needs to work its magic in the next two weeks. The miles are in, the workouts are done, the racing is finished and its time to heal up. We got a 2:55 marathon to run!
Happy Running!
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