Week 1 of the marathon taper is complete. I wish I could say I am feeling more recovered but we officially had to stop swaddling E this week and let’s just say that hasn’t gone so well. I’m running on very little sleep in all areas of my life, but I just keep telling myself that it’ll make me stronger in the end!

 

Monday – 6 miles alternating effort

I still wanted some small workouts in my week so I started Monday off with an alternating effort run. I knew I wanted to keep it around 6 miles so I did 1 mile off/1 mile on. The “on” miles ended up being 7:34, 7:19, 7:43. We had to stop halfway through for a feeding and my legs were definietly tired but overall I was happy with it.

 

Tuesday – 5 miles easy

My easy miles this week really were tough. I slowed way down but still with the lack of sleep my body just has had a hard time recovering. I of course ran with the Thule and just tried to keep my breathing slow and steady.

Taper week can sometimes do crazy things to your body but it’s important just to stay focused and stick to the plan.

 

Wednesday – 4 miles with 10 x 10 second hill sprints

Wednesday was another easy day. I slowed down even more and tried focus on exerting as little effort as possible. I finished it off with 10 x 10 second hill sprints. These weren’t quite as fast as they have been in other weeks but I still got in the effort and felt pretty good afterwards.

 

Thursday – 8.25 miles

Thursday was my long run day and I opted to do 8 miles. As I mentioned in my post early this week, I don’t do any double digit runs in the last 2 weeks leading up to marathon day. I had to do this one on the treadmill because 23 mph winds and rain just didn’t seem like a fun time to me.

I got on the treadmill, hooked up my iPad, and got in 8.25 miles while watching Downton Abbey (I’m late to the party). It honesty went pretty well, not as easy as some runs feel, but the treadmill will do that to you!

 

Friday – Off

Per usual, Friday I took as my rest day.

 

Saturday – 7 miles

Saturday I did one of my final workouts leading up to Boston. I woke up feeling extremely tired (thanks to another night of waking up every 1-1.5 hours) but once I got going I realized my legs were actually feeling much better.

I headed to the trail with my favorite running buddy and did: 1 mile warm up, 2 miles moderate, 1 mile fast, 5 minutes recovery, 4 x 25 seconds at 95% effort with full recovery, and a 1 mile cool down. Total of 7 miles for the day and I was actually really happy with how my body felt.

 

Sunday – 5 miles

I am finishing out the week with 5 easy miles.

 

That puts the first week of my taper at a total of 35 miles. Right where I wanted to be. Week 2 of my taper will consist of a lot less miles but also a bigger focus on my nutrition as I begin to eliminate certain things from my diet in hopes of absolutely no stomach issues on race day.

As the day approaches I am getting excited but also much more nervous. I think it finally hit me this weekend that this is really happening!

 

How did your running go this week?