Planning for the taper

With one week left to go in training I realized something this morning. My shoes have over 500 miles on them, meaning its time for a new pair. This week, I have two 7 and 3-mile runs tomorrow, a easy 3 on Friday, and a 16-mile run on Saturday. Its the perfect way to work in some new shoes, I don't want the first long run to be 22 miles in new shoes, that would suck with a blister. However, I was planning on dropping some decent money on a pair of new heels, which will now have to wait for my November paycheck, since October's is going toward my registration for Boston :)

This revelation also led to me deciding to plan out my taper. Knowing there is rest ahead will make the next week and a half easier.

The first week, I'm running 43 miles, with a 13 mile long run. They consist of my usual weekly miles, but I will run them slower and I shaved a few miles off my weekday mid-length run.

My second week consists of 26.2 miles (hehe), three 4-mile runs, one of which will include 2 at race pace, a 6-mile run, and an 8.2-mile long run. When you split it up like that it doesn't seem as bad.

The third week is only 13 miles, one 4-mile run, one will have 2 miles at race pace again, a few 3-mile runs, and a 2-mile jog the night before.

I don't feel as good as I expected I would. I was cringing as I made it up based on an article's guidelines. First off, I'm sure I'll have trouble sleeping. Then, I'll really, really have to watch what I eat. I just know I'll be in a bad mood. However, I'll be able to sleep in for a change. I still need to eat a decent amount of fuel for my recovery, so I can justify a burger or two. Still, scheduling so many 4-mile run was one of the strangest things.

So, point of information, if I do this--run a 3:30 marathon--I'll have cut an entire hour off my marathon time. An hour! That's more than 2 minutes off my pace. I never, ever thought I could do a sub-four hour marathon, and now my ultimate goal is to get sub-3 (hey, I need something to aspire to after Boston)! I already hope to run the 50k in Canada next summer. That way, I can be one of those people who run a marathon and say its just a training run for an ultra--yeah, one of those people.