Chances are, if you know a runner, you’ll have heard them talk about taper week.
This is basically where we’ve put months of training in, weights, running, body work, abs work and a week to two weeks before the big run itself, we get lazy.
We suddenly start walking around in flat shoes, if and when we walk – we sit on our backsides a lot, reduce our gym work, reduce our runs and start saving ourselves for the big one.
We even start hydrating 5 days beforehand – drinking lots of water, keeping our cells hydrated (and spending a lot of time in the bathroom because of it.
I’m the first to admit that I’m rubbish at taper week. I can’t bear not doing anything and I’ll either overeat and end up too podgy and uncomfortable (like now) or go too far the other way and get told off for exercising too much. I really can’t win.
Having also realised this week that I’ve overdone the peanut butter (dammit) I’m going to spend my two taper weeks trying to bring my weight down, whilst reducing my exercise. Never let it be said I don’t like a challenge.
So, there’ll still be a fair bit of running, but shorter distances. There’ll still be weights, but lighter. I’ll still do my usual training, but all to a lower level. Now it’s all about saving myself for 13th April.
I really am getting butterflies.
Thank you for coming this far with me. I can’t do any of it without you.
