Tapers love hate relationship

This weeks marks the beginning of my taper. Tapers for me and I am sure for some of you are hard. I know I get a bit stir crazy and anxious during these taper weeks, but I have also come to love them. Tapers are all about letting my body rest, recovery and heal so that come race  day(July 16) I will be at my full peak and ready to rock Tahoe Rim Trail 50k.

I believe that tapers are so hard for me because I am a routine kind of girl. I love my routines and when I can't go out and run the distance I want or run when ever I want it is hard on me. Sometimes without my running routine I start to feel lost, but then when I do go on a short easy run and I notice how great my body feels all is calm again. Sometime during a taper little aches start to be noticed and once that happens the worry begins. I know during my taper I am extra careful at work for fear of a pallet, or pallet jack dropping on toes or a box hitting me during the trailer unload. I tell my team, please be extra careful I have a race. Sometimes they just look at me and I can only guess what they thinking.

During my tapers I do some visual imagery. I see myself running the hills, I see myself fueling properly, I see myself looking strong on the trail and I see myself having fun. This has helped in past races and it helps keep my mind occuipied and in a happy place.

I am looking forward to TRT50k this year. I know I can do better than last years race. Last year I ran it in 8:19:12. Last year I also struggled with fuel the entire race so this year I am hoping that wont happen. I will also be packing extra power gel just in case solid food becomes my enemy. I also think that having been on the course before will help me because I know what to expect. This race is very challenging, but I am always up for a challenge.

With this week being my taper I plan on allowing my body rest, I will get a few solid runs in to keep my legs fresh and to help avoid the dead leg feeling. I am also planning on getting a massage from Lily, I haven't seen her in a few weeks. My body overall has been feeling pretty strong. I have put up some nice mileage weeks and nothing has flared up and I can tell a difference in my body every since those nice mileage week. My foot is getting better each day and while my foot has been healing I have been careful. It still flares up sometimes with shooting pain, but it hasn't been as bad as that one day when I couldn't walk on it. Overall I am ready for Tahoe. I have put the time on my feet, the miles and hill repeats in. Now all I can do is get my body rested and ready for race day. Today I love tapers but I am sure later on in the week I will be hating it, but deep down I know it is what is best for me.