Officially made it to taper! Except, my taper really started this past week instead. After reading last week’s post, my coach emailed me and asked if I was ready to go ahead and cut back early. I answered with a resounding, “YES” and the rest is history. I’ve talked to him, my PT, my mom’s trainer, and my doctor, and the general consensus is that while I feel normal on a day to day basis, the long term effects of the sepsis are still taking a toll on my performance. Heaviness in my legs and general fatigue on almost every run has been pretty frustrating.
All that said, I really hope I can still run the marathon. I struggled through 12 miles last Saturday and wanted to quit after just 4. My body seems to not want it. And yes, I’m sure I can get through 26.2, but I don’t want to just get through it. I want to race. I run races to race. Just finishing or struggling through for the sake of saying I finished isn’t why I run. I run because I like to compete and because I enjoy competing. I run to push myself and to improve myself and to feel strong, not to feel weak. I’ve considered several options–not running the race, dropping down to the half, and trying to run it, but dropping out if my body can’t handle it. At this point, I’m planning on trying to run it and giving it my all, even if my all right now isn’t representative of my full potential.
Since I cut back early, week 10 looked like this:
Monday: 4 miles easy @8:49 — felt very “meh” on this run
Tuesday: REST
Wednesday: 6 miles with last 5K @7:41-7:43-7:33 — coach said to pick up the last 5K if I felt ok, and I did, so I went for it. I didn’t want to push too hard, but the quicker pace felt comfortable, and that’s what I was hoping for.
Thursday: 4 miles easy (no watch) — felt good
Friday: REST
Saturday: 12 miles @9:06 pace — this was another tough run. As soon as I started, my legs were heavy, and after 4 miles, I wanted to quit. What’s odd is that the conditions were near perfect–none of the cold or crazy headwind I’ve been dealing with on a lot of my long runs–but I still struggled, probably more than I have any other time. Granted, it was a very hilly trail that I ran, and I know that slowed me down, but even so, I shouldn’t feel that sluggish, especially not after 10 weeks of training. I know that my white and red blood cell counts are lower than normal, so I think I’m just not getting as much oxygen to my muscles as I usually do. Still! UGH.
Sunday: REST
Week 11 total: 26 miles
I think cutting down early was definitely the right call. Now I just have to get my body to cooperate on race day.
