Training Tuesday: Taper Time

It's a glorious time!  I went to CVS tonight for the first time in weeks.  There are never enough hours in the day, but I magically feel like I have gained all the time in the world.

I used some of that time yesterday to take myself to the doctor's office. I visited my family physician for a physical to ensure that I'm not going to keel over at the marathon next month. It was your standard heart-lung-health screening and it turns out, I'm healthy. No surprise there.

Another not surprise: I did not win my August DietBet Challenge. In fact, I was fortune to lose just a pound during the month, because I have the appetite of a teenage athlete at this point.  After the marathon, I hope to get it under control and lose some weight gained during this training cycle.

What is a surprise is my monthly mileage total.  August isn't quite through yet, but I've already logged more than 130 miles while running! Incredible to think that two years ago, I couldn't do any of this.  Hilarious that I can run the distance to Madison, Wisconsin, in a month and not lose weight, but oh well.

I have been going the distance running wise. After my last long run on Sunday, Tim picked me up a two-liter of Diet Pepsi to celebrate.  Caffeine is the key to my heart and it was the sweetest gesture I could ask for.

Source

And now, I wait.  Of course, I have a few shorter runs to maintain my fitness and whatever, but now, I'm just ready to get this marathon over with.  I didn't necessarily train for pace or speed, so once this is over with, I intend to get back to speedwork, including fartleks and repeats, in order to PR at the Zooma half in Lake Geneva.

In case you haven't heard, me, some friends and a bunch of other Chicago Running Bloggers have acquired a vacation home in Lake Geneva for the weekend of Zooma. Chicago Bloggers Do Zooma will take place Oct. 19-21 and it shall be epic. We're already planning meals to ensure we don't have an empty wine bottle disaster. That simply would not be acceptable!

This week's motto: The hay is in the barn (meaning the training is over and you've already stored all the benefit from it that you're going to get. Relax and reap your rewards).