Training Tuesday: Taper madness

Like what the hell is that?

It's a real thing, people. Suddenly your miles decrease and you have all this time on your hands and every cough or ache sends you into a spiral.Taper madness gets me every time. I drive myself crazy thinking that all the weeks of training might be for nothing because (fill in the blank) isn't right, whether it's a sniffle or a stiff muscle. The lack of endorphin release and exhaustion that comes with constant runs is gone, leaving me energy to ponder things that are better left unexplored.

For example ... I woke up at 5 a.m. Monday to go run speedwork and felt a pinch on the outside of my left foot. It was red and inflamed, so of course, I must have a stress fracture that will take me out of the game for six weeks.
This prompted me to Instagram my foot and ask the Internet to diagnose me while texting my running friends about what I should do. I skipped my speedwork and went back to a fitful sleep filling with anxious thoughts of being sidelined.

It turned out to be nothing. I think my bike shoes, which have been rather neglected lately, just irritated my foot. The weather was so nice last night that I went out for a little run to stretch my legs and make up for skipping out on the intervals.

It was bound to happen eventually

Poor Saucony Kinvaras. This was their first time outside. I'm the reason we can't have nice things.

My six-mile loop was so obstructed my debris from the crap weather we've had I ended up doubling back through a cemetery and finishing up five miles at a 8:30 pace, then spinning on my new, yet-to-be named bike, which seemed to quell my rising panic about the marathon. My concerns, in no particular order, are:

• Will I somehow get injured/sick in the next few weeks and not make it to the start?
• Will my stomach play nice?
• Will I feel rested/limber/energetic?
• Will I go out of my mind running in a one-mile circle?
• What if it's warm? I haven't run outside in anything more than 40 degrees in six months.
• Will I miss my very publicly stated sub-four-hour goal and have to backpedal again, like at my last half Ironman?
• What if I get injured and jeopardize my once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to run the Vermont City Marathon with Cabot?

Phew. It feels good to get it out there.