Today my training plan called for 30 minutes of flat running at tempo pace. I was happy to see the side note, "trails OK, just go by effort" because I am completely in trail mode at this point. I have very little desire to run on the roads. I ran on at Hobbs Swamp in Parsonsfield, which is flat and fast as far as trails go. I don't know the mile marks, but I ran a steady hard 30 minutes at a heart rate of 168. With a good warm up and cool down, I think I ran about 8 miles total.
I am backing off some on the mileage this week, but doing a few high intensity workouts. Then the next two weeks will be a true taper. My friend M, who is training for a May marathon was just telling me she hasn't done enough long runs and enough training, but now she has to start tapering for the marathon. I know that feeling all too well. I have often gone into tapers feeling like I needed to train more and wasn't ready to back off yet. Not this time. I am thinking, Thank God it's time to back off a little! Thanks to good coaching help, I built and built and just as I am starting to feel like I don't have much more to give, it's time to taper! Now that is what I call a good training plan.
This weekend I will do a 3 to 3 1/2 hour trail run with my friend, Bob who is also running Massanutten. I haven't done any recent training with fellow ultra runners, so I am looking forward to it. It will be nice to talk race strategy and logistics with someone who can relate so closely!
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