Slo Jo: Tapering for the Half

Distance: 3 miles

Pace: Easy

Wine consumed: Perhaps a bit much. It was a Monday, after all. I’m not sure what got into me.

I’m tapering for a half marathon this Sunday. It feels a little undeserved—tapering that is. I didn’t do a long run last weekend, and the weekend before that, I was goofing off doing the Bisbee Stair Climb. But if Hal Higdon says taper, I taper.

That said, for my first half marathon, I was so undertrained I didn't taper at all. I hadn't even done a 10-mile run. I'd done a 6 and a 4 the same day. I talked about tapering, and real runners mocked me and suggested that one had to actually train sufficiently to benefit from tapering. This time? They can suck it.

According to Runner’s World:

The benefits of tapering can be looked at as simply correcting the accumulated wear-and-tear of training. More specifically, it appears that tapering leads to improvements in running economy (how much oxygen you need to run at a given pace) and muscle strength. This is not surprising because the cumulative fatigue of training reduces both of those. Tapering also allows repair of the ongoing microcellular muscle damage from training and full replenishment of the glycogen stores in your muscles and liver, as well as bolstering your immune system.

Okay, all those things seem pretty good. My muscles and liver will be well oiled machines, especially after Monday's wine drinking. (Wait, is that bad for the liver? My liver seems to like wine.) I’m also eating more carbs. It’s pasta and sandwiches all week, ladies and gentlemen. It is also not, fortunately, bikini season.

(Some twirl the fork. Some don't. Don't judge.)

But hang on. Just hang on a moment. I consulted my bible, Hal Higdon’s Marathon, to provide you, Gentle Reader, with more tapering nuggets. It has five habit changes one should make to taper--and one of them gives me pause.

1. Cut total mileage.

Done. Easy.

2. Cut frequency.

Also done. Tapering is fun!

3.  Cut distance, not intensity. 

Oops. I did kind of slack today. I took Betty Bamba with me, and she was in the mood to sniff some stuff. It was like running with a 40-pound lead weight behind me. Bamba is also afraid of the following: children, lawn mowers, leaf blowers, leaves, other dogs, sprinklers, and flowing water. She ran away from one dog straight into me and then cried like I had bitten her. Comforting the dog does nothing to enhance my speed. She seems entirely unfazed by things that I’m scared of, like cars bearing down on us or menacing men wandering around the neighborhood looking for the probation office. She is much like this dog.

4. Cut the lifting.

Well, that’s easy enough. I rarely lift as it is. I shall cut from “rare” to “none.” Check.

5. Cut the calories.

Wait. Whaaaaaa?

Hal says that if you are running less, you should eat a little less. I reluctantly concede the logic in this. But he also says you can eat more than usual for the three days before the marathon. That means starting on Thursday, it is pasta and sammich time. But for now, I shall put down the fork, run less, and generally just--

That's right. It's taper time.