Tapering means planning

As I head into this next week, thankfully completely recovered from the pork nightmare, my legs are feeling fresh and ready to run Captain Karl's next Saturday evening.  What that means for this week...the clock with move quite slowly and I will drive my family insane as I begin my ritual of organizing, reorganizing, and de-cluttering everything in sight.  When I have energy I can't spend running, it usually means a the kids need to start nailing down anything they don't want to end up in the donation pile.

I have been reviewing my 4 week blocks of training over the past 3 months, and I am surprised at how consistent I have become.  This was my number one goal and I am elated to have been able to reach it.  Looking forward to the next 3 months, I will be shifting my goals a bit to incorporate my first 100 miler, core and upper body strengthening, as well as power-walking.  I already know that at least SOME of my 100 will involve walking therefore, making sure that I am "walking with a purpose" even when I am tired and want to quit could be the key to my finishing my race.

I have been more consistent with my strengthening over the last 3 months as well, but it's time to get very serious about this.  If I expect my body to hold up for this distance goal, I need to prepare it to actually be able to remain upright for that distance.  Since my upper body and core are the weakest of my links, this will be another key to reaching my goal.

My overall training plan I am still tweaking a bit, but I am getting closer to finalizing it and I am really looking forward to beginning it.  Tapering week is great for the OCD part of my homelife, but for my running, it plays with my mind way too much. 

I am not looking to break any records on this race, as it is supposed to be a "training run" towards CR 100.  It is a bit early to think of it that way, but just as OT 50 gave me a new appreciation of what running over boulders is like and what climbing is, Captain Karl's will give me the mental perspective of a night time race on unfamiliar terrain. I am hoping to attend at least one training run in Bandera.  I am not sure that this will happen because of our family schedule.  Hopefully, I can create a rigorous enough plan with stairs, lunges, hills, speed work, and long runs to be strong enough to claim a personal victory in October. 

I hope to post my plan soon, probably including initial goals and the first 4 week block of training.  As I review each block, I will make adjustments accordingly to fine tune "the plan".