The Last Big Training Week 04/23 - 04/29

This past week marked the last week of higher mileage training.

04/24 - 10 miles with interval speed training at the track (5 x 1200 meters).
04/25 - 5 miles
04/26 - 10 miles
04/28 - 20.5 miles. The last really long run before the marathon. I ran with the Team in Training group at the Cuyahoga National Park on the towpath. Such a beautiful place to run and the crushed limestone trail felt great for my tired legs and feet!
04/29 - 5 miles. This is always the hardest run of the week. My legs are tired from the previous day's long run. Good mental training for the last miles of a marathon.

That was a lot of running.

The last three weeks prior to a marathon are known as the taper (or TAPER!!!!) time. I will gradually taper my mileage back to rest my legs and let the little aches and pains heal before the race. This coming week will have a 20% reduction in miles, the next week 40%. I'm looking forward to changing the setting on my alarm clock to a time a little later than 4:30 AM!