Tag Archives: Indianapolis Mini-Marathon

Half Marathon Training

Indianapolis Mini Marathon Tips

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The start of the Indy Mini
The start of the Indy Mini

It’s that time of year when close to 35,000 runners from nearly 50 states and multiple countries around the world are all training for the same reason, to eventually descend upon the The Circle City, aka The Racing Capitol of the World, aka Naptown, aka Indianapolis, Indiana to run the nation’s largest half marathon. Though there are other mini-marathon races in the US, the Indianapolis version locally known simply as, “The Mini,” is a flat and fast course that includes one lap around the Indianapolis 500 race course prompting some running race fans to drop and kiss the yard of brick from which the Brick Yard gleans it’s name.

I thought since this will be my sixth running of the mini-marathon and my 17th half marathon overall I would impart a few tidbits of information to “newbie runners” with less mileage under their belt. Some tips will be for the Indy Mini-Marathon while others will be generalizable to any race.

mini-tips:

1. If this is your first race then just enjoy it. You’ve trained to go 13.1 miles. Don’t worry about the finish line or the medal. That’s just a trade-off for the registration fee (and a nice one I might add!). Your feeling of success for setting a goal and  going the distance will long outlast the luster of any one medal.  You’ll never forget your first mini.

2. Packet pick-up is in the convention center so come downtown Thursday or Friday before the race and enjoy the buzz of downtown Indianapolis. There are plenty of local restaurants in which to dine and shopping galore both at the expo and in the Circle Center mall.

3. The mini expo is anything BUT mini!  Save time to be able to walk through the expo as it is LARGE. With Indy being the largest half in the nation a lot of vendors set up shop and you’ll find discounts galore for upcoming races around the Indianapolis area.  Stay and play!

4. If you are not staying downtown then arrive early on Saturday.  There’s plenty of parking as outlined on race website and in the packet, but thousands of locals still drive in so be prepared by arriving early.  It will appear as if there is no traffic UNTIL you are within a couple miles of the race THEN it will be gridlock as hundreds of drivers try to see what parking is left.  I personally park in a pay-for-parking location and walk 3-4 blocks to the corrals.  The reduced anxiety of not having to be in that line of traffic is well worth the $20. I’m happy to donate it to the racing cause!  Metered parking a little farther away is lots cheaper, but then be prepared to walk back after the race!

5. Keep a close eye on the weather for the Greater Indianapolis area right up to the day before the race.  I have ran the Indianapolis mini marathon in freezing sleet as well as in blistering heat and humidity on the first weekend in May.  You never know so come prepared for anything! It is common for the weather leading up to the week before the race to be completely different than the weather for that first Saturday in May.

6. Entertainment abounds the race course from local high school bands and cheer squads to cloggers, line dancers, DJs, and local music talent. I’ve even witnessed a “beer stop” once you are on the home stretch on the backside of the Indy 500 Raceway!

7. Make restaurant reservations WELL in advance if eating downtown!  Remember, largest half marathon in the nation.

8. I sort of mentioned this before, but there is NO race day packet pick-up.  This is the largest half marathon in the US so there is no way to handle THAT many people Saturday morning.

9. The Indianapolis 500 Track is about the half way point so you are on the back half of the course once you exit the track.

10. If you are new to racing then consider this race to be a potential annual event for you.  It’s flat & fast and a good place to PR!

Have a great race in May!  I’ll be there with my WDW Radio Running Shirt on as usual!

Happy Training!

Brian

Goals, Inspiration, Recap, Trail Running, Uncategorized

3 Runs

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This past week was a good one for recovery after a brutally humid Indianapolis Mini Marathon on Cinco de Mayo. After the mini marathon my left foot was hurting a little on the bottom so I’ve taken it easy and am letting it recover well so I can start training for my first ultra marathon a week from now.  This past week I had three runs that were fantastic for different reasons. The first run was neither long nor taxing. The next run wasn’t that long either, but introduced me to a new type of running. The final run was by far one of the most enjoyable runs of my recreational running career to date!

Run #1

This run was over lunch and was a whopping 1.32 miles in length on a comfortably warm day. I don’t point out this run because it is significant, but to get back to the roots of my blog which is about being fit.  I see other bloggers and Facebookers say how they didn’t get to do their 10-miler today…blah blah.  Okay, why not an 8-miler, 5-miler, or a 1.32 miler? Get it in where you can!  I had a similar run on Saturday when i was waiting on my running partner to arrive.  I had an extra 10-15 minutes so instead of sitting in my car and waiting I ran 5 minutes in one direction and then turned around to come back to the car. A couple minutes later my friend arrived and we did Run #2! The point is I didn’t waste that 15 minutes sitting in the car. I took that small amount of time to add an extra mile to my day.

Run #2

For run #2 my friend and I went fully off road for the first time. Up until now I’ve been a user of the “Rails to Trails” areas of Indiana. These areas used to be literally where a train track once was and now they have been redone to have pavement or other type of foot path for runners, walkers, bikers, etc. Connected to a favorite Rails to Trails area are several shorter dirt trails that run along or near Eagle Creek in Zionsville. We started on these and did a couple of dirt trail miles. I even started breaking in my trail shoes  on this run which I’d been waiting to do for a few weeks until after the mini marathon. We finished up on back on the main trail and I stopped before reaching 7-miles total as my left foot started to feel a little sore and I didn’t want to push it. 6.5 miles was plenty for me for the day!

Run #3

Run #3 happened a few hours after Run #2. I had the great honor of running the Rookie Run with my 4-year old niece. Two exhilarating blocks of competition! It was so much fun to run with my niece in this awesome event.  The organizers of the run do a great job on this event. The bibs for the kids have a tear away number on it which the parent (or other family member) get so when the child finishes you can’t have the kid unless you have a matching number.  Even though I went the entire distance with her I was asked by no less than five different security people to show them my number to make sure I had the right kid.  Security was awesome!  Also, the rest of the event was top notch too. There was entertainment the entire afternoon. I can’t say enough about the event!

All in all it was a great week. I have one more recovery week before my official ultra marathon training schedule begins and I’m looking forward to it!

Happy Training!

Brian

Half Marathon Training, Recap, Recovery

2012 Indianapolis Mini Marathon Recap

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There are certain things in life you will never be able to out run.  Some would cite death and taxes as the inevitable, but to add to this short list I would also say you cannot outrun time, police radio and the heat during any length marathon as many discovered on Cinco de Mayo this past Saturday for the Indianapolis 500 Festival Mini Marathon.

The Stats

According to the local paper the men’s top finisher this year had the slowest time in two decades due to the heat at 01:05:08.  The women’s top finisher came in about 10 minutes later at 01:15:22 and then was removed from the finish area by stretcher due to heat exhaustion. My own experience also saw the effects of the heat. I was feeling fine 5-6 miles into the run and then realized my pace had slowed drastically around mile seven on the Indy 500 Motor Speedway 2.5 Mile Track. Overall, I am happy with my time of 02:19:52 which was still good enough to get seeded for next year’s race. The heat slowed me down by 14 minutes as compared to my 2011 PR.

This year I started in Corral D.  To give you some perspective the Indianapolis Mini Marathon is the largest half marathon in the United States selling out the last 11 years. The 35,000 runners come from all 50 states and quite a few other countries to run the flat and fast Indy course. I started the run at a good pace hoping the heat wouldn’t bother me as much as I actually like running in the heat, but while the heat wasn’t so bad for me ranging from the upper 60s to upper 70s the humidity was over 90% with a dew point of 68 making it difficult to dissipate heat from your body. Otherwise the day was very nice and I even felt comfortable on the run once I slowed my pace to a speed that was more manageable for the day’s weather.

Recovery

After the race I continued drinking Gatorade and water, ate a banana, a cookie, and two fruit snacks offered at the finish. I knew I needed to keep nutrients and fluids flowing to my system to combat the effects of the heat.  Once I got back to my car I had my traditional EAS Chocolate Myoplex Shake. My family had a BBQ that afternoon and I indulged a little for a race well run and to kick off the summer right!  I kept drinking fluids the entire afternoon to work on rehydrating my body.  Many people stop because they already have had a bottle of water after the race.  Please don’t make this mistake.  The best indicator that you are rehydrated is when you finally urinate a light yellow to clear color after the race.  For me that didn’t happen until over 11 hours after the end of the race. This tells me that I was very dehydrated after the race.  It took over 11 hours to even feel the urge to go!  Once I got home I wore my Zoot Compression Socks to help the blood flow back to my heart and to assist in vacating any lactic acid build up in my lower legs. Planned recovery efforts can make a big difference between enjoying the days after a race and suffering for several days. I’ll take Sunday off and then do a light workout on Monday most likely hitting a short 2-3 mile run and a light full body weights workout.

Next Race

My next run is the Hendrick’s County Park 2 Park Relay where I will join five other teammates to run 60-miles to raise money for the local Hendrick’s County Park system.

Moving Forward

This coming week starts a ramp up to my ultra marathon training which will officially begin in two weeks. I’m excited to start training for this new challenge!

Happy Training!

Brian

Goals, Half Marathon Training

Goals…have more than one.

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A wise person once said that it is important to write down your goals. This same person said that it is also important that you write them in pencil.  I have a goal of breaking the 2-hr half marathon mark this year and I still plan to do it yet. One thing though is that I am uncertain whether that will happen on May 5th. This realization does not deter me from trying, however, all evidence points to me having slowed down a bit since last year or rather I’m just peaking at a different time.  Today I completed the Indianapolis Mini-Marathon Training Series 15K in 1:33:34 (unofficial). I am happy with this time, but it is over 5 minutes slower than last year’s time of 1:28:06 (official time). So, there are 12 months in a year and this one isn’t a third of the way done yet. In another words, I have plenty of time!

Including the warm-up and cool-down I ran an extra 3.4 miles beyond the 15K today and I feel great!  So it’s interesting to see that while I have slowed a bit in 12 months my endurance is high. Today I am 4-weeks away from the mini-marathon. I know what I have to do for training.  It’s all written down…in pencil. 🙂

Over the course of the next 4-weeks I am concentrating on cutting weight and maintaining my speed and endurance.  One easy way to get faster (to a point) is to run lighter. I am very much enjoying learning more and more about how my body responds to training and seeing the effects on a weekly basis.

I’ll keep you all updated on the mini marathon training over the next 4-weeks and then I switch to my ultra training plan for the remainder of the year. I am so looking forward to this next training cycle!

Happy Training!

Brian

Half Marathon Training, Uncategorized

And hope springs forth…

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Okay so the half marathon is still 7+ weeks away, but I had an awesome 6-mile Tempo Run this morning at a pace that’s 15 seconds faster than my HM PR. I even pushed it to sub-8min pace for the last half mile. I know I could have done at least one more mile, BUT…STICK TO THE PLAN!

Basically I felt really good and I can now see the possibility of a PR at the Mini Marathon. My goal for 2012 is to break the 2-hour half marathon mark, but I don’t see that happening in May. I DO see the potential for a PR though.  My current PR is 02:05:49 so if under 2-hours doesn’t happen in 7 weeks then I’d be ecstatic with A). Any PR, but B). Really want to break 02:05:00 so shaving an extra 50 seconds off would be enough to make me happy…it’s the little things sometimes!  🙂

Happy Training!

Brian

FIRST Training Program, Half Marathon Training, Uncategorized

Finally…a plan!

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After too many weeks of “training by feel” I have finally written down an eight week training plan for the remaining time approaching the Indianapolis Mini Marathon the first weekend in May. I am excited to be tracking results as I have in the past! I’m using the FIRST training program again since I had good results from it last time. I bought the book some time ago and I still use it regularly. It was probably one of the best purchases I’ve made for training.

Here’s the outline. I have more details on my version as to specific pace, distance, etc.

  • Sunday: Long Run
  • Monday: Bike (Recovery Ride)
  • Tuesday: Weights and Intervals
  • Wednesday: Weights and Bike
  • Thursday: Tempo Run
  • Friday: Bike
  • Saturday: Rest Day

I of course adapted the program slightly for my own needs and from reading about tips from elite runners. It’s amazing what you can pick up for advice by reading blogs and Runner’s World Magazine! I’m going to return to doing a post run ice bath once my mileage climbs a little higher and I’m lifting weights before a couple of my run days so my recovery days and rest days are truly for rest and recovery.

Overall my knee is still feeling well though I can tell from a little stiffness that taking it easy and continuing to work into the harder stuff is a wise decision. This morning I did intervals after weights and pushed the 2peed a bit on 1200m sprints. My knee was feeling a bit, but felt good afterwards.

Last week I added my first long slow distance run (LSD) of the season and it felt good to get out there on the trail for an hour or so. This coming weekend looks to be a 12-miler on Saturday. I fully plan to have some fun on St. Patrick’s Day so I’m switching my rest day to Sunday to accomodate the change in schedule. As I’ve said before, it’s important to schedule some celebration days into your program so you don’t go crazy!

Happy Training!

Brian

You can follow me on Twitter @TheRunningman23

Half Marathon Training, Recovery, Weight Loss

This Week in The Gym with Your Host…

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What a fantastic week of training! I hit the gym all five days this week and hope to keep that trend going in the weeks to come.

Here’s the breakdown in case you don’t follow me on the Dailymile.

Monday

My Monday workouts have been a combination of weights, running, and biking. I hit the weights for a hard and fast leg workout across thirty minutes doing super sets and trios of exercises with minimal rest between. Once I’m done with the weights I jump on the treadmill for a run. The first week I did just a mile and this past week I did two miles at a sub-9:30 pace. After the run I jumped on the stationary bike for the remaining time and covered 5 miles. This was 1-mile more than the previous week on the same day. I worked out for over an hour and left the gym feeling great!

Tuesday

On Tuesdays I hit the weights again, but go for the upper body regimen similar to my Monday workout of supersets, combo sets and trios. I take about 30 minutes for this routine and then hit the bike to give my running muscles a chance to rest. Tuesday I rode for 9.5 miles in about 46 minutes. Not bad for one of the longest rides I’ve had to date.

Wednesday

Wednesday is a specific run workout for speed. I do interval training with all types of distances, but this time it was 6×400. I start with a 1-mile warm-up at a 10min pace and then go into the intervals with a 400m rest interval (R.I.) as well. At the end I decided to cut the last R.I. and instead just increased the speed. I finished up by slowing to the 10min pace again and going for another half-mile for the cool-down.

Thursday

Thursday is another run rest day so I started out on the elliptical for less impact but a good cardiovascular burn. I kept at it for 3 miles and ten switched to the stationary bike. I rode for 4.25 miles to finish up the hour long workout and hit the showers after a good stretch.

Friday

Friday was another specific run workout. I hadn’t ran for any significant distance since the Goofy Challenge so I decided since I have a half-marathon coming up in two months that I needed to start rebuilding my endurance. Friday was a 7-miler and I wanted it to be a tempo run of sorts so I started out at a 10min pace and sped up a bit when I had 1.25miles to go. Overall it was a great run and I finished feeling good with gas still left in the tank.

Nutrition

Another victory this week is my nutritional plan. I hit my EAS whey protein shakes after every workout for recovery and I can tell a big difference from when I don’t take in the extra protein for recovery.  Per my usual routine I eat several small meals and snacks throughout the day, take in the required amount of fiber and eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. I had one splurge meal on Saturday and by the end of the week I was down 4 lbs. This is perfect as it means I’m sending my body all the right messages in regards to weight loss and performance.

The Week Ahead

This coming week I am repeating last week’s workouts with some minor tweaks. I plan to cut one super set on legs to allow for an extra mile on the run. I’ll continue to rotate exercises to keep my leg muscles guessing and adapting. The same goes for my weights workout on Tuesday for upper body. Wednesday and Friday will be specific run workouts for intervals and tempo runs and Thursday will be dedicated to just getting a good calorie burn on the elliptical and the bike.

One addition for this coming week is a long slow distance run (LSD) on Sunday with a friend of mine. He’s training for a full marathon in April, the same half marathon I’m training for in May, a duathlon in September and I’m sure several other races this year. My goal this week is to continue my weight loss toward my 170 lbs goal.

Have a great week and happy training!

Brian

Half Marathon Training

Ain’t Nothing Gonna Break My Stride…

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So now that you are singing that 1983 hit from Matthew Wilder (or you are now) please keep reading as you hum! Also, as a little fun fact…I’m surprised at how many people online think the Australian rock band “Men at Work” sings that song. Thank you Youtube and thank you Wikipedia.

Since my last check-in here at the wide world of WordPress I’ve been hitting the gym almost daily only missing one day last week. I take the weekends off from the gym to recover, but use my time wisely each morning Monday – Friday. Everything has been going great and I can say that my Indianapolis Mini-Marathon training is back on track. This is good since I have just 65 days left!

This morning was an interval session on the treadmill also known as speed work. This was my first interval training since December and maybe even November of last year.

I warmed-up with a single mile at a 10min/mile pace and then jumped into 400m (1/4 mile) intervals. Here’s how it panned out after the warm-up.

1 x 400m @ 9:05 pace (R.I. 400m @ 10min pace)
3 x 400m @ 8:57 pace (R.I. 400m @ 10min pace)
1 x (400×2 = 800) @ 8:57/8:34 paces (No R.I. between)

I was feeling so good at the end of interval #5 that I decided to finish up and not do the rest interval. Instead I kicked it up a notch to an 8:34 pace and then went into cool-down for a half mile again at a 10min/mile pace for just a half mile. As I type this out I’m sitting at my desk drinking my EAS AdvantEDGE shake. Remember, recovery and nutrition is a key contributor to success. As for my next speed workout, I’m looking forward to throwing in some 800s.

Otherwise my plan is to do all my warm-ups, cool-downs, and easy runs at a 10min (6mph) pace. I’m unsure at this point if I have enough time to train well enough to hit my sub 2-hour half goal at the mini-marathon, but it’s more of a 2012 goal than a mini-marathon goal so we’ll see.

Until next time, Happy Training.

Brian

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2011 Indianapolis Mini-Marathon

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The greatest spectacle in racing!  The Indy 500 was dubbed thus so many years ago and this year Indy is in the midst of celebrating it’s 100th year of memories spanning from 1911 to present day.

The Indy Mini-Marathon started in 1977, bringing in Olympic champion distance runners Frank Shorter and Bill Rogers. In 1979, the Mini-Marathon became an official 500 Festival event. The event grew rapidly in the 1980s and even more throughout the 1990s. Today, the OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon is noted as the nation’s largest half-marathon with a field of 35,000 runners and walkers participating each year.  The course is flat, fast and allows participants to run the 2.5 mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway!

But enough with the history lesson!  This past Saturday May 7th was perfect for running in Indianapolis. The morning brought temperatures in the mid-50s and the winds were quiet.

Last year (2010) I ran “The Mini” in 02:33:25 and was very happy with my time as I had been training for 5 months and had just started my fitness journey and lost about 20 pounds.  My time was 22 minutes faster than my 2009 time. This year I ran the 13.1 mile race in 02:05:49 approximately 18 minutes faster (and another 35 pounds lighter) than my 2010 race.

Besides having an extra 12 months of training I tried a few more things this time around to improve my performance this year.  First was knowledge (or information would perhaps be better way to describe it.) I’ve been having trouble keeping a consistent pace recently. Basically, I go out too fast which is a common error for new runners.  You feel good, you run fast and then you crash hard on the second half of the course.

Pace Tat

This year I wanted to run a more consistent pace throughout the race so I strapped on a temporary pace tat so I could keep tabs on my pace throughout the run. This is also a lot cheaper than a GPS watch (though I’ll be adding that to my Xmas list this year too)!  These are very good if you are wondering.  I could still use the tat for a run three days after the race. It has survived a half-marathon which ended with rain and several showers!

Next, leading up to the Indy Mini-Marathon I was reading a book called “Racing Weight” by Matt Fitzgerald and in the book the author mentions how performance is effected by various factors like hydration and muscle glycogen.

Of course everyone realizes that being hydrated is a good thing.  Don’t drink enough water during a long run and eventually you’ll slow down or stop altogether as your body has trouble cooling itself and your blood gets thicker from having less water in it.

Next, most of us know that we need fuel (carbs) during a long run like a half marathon. We take sports drinks with us and consume gels like GU along the race course.

What I didn’t know was that exercise induced muscle damage causes fatigue separately from hydration or fuel availability.  So I looked into using a product that would help this third performance limitation. I found a product called Accelerade from Pacific Health Labs which has a combination of carbs and protein to help limit muscle damage from prolonged exercise like a marathon or half-marathon.  The company also makes a gel called Accel. So I bought some Accelerade and instead of taking GU on my 13.1 mile fun run I added some Accel gel to my run pack.

Now I will say that from training for a year I was in much better shape and I did run a much smarter race with my pace tat, but still I liked the Accel gel and I did feel like I had a lot more energy during the mini-marathon. The consistency of the Accel gel wasn’t as thick as a GU gel so it was a lot easier to take and I didn’t feel like I needed to wait until I was near a water station to have something to drink with the gel like I do when I use GU. I still like GU, but I’ll be using Accel a lot more in the future.

Another thing I can say is that the day after the mini-marathon my legs felt great and I never experienced the pain that shows up two days after such an intense exertion. When I ran the Kansas half-marathon four weeks ago (in 02:11:37) my legs were tired the next day and I did experience the major stiffness that usually comes 48 hours after (called DOMS). So the Accelerade (taken pre & post race) along with the Accel gels seemed to help me recover faster than with just GU and a whey protein shake per my usual routine.

So my experience at The Indianapolis Mini-Marathon was great!  I even made it onto the local news on WTHR.  I had a half dozen of my friends tell me that they saw me on the news running around the Indy 500 Motor Speedway.

Now I have 5 weeks to continue training for my next race (another half-marathon). I’m excited to continue using Accelerade while I train and to use the Accel gels for my next half. My recovery workouts this past week have been very good and I’m ready to jump back into training on Monday!

Happy Training!

Brian

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Tapering, take 2!

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I’ve written about tapering in the past, but felt it was worth writing about again as I approach my next half-marathon this coming Saturday. I’m running the nation’s largest half-marathon, The Indianapolis Mini-Marathon with 35K+ other runners in Indianapolis, IN.

35,000 runners participate in the Indy Mini-Marathon. The course takes runners around the Indy 500 Speedway track!

What prompted this post was all the “taper tweets” I’ve been reading this morning.  Many runners are worried about doing too much or not enough in the last 7-10 days leading up to their race.  I totally understand dear friends!

First off for all my new runners out there you might be asking, “Tapering?  What’s that?” Tapering is the final days leading up to your big event when you workout less so as to get the recovery you need for race day. Whether it’s a 5K, 10K, 15K, Half, Full or Ultra marathon it really doesn’t matter. All of these have a little taper time before hand.

In my opinion and experience, how much tapering you need depends a lot on your amount of current running experience, the distance you’re going in your event and the number of races you’ve run prior.  All of this combined should fit into a plan of what works best for you.

For me, I tend to taper for 7-10 days before anything less than a full-marathon. So two weeks out from this half I did a final 10 mile long run. Last Friday I did a 6 miler and primarily rested over the weekend except to do yard work. This week I rested Monday and I’ll do short runs Tuesday and Wednesday.  I lifted last week on two days and did a very light (high rep) full body weights routine today (Tuesday).  I’ll be finished with any weight lifting after today.  Thursday I will go to the gym and do something non-impact like cycling, elliptical or maybe just walking on the treadmill while I watch ESPN.  🙂 Friday I will take off completely (and sleep in past my usual 4:30am wake-up call) since the race is the next day.

One big component of my tapering is stretching.  I normally stretch after every workout, but I will take a little extra time to stretch my IT Bands, glutes, legs, shoulders and back.  Basically, instead of doing 2-3 sets of stretches I will do 3-5 sets adding 10-15 minutes of extra stretching. Many times I’ll also use my foam roller at night to make sure I have all the knots worked out of my legs.

As for diet, I don’t change much in the taper zone.  2-3 days out from the race I do eat a little more pasta….mainly because I really LOVE pasta!  There is a lot of hype around carb loading, but I’ve read the actual research studies and while stored muscle glycogen (sugar/carbs) is a limiting factor for performance (sorry about the geek speak), the average runner doesn’t get a lot of benefit from carb loading. As long as you rest a couple days before an event, your muscle glycogen stores will increase just from not exercising.  You’ll also want to replenish during the event/race with Gatorade, gels, etc. at regular intervals. Basically find what works for you and stick with it.

Actual breakfast not shown....wrong cereal.

For me, I eat a measured serving of cereal, a banana and a cup of coffee a couple hours before the race.  15-30 minutes out from the start I pop a GU Energy Gel and then continue to take more gels as the race progresses usually every 30-45 minutes. I also use the provided water and Gatorade on the course. I might be overloading on the carbs, but it doesn’t bother my stomach so I stick with the plan. I also don’t have to worry about hitting the wall at mile 11 and crawling to the finish line.

Remember, tapering is a good thing! You won’t lose the ability to run long distance in a week…or even two weeks. I’ve even had races where I didn’t workout at all 5-6 days before an event and did fine during the race….including earning a PR by over 8 minutes!  I chalk it up to being well rested.

Tapering is also a time to make sure you are getting extra sleep.  If you are a morning exerciser, sleep in those last two days before an event and get your 8 hours (or more if possible).  If you are an evening exerciser use the gym time to get a few things done early so you can get to bed early.  Don’t waste the time on the TV…that’s why we have DVR!  🙂

Active.com had a decent article on Tapering today as well if you’d like to check it out! Also, Runner’s World had a good article on Recovery days today. Though not specific to tapering it speaks well to recovery which is what tapering is all about!

Happy Training and see you on Race Day!

-Brian

Follow mw on Twitter @TheRunningMan23