Taper Week!

In case you can't tell by the title of this post, it's taper week for me!  The Brooklyn Half is on Saturday, so I'm resting and relaxing this week.  Or at least trying to.  Saturday will be my 4th half marathon (although the 5th time I'm tapering for one- I was supposed to run the 2012 Manhattan Half but it was changed to unscored and untimed due to weather, and I was sick, so I stayed in my warm little bed that morning!) and I've had the same experience each time I've tapered.  Part of me loves it, part of me hates it and the other part is just really confused about what to think & feel! 


First of all, my taper week started off like this:

In case you don't have a Garmin, that is NOT how it's supposed to look when you're ready to go out for a run!  Usually I can't get the damn thing to stop beeping, but it didn't beep once to tell me that it was dying a slow death overnight, and wouldn't be ready for me in the morning!

Once I decided that I could survive one run without my Garmin, and in fact it might be a good thing, I set out for a 3 mile easy run.  Apparently, during taper week, a 3 mile run = 5 minutes.  Clearly, this is not the case. After a few minutes, I want to die because mentally, I'm not in it.  That's not dramatic at all...  8 miles should be easier than 12, but after a run, I post tweets like this: 

I stress about every little body part that doesn't feel 110%.  What if [insert body part] feels like crap on Saturday and I can't finish?  If I've felt fine all throughout training, so why do I suddenly think that I won't be able to put one leg in front of the other on Saturday?! Once I get through all of these mind games & potential issues, I start over at the beginning and completely stress myself out.

However, once in a while, I'll think some happy things about taper week, like 

I LOVE getting excited that the race is coming up soon!  I've been training for half marathons since early December, so am happy that another goal date is fast approaching!

I LOVE going out of my way to eat lots of carbs like these:

[Although, I did read today that carb loading doesn't really help women for half marathons, but I've done it for other races, so I'll do it for this one too!] I don't normally limit myself when it comes to carbs, but in the days leading up to the race, I go out of my way to consume more than normal! It's fun! Except when I carb loaded for the Manhattan half and then I didn't run it.  Then I just felt gross.

I LOVE getting my outfit together for the race!

And stalking the weather forecast to make sure that my outfit is appropriate!

I LOVE that I don't have to wake up early to get my runs in before work and can go out and party with friends at night instead!  Hmm....or not.  But I do love the sleeping in part!

Lastly, and most importantly, I LOVE getting to the starting line with fresh feeling legs that are ready to race!   

So, bring it Brooklyn!  I'm ready for you!


Do you like taper week?  Do you have similar (irrational or positive) thoughts??