Last long run and now the taper ...

Distance: 19.13 miles
Route: Ridgeway out and back from Pitstone Hill to Wendover
Terrain: trail and some road
Axvent / descent: +/- 1400'
Time: 02:57:33
Pace: 9:17 (avg), 8:37 (fastest split), 10:10 (slowest split)

It has taken me ages to get round to giving the exciting stats and report from my last long run which took place last Saturday, 31st May. I hummed and hawed about running for 24 miles but decided to keep it a little shorter in the interests of letting my legs rest and to stay injury free. My right glute hasn't quite recovered from the strains of the Fling and the Marlborough Downs races so I need to let it calm down. After bailing out the race at Kinlochleven last year I swore I would have a really easy taper with no serious off road running or climbing - I remember my bum being tender after a 7 mile trail run a couple of weeks before the race last year.

So the run went well, I had to run through a field of thankfully docile cows which made me think of the highland coos that'll probably be on the WHWR route and how you're never sure quite what to do when you come across them. Run through? Rear up tall and bellow? Or, as I'll do, skirt quietly round the edge. Cows are sneaky, and very big. Don't trust 'em even when they try their best to look innocent, munching grass.

I could feel my legs were tired by the end of the run so I think they need to taper for the main event, and other than having lost 4.8% of my starting weight (3.1kg) over the run, everything went well. I contacted the race doc about this degree of weight loss and he'll definitely be looking at my weight through the race but he wasn't concerned. I'll be drinking and eating more than I did, will be running slower and the weather almost certainly won't be as warm or humid. I'll probably drink 400-500ml /hr as opposed to the 1l over 3 hours I drank in the training run.

My tapering plans are pretty simple really - fit in 3 x 6 mile runs this week and next week over easy terrain to minimise injury risk and let the legs rest. I will also do 1 x 8 mile tempo run this week and next week. Then for the week that the WHWR lies in I will do nothing except for 1 x 6 mile easy run.

Everyone seems in reasonable shape for the race, although Tom, like me is a bit worried about his hams. Debbie has a problem with her foot which I really hope clears up in time. Dave W's piratical stardom is growing outwith his control. JK has had a storming year prep-wise according to his training review and looks set to run a great time. I'll see if I can not be too far behind him but am not stressed about it. It is all about completion for me this year. Well almost. JK asked if I would have anything left in my legs for a sprint finish. I replied 'there's always something in the tank for a sprint finish'! :-)