Tapering Over the Holidays

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Week 16 and 17 of my training plan were two weeks of taper before the main event. Week 16 ended on Christmas weekend and week 17 ends on New Year’s weekend. 


I followed the Hal Higdon plan as my model for tapering.  Maintain the intensity but cut back the volume, about one-half of the longest weekly mileage in week 16 and about one-third of the longest weekly mileage in the week 17.  Higdon doesn’t state that in the plan, but that is the model that I have followed through decades of marathon training, and his plan seems to fit that model.  My longest mileage was 45 miles in week 15,  so Week 16 was 22 miles and week 17 is 15 miles. I also included 1-2 strength training days each week.


Seems easy until you factor in the hazards of the holiday season.  Week 16 included the days leading up to Christmas which included last minute shopping, planning, and prepping for the holiday weekend, and having adult children home for the holidays.  week 17 started off with Christmas Day which meant attending a family gathering with the temptations of some food and drink that one should avoid 10 days before Marathon Weekend.  Learning that some of the attendees had recently had COVID and hearing people coughing and sneezing was a little unnerving.  Do I have enough time to get sick and recover before the first race day?


Just being out of my training rhythm brought back aches and pains I had not felt in months.  My right hip started feeling achy again and my left knee started feeling a little weird again.  Is it just nerves?  Just my typical taper?  The effects of sitting around for long periods of time during the holidays?  I think it’s all of the above.  So I am going to stick to the plan and keep plugging away at each day until the end of Week 17. I am optimistic that the aches and pains will go away once we land in Orlando.

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