Screw it. I’m just going to lean into this whole taper thing.
My legs felt very tired after a completely chill 5 miles on Monday (and not my normal 7). Almost like I had just finished a hilly long run, not a typical weekday jaunt around the township. I’m guessing I never really let myself fully recover from Eastern States. Things haven’t necessarily been bad. It’s just that my niggles have moved around (right knee, tight hips) and aren’t where I usually feel them. Overall, these are little issues barely work blogging about. I feel 92-95% of my normal so not the end of the world.
Something always pops up before a race so it’s nothing that I’m concerned about. That said, there’s no reason not to try something to solve them before Grindstone. You definitely can’t gain any fitness in the days immediately preceding a race so I’m going to try and completely rest them. So just 1 mile daily morning runs and no afternoon walks. I’ll also try and get an extra couple hours of sleep between now and the 6pm Friday start.
I’m not really expecting the extra rest to do wonders for me. I’m hoping it’ll help obviously, but consider it more of a risk mitigation exercise. And the prospect of getting better with less work appeals to my lazy side.
Fingers crossed the aggressive taper works. Or does no harm otherwise.