The Taper

I didn't run last Sunday.  It was the first Sunday I've taken off from running in about a year.   I slept in, sipped some coffee, ate a big leisurely breakfast.  It was not easy to do.

Now, don't misunderstand.   I love sleeping in.  It's actually been a challenge for me to get out of bed every Saturday and Sunday before dawn (especially during the winter) to go running.

But still, it was even harder to not get up and go running this past Sunday.  My legs felt great, my energy level was high, my feet/heels are feeling okay.  With less than a week until the big race, it was only natural to want to get on the trail and tear it up, to really push it, like I've tried to do all year.

This, I've found, is the real challenge of the taper -- throttling back for these final couple weeks when all I really want to do is run hard.  Plus there's a nagging voice in my head whispering "Don't slack off now... you've got to step it up... you're losing all the training gains you've made... don't be such a %*#ing @$#@... and so on...."  The voice has been persistently badgering me during this taper; it questions my commitment; it sometimes calls me names; I don't think it likes me.

Luckily, the other voice in my head (I'm not quite Sybil, but there are a couple voices in there) is much more reasonable.  It listens to the sage advice I've been getting from experienced ultra-runners, who consistently have told me to take it easy, really easy this week.  They tell me with only days left to go until the race, there is nothing I can do to improve my performance come Saturday, but there are dozens of things I can do to degrade my performance, and over-training is near the top of that list.  They say my body needs at least a couple weeks to heal from the year of training.  So, after a good solid run on Saturday up Towers Road and along Mill Creek through Lory Park, I took Sunday off, and I'm glad I did.

The Saturday run was great -- about 11 miles with some decent hills just to remember what that feels like.  Near the end of the run I paused for a quick swim in one of the coves off of Horsetooth Reservoir just for fun.  The water was cool and perfectly refreshing on a hot day.

Mill Creek view of Horsetooth Reservoir

East Valley Trail

Arthur's Rock 

Swimming in the Res

The other thing that was refreshing, as you can see from the pic above, was the lack of hair on my head -- I shaved it off (well, mostly).   Last Friday, before I drove home to Fort Collins, Molly came over to my Denver apartment, and after some brief hesitation, and a failed attempt at shaving a "100" into my head, she obligingly buzzed my head down to fuzz.

Taming of the 'Fro

The first cut is the deepest

This has got to make me faster

My neighbors below probably didn't appreciate all my clippings drifting down to their patio grill and seasoning their barbecued chicken with that fragrant charred-hair smell.  Oh well, that's a sacrifice I'm prepared to have them make in my quest for Leadville glory.