Week of March 12 - 18

Total Miles for Week (Year): 92 (1168)
Long Run: 15M

T-minus three weeks to the 100km Champs. Now things are getting serious. I maintained good volume this week, even with the race today. The hill workout on Tuesday was encouraging along with the fartlek on Thursday. Good, solid workouts. I also managed to fulfill my goal of an 8k PR, even if it wasn't as much of a PR as I wanted. Looking ahead: last long run tomorrow. I should be good and fatigued from the race today. Good training stimulus.

I'm going to experiment (uh-oh, lookout) witl a little different taper this time around. The Kenyans (long considered pretty good runners I hear) don't usually have a goal race. They train hard and use their workouts as a measuring stick. Then, when the workouts are going really well they find a marathon a couple weeks away (Boston, London, Chicago, etc), cut their volume way, way down ten days out and usually run pretty fast. Thats why elite lists are always so up in the air until right before the race. Its called striking while the iron is hot I guess. Of course Kenyans can do this because they have the credentials most of us chuckers don't and call up McGillivray, Bedford, and Pinkowski to get into those races no problem.

In the past I've had taper problems. I can never seem to get it quite right. Too fried come race time or lacking race sharpness. Well, right now I feel like, with a little rest, I will be pretty close to right on. With that in mind, I plan to keep the volume constant this week and early into next week. Then I will cut my volume way back, try to keep the intensity there every other day or so, and hopefully run a big fat 100km PR.

I feel like I have a little leeway with the 100km. I don't need to be speedy, I just need to be rested and mentally prepared to suffer. Its my fear if I rest too much I might lose my edge and wind up complacent and indifferent during the race. A hungry dog has more fight, so they say.