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Thursday, December 10, 2015

Taper- the workouts, the food, and the pains!

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Hey all! Here is what I am up to TAPER WEEK! I'm sharing my workouts, my eating, my sleeping, and my taper pains! Oh, and I went to the podiatrist to figure out the weird foot thing. He did a thorough assessment and says the part of my foot that hurts... well, there's nothing there! There is nothing there that should hurt and I am free to go ahead with the race as planned. If it persists and doesn't go away on it's own, I am to follow up. But he assures me that I won't be doing any damage to run on it on Sunday. Especially since it doesn't even hurt when I run- only when I stretch my calf + dorsiflex. So that's the short story on my foot!


Workouts:

Saturday- 7 miles in my hood. The plan was to do 5-8 and stop before things went too far downhill. 7 felt good so I stopped there! I averaged an 8:08 pace rather effortlessly too, so that is good. Starting to feel like myself.

Sunday- Back @ home.


Band Asst. Wide Grip Pull Ups- 5x6
Bicycle Crunches- 4x40
Dumbbell Row- 5x10x25lb
Plank w/ Knee Tuck- 4x20
Band Asst. Neutral Grip Pull Ups- 2x8, 3x6
Stability Ball Pull Ins- 4x15
Bicep Curls- 4x10x15lb
Plank w/ Row- 4x10x10lb

Monday- 5 easy miles around the hood. A run is always a good way to start Monday morning. It was foggy, frosty, and beautiful. I felt zero niggles during my run, and averaged around an 8:25 pace, which I think is good for taper week.


Tuesday- Chest @ home. Now that I am getting more consistent with lifting, I am ready to up my weights a bit! Chest press could go up to 30lb and I think I am ready for 25lb shoulder press. I used to hit those weights but backed down a bit because I lost some strength while focusing on running.


Chest Press- 5x10x25lb
Push Ups- 5x10
Shoulder Press- 5x10x20lb
Tricep Dips- 5x15
Bicycle Crunches- 4x40
Plank w/ Knee Tuck- 4x20
Stability Ball Pull Ins- 4x15

Wednesday- 5 easy miles. This was my last run before the race! I did it after work since my podiatrist appointment was in the morning and I didn't want to run on it until I got the go ahead. I hate running at night! It was so dark an dreary, but the Christmas lights made it seemed so festive. I felt strong and light during this run. My IT band did not bother me at all. I needed this run- not physically, but mentally!

Thursday-  Today I am RESTING for my race on Sunday. I will do a light upper body workout which I suppose doesn't count as complete rest, but I rested my legs.

Friday- Tomorrow I will also rest! Spoiler alert... I will be resting on Saturday as well!


Some more taper stuff....

Food: It is a typical work week for me, so I have been eating pretty normal. Cereal for breakfast, chicken, rice, and veggies for lunch, and then whatever we throw together for dinner. Paul made pasta with ground turkey so I had that with tortilla chips for dinner a couple times this week. I dip the chips in the pasta, scoop up the pasta, and eat the pasta and chip at the same time. So weird, I know! We had frozen pizza another night... I guess I am definitely not worried about eating a couple more grams of carbs than normal. I am going to need my glycogen stores on Sunday!

Sleep: Luckily I have slept well so far this week! I hope it continues. I know I won't sleep a wink on Friday night because I will be so worried about traveling! And worried about my alarm going off. I think I have to get up at like 3:30am!

Taper Pains:
Well, I got my period on Saturday, which was actually perfect because that means it will be gone before I head to Florida. IT Band feeling normal, which doesn't mean it is NORMAL feeling, just normal for me. The foot... well I explained that in my intro! I feel a little "fat" since I haven't been running as much and I have been having some yummy desserts. I know it is a horrible thing to say- that I feel "fat" when I know I am not fat, and "fat" is a horrible word to begin with. But that's the crazy part of my brain talking!

What do your taper weeks look like?

19 comments:

  1. Megan, you are doing everything right! I am so proud of you. You are probably the most realistic, sane and healthy running blogger out there and I love to follow along w/ someone that truly commits to what it takes to achieve her goals. So, you already know I don't race and I don't taper but when we travel I take a lot of rest days (and eat all the food) and by the end I feel "soft" and then when I come back I generally have the best runs & swims and really good weight training sessions.

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  2. ENJOY your race. I know you are super nervous about travelling, leaving Paul etc. Take deeps breaths, Have fun.
    My taper weeks lately have been insanely busy, and consisted of sleeping in a hospital chair with my dad in the ICU for 2 nights, before travelling,and eating hospital food...bleh.
    This is my third day off in a row this week, and my legs are needing to stretch out and run--I imagine taper pains are a lot of those same feelings magnified because of the intensity of workouts prior and race nerves...
    Enjoy FL.

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    1. Thanks Cheryl!

      Man I have been there with the sleeping in a hospital chair thing and eating hospital food. Not fun at all. :(

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  3. That's a solid taper week. You are primed for a great race!

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  4. That is good to hear that you got the OK from the doc on the foot. Hopefully the foot pain will be non-event for your race and afterwards!!

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    1. Oh man I hope so. I am so careful to not get injured. I try to do my due diligence to stretch and not over train....

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  5. Oh my taper weeks look exactly like yours: weird foot issues, lots of carbs, bloaty fat feelings, the works. But it's all a part of the perfect taper for a perfect race! Excited for you.

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  6. Question: so, you eat the same thing for lunch every single day? Interesting.

    My taper weeks always look just like any other week, except for less mileage. I try not to do anything out of the ordinary or mess with my routine too much. Race week I get a little more strategic: my big thing is during the 2-3 days leading up to the race, I hydrate like a boss. I drank soooo much water in the days leading up to Grandma's. I think it helped me a lot on race day.

    Good luck!! I'm so excited for you. You've been working so hard and I know you're gonna knock this one outta the park. Yaaaay!!

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    1. Pretty much! Always chicken, then either sweet potatoes or rice- whatever I made over the weekend. And then whatever frozen veggies I have in the fridge.

      I need to drink water! Thank you for the reminder!!

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  7. I know I am so happy about the period thing! Ugh, guys never have to worry about that for their races!

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  8. I'm so excited for your race!!!! Can we track you?

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    1. Yes! I posted info on FB and will post it here tomorrow. But it starts at 6:45am so I don't expect anyone to be up at that hour!!

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    2. hmm, I think I am ahead of that time by an hour or so...I'll probably be up. ;)

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    3. Really I didn't know you were ahead of us!

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  9. Keep yourself hydrated this weekend, especially because you're flying!! I can't wait to see you!

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    Replies
    1. Noted. I worry about having to pee but I guess I can pee on planes.

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