Taper time - treat or torture?

I'm in my final week of training before the marathon next Sunday, which means I've been tapering for the last 2 weeks, ever since the Hampton Court Palace half marathon

Tapering is odd - you spend 13-14 weeks training harder and harder - increasing your distance, increasing the intensity, pushing yourself harder and harder.......and then you drop off.

I ran 16, 20 and 18 miles on successive Sundays. Then ran 12 the following week and just 6 this Sunday. My midweek marathon paced run has dropped to 5 last week and just 3 next week.

It feels........wrong. It feels weird. It feels like you're losing your fitness, losing the endurance, wasting all those weeks of effort. You think you're forgetting how to run long distances, and you start to panic that you shouldn't be doing this, you should be out running, running, running.

It's all nonsense of course - tapering is designed to have your body in tip top shape for the race. 2-3 weeks of reducing distance and intensity allow the slightly battered body time to rest, time for muscles to repair and time for any niggles to work themselves out - thus ensuring you're a lean running machine in time for the marathon. (Ummm, like I am. Ahem). But it does funny things to the mind, hence the post title

Personally I'm enjoying taper - last year I was injured, panicking and worried about how it would feel on the day. This year, I'm enjoying having a lie-in on a Sunday morning and only running for an hour. I'm enjoying having a Saturday night beer. I'm far more relaxed and confident as...

• I'm not injured!
• I'm running really well all spring......an somehow knocked out a 22:11 5K PB before parkrun this week
• I'm not injured!
• I'm carrying a lot less weight than last year (32 pounds less at last count)
• I've already done a bloody marathon - and therefore know exactly what to expect
• I'm under no real pressure - no sponsorship, no "can I get round?" jitters

If anything I'm in danger of feeling over-confident....though somehow I doubt that'll be an issue come 9am Sunday morning

Proof of my 5k PB - just a shame it's not an official parkrun time

Anyway, I'm nearly there. Some sprint intervals tomorrow night, 3 miles on Thursday and a very gentle parkrun on Saturday. Then the train to MANCHESTER (which is red btw) lunchtime Saturday before the big day - I'm number 7401 in case anyone wants to track me

Looks like it's official

Guess it's time to relax then and enjoy the last week of taper - definitely a treat....