Taper Madness?

You may have heard runners talk about taper madness.  Apparently, after you’ve been training really hard and you reach your peak, when you get into taper (the slightly lighter training week or weeks leading up to the race) you go a little crazy.

I am not convinced I have ever truly experienced this.

I think it’s because I’m secretly a very lazy person, so I get to taper week and it’s like a huge burden has been lifted off my shoulders.  “Oh, I only have to workout tonight for 30 minutes instead of 90?  Count me in!”  I love taper time.

Sure, if it’s a race I’m particularly nervous about, I get a bit antsy, but I don’t think it’s because I’m training less.  I think it’s because I’m nervous and ready for race day.  But maybe that’s what taper madness is really about.  I’ve put in all the work and now it’s time to GO.

This week is taper week for me.  I cannot say that I’m nervous about the weekend’s half (and 5k, which I continually forget about). So I’m just enjoying the fact that I’m not going to be running any weekday ten milers.  Those are rough.  Rewarding, but rough.