So, let the taper begin in earnest!! I ran 18 miles yesterday, at a pretty good pace, and today, because I signed up for it a long time ago, I ran a 5K.
This is the second time in this training cycle I've done a long run followed the next day by a short race. This is not what I would usually do. I have usually followed a long run with a non-running recovery day in the pool or on the bike. I have to say, that while the race results have not been great (10-15 seconds/mile slower than what I think I could do on fresh legs), they have not proven to be as foolish as I though they were going to be. Usually, after a 15-20 miler, there are things that hurt enough so that running the next day, or at least running hard seems like a bad idea. I'm not going to say that I didn't feel that way this morning, or several weeks ago when I did the same thing. On the other hand, both times I felt better after the race than I had going into it. Fewer things hurt, and I was looser. Not sure what's going on, but I always find training paradoxes interesting, and this certainly is one.
A good experiment, and repeatable too!
ReplyDeleteYes, but it only works if the short race is a "B" race. Otherwise, you'd want to rest up for the race, rather than use the race as "active recovery.
ReplyDeleteMaybe with DOMS kicking in usually 2 days after an LSD, a nice race one day after is good training for tired but not that heavy legs? All good!
ReplyDeletePS as I have mentioned I haven't been able to do my usual LSDs and this is a worry, but I will thus likely do more training than I would normally this week, ie a shorter taper. I need to build confidence in the legs....they haven't gone further than 16 this time and even then a horrible ending. BUT in fun news, we had a massive 4.6k Heads race at Reading University (on the Thames) this weekend, in which our Eight did well, but the funnest bit was that my son was in it too...his first big Heads race with the big university boys (he is only 15 but at Abingdon, a serious rowing high school, with £30,000 boats the norm). It was great being on the water with him for the first time, and yes....thank goodness we didn't lose to their boat! It was an odd week...he had the upperhand the whole time saying, 'gee, Dad, if you go out to beat us little J15's you look pathetic...but if you lose to us you look worse!' The wisdom of the young.
ReplyDeleteFantastic! I rowed one partial season of intramural crew in college. It is an amazing sport. I was not good at it, but on the rare occasions that the shell was skimming along the water the feeling was unparalleled. This was usually followed by my catching a crab and receiving a mouth full of wood. . .
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