And the taper begins

I looked at my running schedule and it said 12 miles today. That seems crazy since I thought I was supposed to taper. It looks like the running plan I have does not have too much of a taper so I altered it. I was not following it too closely anyway. Last week I ran a full 13.1 more or less to see if I could do it and it was horrible. I had done a 12 mile run a few weeks before without a problem and if I was better prepared the 13.1 would have been better - but I finished it.

So today I did a 10 mile run. Some of the other plans have you do less than that and some more. 10 miles felt good. I think maybe I should have done less but I really wanted to do 10.

I ran today at the gym on the track. I started out stronger than I would have liked. I thought about slowing but it felt good. Then during the third mile someone was right on my heels for about a mile and a half. That was really annoying but I really wanted to keep my pace. Then they went to a class. I started to get a little stomach cramp and thought that the apple I had right before the run was a bad idea. Normally I don't eat right before running - usually an hour before but I was hungry so I ate the apple. Anyway, the cramp went away and after mile 6 I had a gel. The gel did not sit well in my stomach so I had a little pain for about a mile. It was not bad but that has not happened before with the gel. Maybe it was still the apple. Then I was struggling through mile 8 and thinking how am I going to be able to do 13.1 miles next week. Then at beginning of mile 9 my favorite song for the end of a run came on. It's on by Superchick. "And though you want to quit, Don't think you can get through it, You've come to far to walk away, it's not gonna be today, And no matter how you feel, it's what you do that matters, This is your moment to be strong, Today's your Day, It's On". All of a sudden I got a big boost of energy, legs were feeling fine, and I finished the full 10 miles planned. Then I did an extra lap as fast as I could go because I felt so great. It was more of a mental battle today through the middle of my run.

I ended with a 15 min walk - which I love the walks. It feels great to just walk and think. Then while I was stretching a girl that has been training with one of the trainers came over. (We talk sometimes.) She has been running for a little while - with many walk breaks. I admire her because my guess is that she is currently about 250 lbs and I could not even think of attempting to run when I was that big. Anyways, she said that the suggestions I gave her about warm up, stretch, run, cool down, stretch, foam roll, and ice the legs were helping with the pain in her legs. She thanked me for the suggestions and then she said she admired me. That felt so great. She admired me for my running and said I look great. She also admires me for losing 135 lbs. She has already lost over 100 lbs and is very proud of that. It is nice that there are so many friendly people at the gym. Now I just cannot wait for the new years resolution people to drop off. Although Saturdays are better than during the week.

Ran 10 miles today on indoor track. Temp a little warm but not too bad. Time 1 hour 40 min. Did not do negative splits. Started out too fast - slow middle - ended at a nice pace.