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Taperitis
Posted by
Caterpillar
,
04 October 2011
·
386 views
Have been amiss in not posting during the pointy end of the current training cycle, and race day is only a few sleeps away 
. Time has flown quickly since I last said "14 weeks until race day". So here's a summary.
Uneventful recovery after Willy and got back into the Pftizinger training cycle. All started well. However scraped the skin off my achilles in late July, which had nothing to do with running and left a nasty abrasion in an area that is subject to rubbing. Bandaging it up still made it uncomfortable, but found that I could minimise the rubbing by running forefoot the next day. Well, after 3km I think I did some damage to my calf, but carried on with a 20km run and it seemed to ease up during the run but paid for it later, having to take a few days off and had to reduce the weekly volume. This coincided with a bad virus
that caused problems during August, and although mostly gone, is still lingering in the form of a tickly cough. To add insult, mildly sprained my right ankle more recently (again, nothing to do with running), and bruised the extensor retinaculum of my right ankle after wearing my laces a little too tight.
As my training is mostly Heart Rate based, during the peak of the virus, I found my times slowing for a given heart rate range. I was also very worried about running with an infection, and the risks of exhaustion and over training, but in hindsight, the slower speed helped to avoid this from developing. Didn't do quite as many 100km+ weeks as for the previous training cycle either.
The lesson for me is that there are some things you just can't control. You just have to adapt to the situation as best you can, be sensible, avoid frustration, and try not to make it worse by overtraining. Running with an injury is also a delicate balance, and I still have some occasional tightness in my left calf which my myotherapist says is due to residual scar tissue.
On the upside, I managed to lose about 4kg during this training cycle, mostly due to illness, and am trying hard to keep it off. Overall my speeds during the important phase of training weren't too bad, and in some aspects were a bit better than for the same period during the last training cycle, although it wasn't consistently so, despite the weight loss.
Looking through my notes during my last training cycle, I started to slow down about a month prior to the Willy Marathon, probably related to weight gain. Unlike most runners, I unfortunately find it easy to overeat. My times worsened whilst training in Hawaii, due to the heat, and the jet lag on return meant I hit race day still not quite right.
This time, we spent a week in the gold coast during the first week of a 3 week taper (Hawaii was during week 2 of taper), and the weather was more conducive to running compared to stifling Hawaii (however Tahiti is considerably worse). It was also great to run along the esplanade up and down the gold coast. Heaps of runners out there first thing in the morning, and the scenery was splendid.
So am I faster or slower compared to last time
Probably better endurance, but not consistently so. I would have thought I'd be much quicker given the weight loss, but that's not the case. It's very marginal. Further, my interval times have been a few seconds per kilometre slower than last time. 
Overall am feeling better during the current taper, compared to last time, although uncertainty creeps in, along with a few niggles, sluggishness, and such, which are apparently due to "Taperitis", a common phenomenon during the taper period. Am also obsessing and confused over the weather forecast for the big day. There are a variety of weather web sites to choose from, and each give a different forecast for race day, which again changes as we get closer to race day. Now of course we can't control the weather, but direct sunlight and wind will have serious effects on my performance and I will need to adjust my pacing accordingly.
Not long to go
. Time has flown quickly since I last said "14 weeks until race day". So here's a summary.Uneventful recovery after Willy and got back into the Pftizinger training cycle. All started well. However scraped the skin off my achilles in late July, which had nothing to do with running and left a nasty abrasion in an area that is subject to rubbing. Bandaging it up still made it uncomfortable, but found that I could minimise the rubbing by running forefoot the next day. Well, after 3km I think I did some damage to my calf, but carried on with a 20km run and it seemed to ease up during the run but paid for it later, having to take a few days off and had to reduce the weekly volume. This coincided with a bad virus
that caused problems during August, and although mostly gone, is still lingering in the form of a tickly cough. To add insult, mildly sprained my right ankle more recently (again, nothing to do with running), and bruised the extensor retinaculum of my right ankle after wearing my laces a little too tight.As my training is mostly Heart Rate based, during the peak of the virus, I found my times slowing for a given heart rate range. I was also very worried about running with an infection, and the risks of exhaustion and over training, but in hindsight, the slower speed helped to avoid this from developing. Didn't do quite as many 100km+ weeks as for the previous training cycle either.
The lesson for me is that there are some things you just can't control. You just have to adapt to the situation as best you can, be sensible, avoid frustration, and try not to make it worse by overtraining. Running with an injury is also a delicate balance, and I still have some occasional tightness in my left calf which my myotherapist says is due to residual scar tissue.
On the upside, I managed to lose about 4kg during this training cycle, mostly due to illness, and am trying hard to keep it off. Overall my speeds during the important phase of training weren't too bad, and in some aspects were a bit better than for the same period during the last training cycle, although it wasn't consistently so, despite the weight loss.
Looking through my notes during my last training cycle, I started to slow down about a month prior to the Willy Marathon, probably related to weight gain. Unlike most runners, I unfortunately find it easy to overeat. My times worsened whilst training in Hawaii, due to the heat, and the jet lag on return meant I hit race day still not quite right.
This time, we spent a week in the gold coast during the first week of a 3 week taper (Hawaii was during week 2 of taper), and the weather was more conducive to running compared to stifling Hawaii (however Tahiti is considerably worse). It was also great to run along the esplanade up and down the gold coast. Heaps of runners out there first thing in the morning, and the scenery was splendid.
So am I faster or slower compared to last time
Probably better endurance, but not consistently so. I would have thought I'd be much quicker given the weight loss, but that's not the case. It's very marginal. Further, my interval times have been a few seconds per kilometre slower than last time. Overall am feeling better during the current taper, compared to last time, although uncertainty creeps in, along with a few niggles, sluggishness, and such, which are apparently due to "Taperitis", a common phenomenon during the taper period. Am also obsessing and confused over the weather forecast for the big day. There are a variety of weather web sites to choose from, and each give a different forecast for race day, which again changes as we get closer to race day. Now of course we can't control the weather, but direct sunlight and wind will have serious effects on my performance and I will need to adjust my pacing accordingly.
Not long to go
