Well it’s taper week for next Sunday’s LA Marathon, the past week has been very low key with only one run; not quite what was planned but after tweaking my knee last Monday I wanted to take things easier. I managed a nine miler on Thursday which felt ok at the time but subsequently my knee was still twitchy. Over the weekend my wife and I headed off for a relaxing spa weekend at La Costa spa just north of San Diego, this year is our 10 year wedding anniversary and although we are a little early we thought we would take advantage of my in laws, who are visiting at the moment, and leave the boys with them. I had a great massage which freed off a lot of tension and so far things are feeling pretty good, of course two uninterrupted nights sleep didn’t go amiss! I intend to cut right back on the mileage this week, I ran the PCTR 50k without having run anything the preceding two weeks so I am not too phased by this. I am off to my ever friendly chiropractor later this week and my FIL who is a retired osteopath will give my legs a massage on Friday so I should be in as good a shape as possible. All things considered the marathon is really a training run and although I have a couple of goals in mind I am not going out all guns blazing; I am looking to finish sub 4:00. Following up the trip to the movies last week I was inspired to order from Amazon; The Runner, the story of David Horton’s record breaking 66 day run of the 2700 mile long Pacific Coast Trail which runs from Mexico to Canada, it by the same film maker JB Benna so it should be good, I’ll let you know once I have watched it.
The hunt for shoes has drawn to a close, at least for now, the last pair I tried; Vasque Mercurys were too tight, so for now out of sheer boredom and the advice I received via The List from people who have completed LD, that the trail version of Asics' 2120s or 2130s as they will be now will be more than robust enough for the run. I expect to have to revisit this later but for now it’s a suitable solution.
On a final note I signed up for The Great Race half, it’s two weeks before LD and will be a good run to end the training phase and start the taper.
Good luck in LA!
ReplyDeleteWhen I read "The Great Race" I originally thought it was "The Last Great Race," which is an event involving the completion of several 100 milers in a single season. Then I re-read it and realized you're not as insane as I thought you might be!
HAPPY (early) ANNIVERSARY!! Ahhhhh it's so nice to leave the kids behind every once and awhile ;-)
ReplyDeleteYou're going to rock the marathon! Even if it's "just a training run" LOL
OOOO, that spa sounds awesome. Lucky wife. Happy Anniversary. I love leaving the kids behind once in awhile. I hope your knee is doing better -- sounds like you have the plans in place to put your best foot (knee) forward. Good luck with the taper and all the prep!!
ReplyDeleteBest of luck with the Marathon :)
ReplyDeleteYou will like "The Runner" -I watch it often, that is until I get sick of it and switch to "Running on the Sun" , then I'll get sick of it, and move on to something else.
ReplyDeleteGood Luck at the LA Marathon.
Good luck at LA. I have great memories there, but I've never done the updated course.
ReplyDeleteHave fun!
Happy Anniversary!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you're going to completely rock the marathon. As a 'training run' - I think it's reasonable to expect en-route photos. Right?
Good luck with your taper madness! I think you will enjoy the movie The Runner. I had the good fortune of running with Dave Horton on the PCT last summer while training for an event. He kind of verbally bullies woman which really won't work here in Washington or the West Coast in general. Gotta Run Robin has experienced him first hand.
ReplyDeleteHe's fast and he's funny. He's also a very very tough ultra runner as you will see in the movie.
Have a great run at the LA Marathon! Hope the weather is cool and dry for you.
Trail Scat
You know that a second comment from me means nothing but trouble. But since you're in a taper week, you'll have plenty of time.
ReplyDeleteYou've been tagged. Sorry. Details at:
http://dcrainmaker.blogspot.com/2008/02/lucky-number-slevin.html
Enjoy your taper! That's always my favorite part :)
ReplyDeleteAnd, oh yeah, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!
So my knee is whispering and yours has a tweak? is that the same thing?
ReplyDeleteI read your earlier post and agree with what you said about Dean. He has done what most only dream of. The fact that he inspires others is all I need to know.
As for David Horton... not the biggest fan of his as far as him being a race director. I sometimes feel that he has lost touch with knowing what "normal trail runners" go through. When I crossed the finsh line last week he hugged me and asked me what size finisher short i wanted... we i said a small he asked me is I were sure. JERK!
hope you enjoy his book. :)
Good luck on the Marathon and Happy Anniversary! I did order some Hammer products when I was in the states. They were out of Perpetuem so I ordered "Sutained Energy". Any idea what the difference is? I wish I'd ordered more Recoverite, my son likes it for climbing.
ReplyDeletewhere are you????
ReplyDelete