Last week I fizzled out at about mile 11 of what was supposed to be a 20-mile run. About an hour later, I forced myself to go out and run an additional 4.5 miles for a total of 15.5 miles. I thought maybe I was over-trained. David D., a reader of this blog, thought it was probably just too warm that day, because he was struggling during a long run, too. He might be right. Tuesday, I ran 6.5 miles at a sub-9-minute a mile pace with a negative split and then repeated that on Thursday. In other words, I felt great. Total mileage last week was 27.5 miles. That’s not great, since it should have been my highest mileage. Oh well. BTW: Dave D., Are you running the New York Marathon?

I was scheduled to run 14 miles this past Saturday morning. Friday afternoon, I felt a cold coming on. It was a mild one, so I hit the road anyway. I ran from my house in the Central West End to Forest Park, ran two laps then ran home. I felt a little sluggish at first but was able to push through for two reasons. 1) The weather was perfect with temps in the mid-50s. 2) My good friend Zeta Cooper came along for the second lap and talked about interesting stuff.

My longest run from here on out will be 8 miles next Saturday because I’m now tapering. I toyed with running this morning, but am still feeling fluffy in the head from the cold and decided to sleep in. Will run tomorrow with Dr. Ed Wolfgram, who’s back from the Hawaiian Ironman.

Tapering feels strange. Training programs always have you building mileage until 3 weeks before the race when you do a 20-mile run. Then the mileage begins dropping rather dramatically to allow the body to fully rest up and repair itself. Suddenly you’re practically prohibitted from doing week-day runs over 5 miles which feels like you’re cheating. Plus, you often gain weight.

Marathontraining.com gives a good sense of what tapering is all about.