I brace myself ’cause I know it’s gonna hurt
The taper is upon me and my body is feeling better everyday. The little aches and pains are dissipating and my legs feel more fresh every run. Tomorrow we will do our last workout before the marathon. It’s going to be a very short workout (4 times 3 minutes) run a touch faster than race pace.
I like the taper but I miss the hard training as well. I guess I’m so used to running a lot and running tough workouts that it feels weird training like a pansy. I trust the taper because I know it has worked well for me in the past but it’s a tough thing to trust. I have to remind myself that I’m not going to lose fitness running 145km in a week (last week’s total) and running 5 to 15km/day this week. On Sunday I picked up my pace a few times, not because I was supposed to, it wasn’t in my training plan, but because I’m feeling antsy with this extra energy. I’ll keep it under control this week.
During this taper (two weeks) I’ve cut out 90% of the junk I normally eat. In general I eat healthy however, once I have consumed the goods (veggies, fruits, lean meat, whole grains etc) I indulge in the real goods (cookies, frozen yogurt, chocolate). Plus, when I’m running over 200km in a week there is only so much healthy food I can eat to get in my calories. In response to my health kick I’ve created a list of things I’ll pig out on next week. They include, but not limited to, an Olympic crepe, Walker’s cookies, butter tarts and probably a donut from Timmy’s. In Hamilton we have a special donut, although I’ll pass on that go for the Boston Cream.
Josephat, Karanja and I were in a Tim Horton’s recently and Karanja had to ask me if this particular donut was actually edible. It depends who you ask.
If you want to follow the race live on the Internet you can go to STWM LIVE PAGE for a live video broadcast and blog updates. Speed River Twitter (on the right hand side of my blog) will have some updates as well. If you’re planning on watching the race in Toronto don’t plan on driving from spot to spot. From what I hear, with all the closed roads, the traffic is super backed-up. To see the race at three points with minimal walking you can watch at 4km (Lakeshore Blvd/Bay St) , 20km (Queens Quay/Bay St) and the Finish (Queen St./Bay St).
At the start of the season I really wanted to race the Commonwealth Games 5000m but as I got deeper into marathon training I kept getting more excited to have another crack over 42.2km. It doesn’t hurt that in the Athletes Village in Delhi “it has been reported that in some flats labourers had defecated.”
Good article from the Guelph Mercury about Eric and myself gearing up for the upcoming marathon. It states our time goal in the article although I’d really like to run 30 seconds faster than that.
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FLOAT ON 
Thanks for the shout out, There will be crepes waiting for you at the finish line.
sounds and looks like your ready dude, good luck and kick it dude
Good luck this w/e, I’m looking forward to following the race and hearing your tales after.
I’m working the course as a Zone manager(East end turnaround) and I can’t freakin wait to see how you and Gillis are doing at that point!
Give it hell Reid!
half way finished at 20 miles, remember that one 🙂
good luck!!
Hey Reid,
Best of luck on Sunday, it’s definitely an exciting time. Right now the forecast is looking perfect, let’s hope it hold out for your and Eric.
We’ll be watching the race live back here in Guelph, hopefully you guys can hear us cheering you on.
Enjoy the experience!!!
Giv’em hell Reid!
Hey Reid,
Been following your blog for a while now. You are truly inspiring and your writing is a big boost for my own training.
Best of luck tomorrow!!!! I’ll be filling the race from South Korea!!
Kick ass Reid. Good luck!
Great job!
Oh Man, great job Reid. I’m so happy for you.
sweet dude, you rocked it !
So Reid, are you “A Marathoner” now? 🙂
If I read this correctly, you just punched a ticket to London 2012, and you only have to prove fitness from here on in. Wonder where “unfinished business” at 5000/10000 will fit in over the next 23 months.
Anyway, the CR/sub2:10 in 2011 at Waterfront would be sweet. Not that I’m trying to direct your running or anything. 🙂
Just so thrilled for you Man.
Reid,
That is an amazing result! Great racing and I hope even more people start to pay attention to the great things that are happening in Canadian running these days!
Enjoy the glory,
Larry Bradley
Huge congrats. That is so awesome. We were cheering over morning coffee in our backyard, while getting iphone updates. You’ve worked so hard and stayed so focused for this even through some tough injury issues. Very inspiring.
Those donuts are sweet! Congrats on the race this past weekend. Bridget and I were by the computer the whole time following your results.
Desy
Thanks everyone!