Last (two) Week(s): Nov 23-Dec 6

These two weeks represent the entirety of my taper. When I first began running marathons and short ultras, I used a three week taper. As I've become more experienced, I noticed that three weeks began to make me feel stale, as if I were losing fitness. I first tried a two week taper at CIM in 2012 and liked it so much that I've continued. Here's my taper for The North Face 50K.

Week 1:
Sunday: Run 7.5 mi. 1:18:20, 10:26/mi.

 It’s fun to run with people that lead such different lives than I do. Yesterday, Kim found out she won a seat on city council by just 46 votes and she still can’t believe it, then she conquered the final hill (in picture 3) without stopping and broke into a wild happy dance. Tracy was stoked about introducing her son to indoor climbing after our run. Caroline was planning to hit the Fungi Fest later with her husband later. And Terri told us that today was her longest run since the accident two years ago and nothing could wipe that proud grin from her face.

Monday: Rest!

Tuesday: Run 4 mi. 31:20, 7:50/mi.

This one started out a little rough, but after the first pickup, my body realized what we were doing. I hoped this speed carried over to Thursday’s Turkey Trot 5K. Only goal for the race: MAKE IT HURT.

Wednesday: Run 4.25 mi. 35:18, 8:20/mi.
 A quick shakeout run along the bay with my new running buddy Rachel. She lives nearby so we met at my house and ran from there. We made a new (unwanted) friend on the trail. He was smoking a cigar and following us while telling about his cross country running days. Girls can't beat boys, he said. Okay, we'll see about that.

Thursday: Run 5.75 mi, including Turkey Trot 5K

The 5K was a bit long and my official time was 22:12, good enough for 10th woman. Matt won us a pie. Rachel and I beat at least a couple hundred dudes each. Guess that guy was wrong, huh?

Friday: Run 5 trail mi, 57:34, 11:31/mi, 784 ft. gain

Soggy and foggy miles on the Weaverville trail system. Originally, we had planned to do a series of hikes with Nikki, but she didn't like the rainy forecast, so Matt and I went solo. It turned out to be pretty wet, but we caught a mostly dry period on Friday for our run.

Saturday: Run 8 trail/snow mi. 1,317 ft. gain

Rain turned to snow as we climbed above 6,500 ft. along Manzanita Creek in Lassen. My heart was soooo happy. It was snowing so hard that the mountains weren’t visible, but my mind’s eye filled in the blanks (I did it for you in the top picture, hehe). Jaunts like this always help put me in a more Christmas mood.

TOTAL MILES:  34.5
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Week 2: 

Sunday: Run 6.25 trail mi, 1:11:13, 11:23/mi, 826 ft gain.

Group trail run with Mark and his friend, also named Mark. Even though Matt and I have run a lot in Redding, we usually go during road marathon season to take advantage of their paved trail system. Since our home trail system is so extensive, we seldom travel to run trails near Redding. I love that we've done some exploring with Mark on our own turf and his.

Monday: Run 6 mi, 49:54, 8:15/mi.

I went for a run with Rachel today at an almost conversational pace. She runs about 10-20 sec/mi. faster than me at most of our club races. It has been almost ten years since I’ve had a running buddy that matches my road paces this well. We feel more like training partners, pushing each other in different areas. I’m a hill climber and she’s better on the raw speed. With some more regular runs together, I think we could really bring some power out of each other.

Tuesday:  Rest!

I went out for a sunset photo session.

Wednesday: Run 3 mi, 22:51, 7:37/mi.
8 kitties 

I didn’t look at my watch until the end, I just hit the button where I thought a mile was. I was expecting to see the low 8:00/mi range, not 7:40s. Wow.

Earlier in the day, I dropped a heavy box on the 4th and 5th toes of my right foot. I spent the afternoon alternating ice and heat. That afternoon I went for a run to see how it was. The foot felt good during my run but when I stopped, it definitely felt tender.

Thursday and Friday: Rest!
My foot was sore on Thursday but by Friday it didn't hurt at all. A little bit more icing and a foot soak and I was ready for Saturday's race.

Saturday: The North Face 50K.

I'm still working on the race report, but I had a really fun day playing in the mud.

TOTAL MILES: 47.25

Notes: This taper couldn't have been timed more perfectly with my allergies. They flared up the day after the Turkey Trot. Although a cutback in mileage certainly helped, it still left my body feeling heavy and lethargic.