Hansons Week 18

The final week! I will write about the actual race another time, but I will say that overall it was a great experience. I did not achieve the time that I wanted or trained for, but I am proud of the 6 minute PR I accomplished.


Here is what the final week looked like:

Monday: 5 easy miles
Tuesday: 5 easy miles
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: 6 easy miles 4 easy miles
Friday: 5 easy miles Rest
Saturday: 3 easy miles 2 easy miles
Sunday: RACE!

The biggest differences between the plan and what I did was taking an extra rest day and shortening some of the runs. I attended the race expo on Friday which involved a lot of walking so I would not even say it was a true rest day as I was on my feet quite a bit.

Fatigue Level:

I felt like I took care of myself physically this week and I noticed a huge difference in my body and how rested I felt. The inflammation in my legs that I have grown used to was gone and I did not have "Hansons legs" for once. I did a lot of yoga to rest and recover, and physically I was ready for race day. I stayed off my feet quite a bit on Saturday other than the shake-out run, and I think it is the most rested I have ever been prior to a race. In terms of sleep, I did not sleep well the night before but that was to be expected. Thankfully I slept a lot in the nights leading up to the race, so I think I banked enough sleep that one sleepless night did not affect me.

No Hansons legs with this kind of love

Mental & Emotional Strength:

As if the last day at my job the previous week was not enough stress, my employer called to ask if I would come back for two more months. I would still be laid off after that, but they were desperate with another employee leaving. While I declined and was completely at peace with my decision, this caused me some unnecessary stress. I continued with my daily yoga practice for meditation and game day mental prep and I found that I came back to the breath and mantra several times in the days to come before the race. I made my pre-race checklist the day before and prepared my race bags in advance so I would forget anything or think about it the night before. I find that the more prepared I am, the less I worry or stress. There is no reason to worry about things that are in your control, so I do my best to control what I can.

Nutrition:

I continued with my pre-race strategy of eating 80-90% carbs and ate foods that I was familiar with and have had success with in the past. I did drop two more pounds which came more from the lack of inflammation than lack of food, but I felt good with what I was eating and drinking and made sure to keep in mind what food I needed to fuel me rather than just eating carbs to eat carbs.

Overall I had a great last week of tapering and I actually enjoyed it. I remained focused on the race and my goals, but I also took some time to rest and enjoy the extra time I had that would have normally been spent running. Now I understand what people mean when they say that they like the taper. I think I appreciated it more than ever.