[ In competitive athletics, “tapering” is when an athlete gradually slows down her training before the event, in order to preserve energy and be in top form on the actual day. ]
Monday was Thanksgiving Day: I slept in and tried to recover from spending the previous day stuffing myself with turkey. My thought was to run Tuesday and Thursday mornings, and rest on Friday and Saturday for the race on Sunday. Well, on Tuesday morning, I actually go up, got dressed and left the house – and turned around and came right back before I even got off my own property. It was 6°C outside, and that’s just too damned cold. I did manage to run after work, when it was much warmer.
After that, I wasn’t wimping out because it was too cold, or too rainy. I was tapering… yeah, that’s it… That’s why I didn’t run on Thursday. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
So how do you prepare for your big event?
