Taper Time

Well here we are, after 9 solid months of training, taper time has suddenly appeared.

Yesterday I finished of my program with a marathon on the trails, it was an emotional day. As I was driving to the trail to meet friends, I found myself with a few tears in my eyes, a little shell shocked I think that I had gotten to this stage, intact and without missing a session.

It has been the biggest program I have ever undertaken and I had no idea when I started back on the 22nd January how things would pan out. David from Perform Best started me on very low mileage, and has built me up perfectly. I have been lucky to have had no injuries or sniffles to interrupt my plan and now I just need to stay healthy and dont do anything silly.

II have been asked a lot this year, “have you run a marathon”. Those that know me are aware that I am not a road runner, I prefer the serenity of the trails for my long runs, so although I have not done any marathon events, I have done plenty of marathon distance runs.

Anyway I thought I would list some stats, for those that are interested, from my training for this run, since 22nd January 2024.

Total km’s : 2,925km

Half Marathons : 16 (8 of these were between 30-35km)

Marathons : 5

Hours : 386

Ascent : 17,036

Calories burnt : 222,769

Road Runners : 3.5

Trail Runners : 2

Kangaroo’s : Too many to count

The next 11 days are about rest, recovery, short slow runs, nutrition and staying healthy. I will also be trying not to get too overwhelmed as the day gets closer.

Thanks for reading x