week 14

[Coach Cane]

Let the taper begin. The hard work is over now.  From here on in, 
we begin the taper.  This week we'll decrease your weekly mileage by 
about 25%, but please keep the same intensity as before.  After that 
we'll continue to decrease your training volume, but also back off on 
the intensity.  We do this in order to have the ideal balance between 
making sure you're rested and recovered for race day, while ensuring 
that you don't lose any conditioning during the taper.  Use this time 
to rest, recover, and get mentally ready. *** Do not try to make up for 
lost ground***.  Even if you're not 100% happy with your current 
conditioning and training, it's too late to try to improve it without 
negatively impacting race day. Overdoing it now will hurt your race 
performance - not help it. 

Trust your training, trust the taper, and enjoy the recovery. 

Tuesday you'll do an easy jog, starting out south, looping around

to the east side, and then up to the reservoir, entering at Engineer's gate at 90th St.  Once you're on the rez, 

do one lap at half marathon race pace and then exit the reservoir where 
you entered, and do an easy jog back. (the 9:00/mile and faster folks will retract their steps back, the 

9+ folks will cut across the transverse on the way back.)

Saturday we're down to 14-16 miles. (Those with training paces 11:00 or slower will do 14 in order to 

avoid being on your feet for too long) .  Please keep the pace to goal 
marathon + :15-45/mile.  No faster even if it feels like a walk in 
the park.  (Compared to the last couple of weeks, it probably will.)

(Those who've trained with us in the past know that this is usually the week that we do Queensboro Bridge

repeats. Though I love that workout and the psychological value, the bridge has become too crowded over 

the last few years and has become dangerous for groups of runners. If any of you want to jog over there on Thursday

as part of your training, I'd encourage that.)  Though it won't give the course preview that the QB repeats would, running the Harlem Hill loop

will still do the trick for the training, so that's where we'll keep you this week. (Exact details will follow.)

Here's an outline of your full week: 
M: rest 
T: group 
W: easy 3-5, preferably on soft surface.  x-training is acceptable 
Th: easy 4-6.  Nothing faster than MGP, but QB hill (2.82 miles round trip) as part of the run is acceptable. 
F: rest. 
S: group 
Su: easy 3-4 mile recovery jog, preferably on soft surface. 
If you're feeling a little achy or tired and want to 
substitute one or both of these runs with a deep water run of 
comparable time and intensity, that's absolutely fine. 

Asi i mentioned, for now there's no need to decrease the pace of your 
runs just yet. Nor is there any need to change your diet.  Just continue to 
eat a healthy diet, rich is complex carbohydrates, and stay well 
hydrated. We'll talk some more over the next couple of weeks about 
race tactics, course management, logistics, and everything else you'll need 
to know. 

See you tomorrow night.