Training Journal 8/27-9/2

Monday, August 27- Sunday, September 2: More tapering.  Man, this tapering is getting tiring.  I actually did a little more mileage than I'd planned to do this week because James and I were in Tahoe guiding the Tahoe Rim Running Tour.  It's such a beautiful place and I couldn't control myself.  I never got sore or felt tired from the runs, even though I had a 19 mile day and a 24 mile day, one right after the other.

Hilary, me, British Steve, Steve, ans Gene.  All road marathoners and very strong on the trails.

I'm also beginning to recognize a pattern in the taper weeks for a 100 miler.  Mentally I begin to question my decision to run my 100 mile race.  I just want to run each day, throw in hard, long workouts without a care in the world.  I love the building phase of racing, especially the hard work.

During the taper I feel out of shape, bored, lazy, and at least a little scared of the effort to come.  Of course, that's just part of tapering and preparing mentally for a long endurance event.  This feeling of not wanting to do the race after all is fairly new.  I had it really bad for Tahoe 100 this past July, but did not feel it at all for the Cascade Crest 100 last year.  I really considered not doing the TRT 100.  I got all grumpy that I was doing some organized race and stressed out about the preparations.  What if I don't achieve my goals? What if I fail?  What if it hurts?  I felt that I would rather have put all this effort into running the 165 mile TRT.   These feeling have surfaced again for Plain 100.  I know now that they are harmless feelings and will go away when the race begins.  In the meantime, here is last weeks training journal.

Monday: 7 mile run Watson Lake to Brockway.  900 feet of climbing.
Tuesday: 19 mile run Mt. Rose to Brockway. 2,500 feet of climbing
Wednesday: 24.5 mile run.  Tahoe Meadows (Mt. Rose) to Spooner Lake.  3,500 feet of climbing.
Thursday: Nothing
Friday: 5 miles by Armstrong Pass.  1,000 feet of climbing.
Saturday: 5 miles, climb up Lassen Peak.  Fast descent.  Started at 8,000 feet, climbed to over 10,000.  2,095 feet of climbing. 
Sunday: 4 mile run on the beach.  Tolawa Dunes, Oregon.  100 feet of climbing (I said dunes, right?).

Totals
Running miles: 64.5 miles
Running elevation gain: 10,095 feet
Biking miles: 0
Biking gain: 0

At the top of Lassen Peak