With one week to go before the start of the races, I thought it’s a good time to dust off the annual reminder that the hay is in the barn. As always, thanks go to Charles for first writing this many years ago.
The Hay is in the Barn
I used to hear this weekly back in my high school days (and yes there were high schools back then). Coach would walk in Thursday after practice and tell us that the Hay was in the barn boys, enjoy the fruit of our labors. If you think about it, he was correct. We have all spent the training season growing, harvesting, baling and stacking our hay for future use. There is not much more that any of us can do from now through race day. Seriously, a marathon is not an event that you can cram for. I know there are a few who can simply head out and run one, but most of us need to spend the next couple weeks allowing the body to absorb the training from the last few months. Many do not understand that the work (running, lifting, etc) is not where strength and improvements come from; rather, its the recovery periods just after the work where they occur. Its happens as a result of the muscle repairs those tiny little micro tears that occur with all workouts.
Its taper time... Yes we do need to be out and running. Taper is seriously misunderstood by many runners. It is not a time of kicking back and not doing anything. Taper is a reduction of training volume. Volume = intensity x time. In many camps it is thought that intensity should remain high through taper. I am in that camp, at least for most runners. Distances, ie time, are reduced dramatically while the mid week intensities remain just as high as previous work.
The exception to the above... If you are injured or ill, I would just recover. Do not run or otherwise aggravate your injury. Give the joint time to heal up. If ill, its still ok to run, but keep it light. The general rule of thumb is that if your cold or illness is above the neck, head out for your run; if in the chest or below the neck stay in.
NERVOUS?
It is normal. Remember how nervous you were the first time you entered a race. These are the same nerves. If this is your first event, it is very normal to have a set of nerves during this period. Tapering tends to bring the nerves out as you are not working out near as long as you were just two weeks ago. Trust me, even the most seasoned runners have similar nerves. Maybe we just hide them better, or understand them better. But watch as you are in the corral on race morning. Folks are burning off nervous energy in various ways. Make a pledge to use your nerves to help get you to and through the race. Once the gun goes off and you just hit the point where you are sweating, your case of nerves will soon disappear.
comes around like clockwork this time of year. 
