Here’s the deal. The Los Angeles Marathon sent their official “Final Race Instructions” email. Anyone who has not grown up or lived in L.A. for a while might be a little intimidated. Some of the gems:

• “You must wear your Bib on the front of your shirt and leave the B-Tag attached to your bib. If you do not wear the Bib and attached B Tag, your marathon time will not be recorded properly.” I wonder how the B-Tag works if it’s under layers of clothing? How many will I see duct taped to a shoe? I wonder how many will be disappointed that their start time isn’t recorded?
• “The ChronoTrack Timing System uses the disposable B-Tag which is attached to the runner’s race bib. You will not need to remove the tag from the bib to put on your shoe. The timing device remains ON YOUR BIB.” I wonder how many people won’t read this?
• “ARRIVE EARLY, ARRIVE EARLY, ARRIVE EARLY!!! Let’s face it folks, this is Los Angeles, so even though it is a weekend and you will be leaving your house or hotel before the crack of dawn, you have to factor in traffic, congestion and crowded parking lots. We strongly advise all participants to arrive at the Stadium a minimum of 60 minutes before the race and 90 minutes is even better!” Anyone who has lived in L.A. for any length of time gets this. Sorry tourists!
• “ARRIVE EARLY, ARRIVE EARLY, ARRIVE EARLY!!!” So, let’s see. I’m on the 5:00 AM shuttle to Dodger Stadium. I probably need to be parked about 15 minutes before that to make sure I get to my shuttle. 30 minutes of traffic once I get off the freeway to get to the parking lot. One hour drive to Santa Monica. Hmm. Leave home at 3:00. AM. No wonder Marathon jumped!
• “Running 26.2 miles in and of itself is fun” Hooohooohooo! When was the last time *these* folks ran 26.2?
• “The Honda LA Marathon has stocked the race course with TONS of excitement to keep your energy level up and lots of fun things to look forward to throughout the race. There will be 25 entertainment centers, 4 City Block Parties, Cheer Alley, and over 50 additional entertainment sites located throughout the course.” Like I care? Hey dudes! I’m running a race! There better not be a block party at mile 23….
• “Please situate yourself in the start area according to your anticipated minute pace per mile, i.e. ten minute miles. This system is for your safety and the safety of other participants. Pace per mile signs will be hung along the sides of corrals, starting with a 9 minute pace all the way through 13 + minute pace per mile.” I read this as self policed corrals?  For 20,000 runners? I spell that C-L-U-S-T-E-R-F….
• “Diversified Paratransit shuttle vans will pickup runners who are unable to complete the Marathon starting at the Mile 7 water station and continuing through mile 23 and transport them back to the Runner Drop Off location at 2nd Street and Broadway in Santa Monica.” Bwahahahaha! (Ugh……)
• “If you want to store anything, there will be a bag check located in Lot G at Dodger Stadium.” Cool. “Due to heightened security reasons we will only accept the clear plastic bags of runners belongings. Non-transparent bags or back packs will not be accepted.” Hmm. Now that’s different. I wonder how many people won’t read this? I hope they have extra clear plastic bags at the bag drop!

No wonder Marathon is hiding! Maybe I can entice him: “Don Francisco will be providing coffee throughout the day for spectators and participants.” Here boy! Here boy!

Hmm. I wonder if I should be concerned that the title of the pdf they sent is “2010/03/10-Race-Instructions-revised.pdf” “Revised”? Make some room there Marathon. Where’s the mud pit?

• Taking it eas(ier): I’ll be maintaining intensity but cutting back on volume.  Last night I pulled off 6 miles at an average pace of 9:28. My longest run will be this weekend at 8 miles. Nothing else over 6 for the week. Sunday’s run will be in the two mile range. I could get used to this.
• Eating: I’ll be putting a little greater emphasis on carbs this week. But – I’m not going overboard! Instead of chicken and rice I’ll have rice and chicken. (YESSSSS!!!!) I’ll be limiting some foods high in saturated fats like  ice cream that my body will glomp onto. (NOOOOOO!!!!) Oh well. The added weight certainly won’t help on race day.
• Race plan: It’s time to formalize my plan. I *think* I know why I’m doing this. Time to be held accountable. Look for this by the end of the week.
• Day before and race morning logistics: This will be done solely for reduction of stress. My stress. I love a planned world. I don’t deal too well with surprises.

It’s nervous time. I think I’m a lot more nervous than the last time around in October…

Oh – an answer to a question that I asked yesterday about B-Tags. A comment posted by WadiaSoft directed me to ChronoTrack’s website:

“If you are using the single use ChronoTrack B-Tag as a timing device for your event, please ensure the following in order to receive an accurate time.

So now you and I know. I feel sorry for anyone who won’t get a start time because it’s cool and they decide to wear a jacket….

Long story short – if I would have tackled my run, there would have been no peace Sunday evening. I’m not going to stress about it. As I’ve said before, I’ve been running pretty consistently for a while now. Plus or minus six miles isn’t going to make a whole hill of beans.

I wrapped up last week with 30.25 running miles. Got a hill workout done midweek, and a medium long run on Saturday.

Coming this week:

• Monday: Rest.
• Tuesday: 6 miles general aerobic. Stretching afterwards.
• Wednesday: 30 minute tempo run.
• Thursday: 6 miles general aerobic. Stretching afterwards
• Friday: Rest
• Saturday: 8 miles. Slow and easy.
• Sunday: 2 miles general aerobic.
• Total planned miles: 25 miles.

My new pet should have nothing to hide from this week. He’ll be wallowing in the mud….

He will be my constant companion for the next three weeks. Some of his endearing qualities:

• Tapirs near a water source will swim, sink to the bottom to allow small fish to pick parasites off their bulky bodies.
• Along with fresh water lounging, tapirs often wallow in mud pits.
• The thick skin on the backs of their necks helps to protect them from threats.
• When threatened, the creatures are able to run fairly quickly, considering their size and cumbersome appearance, and find shelter in the thick undergrowth of the forest or in water.

I think Marathon and I will get along quite well….

• Clothing: Apparently my body is still changing. My favorite marathon shorts (Adidas with built in compression shorts) fits a lot looser that I remember. I had a problem with the shorts riding down on my hips and the compression shorts riding up into my nether regions. I fixed it by cinching the drawstrings a little tighter. Ouch! I need to remember that on race day….
• Fueling on the run: I was able to rip the little top off the Hammer Gels and get them down while moving. This is a big deal given my highly evolved sense of balance and coordination. The only thing I didn’t practice was throwing the finished gel pack on the ground (shame shame!)

So far so good. Today is a six mile race pace run. Time to figure out how that feels….

“…most people will say to keep the same intensity (speed) as before just reduce the volume. I like that a lot - keep you legs moving at the same speeds that they are used to.”

That makes a lot of sense in a lot of ways. I mean it takes doing something for 20 days to make it habit, right? Can you forget a habit by *not* doing it for 20 days? 21 day taper? Hmm.

So, I kept my date with the hills yesterday and did my final hill repeats before the Big Day. Two mile warm up, 6 hill repeats (1/4 mile, 110 foot gain, followed by a walk/slow jog back down) and a 1 mile warm down. Oh yeah. Remember that stuff I wrote about yesterday? About watching my pace? I’m thinking 10:15 - 10:30 pace for race day. Pace on my first two miles? 9:30. FAIL!!!! Well - that’s what these couple of weeks are about.

Today’s taper gem - diet. The first week of taper means protein should be making an appearance in our diets. Time to fuel to repair damage from what should have been a hard final week leading to taper. Let’s see - Monday dinner - pasta with meat sauce. Check. Tuesday - roast chicken and broccoli. Check. Wednesday - barbecued tri tip. Check. Thursday - soy chorizo with eggs and refried beans. Check. So far so good! (Of course, I fail to mention the ice cream that has been inhaled as well…..)

I have a rest day on the schedule today. I seem to have quite a few of those recently. Well, maybe not. I think the butterflies are starting to appear. This is common for even seasoned marathoners. The best advice for dealing with the butterflies came yesterday from Jill (Run With Me):

“What helps me is to make a list of all my anxiety and list who has control of it and how I can control what I can.”

I’ve got my pen and clipboard out. Thanks everyone for putting up with me for the next three weeks!

I spent some time yesterday researching the value of the taper. There are tons and tons of articles on the Internet that tell you what to do, but very few that actually explain why. I found this gem at Runner’s World that does a decent job of discussing the whys. In a nutshell:

In other words - what’s done is done at this point. After 15 weeks of training, there is very little that I can do over the next three weeks that is going to enhance my physical preparation. But, push myself too hard though, and the consequence can be a Long Beach repeat - where I was dust by mile 13, or worse yet - injury. The goal now is to maintain my current level of fitness and to give my body ample time to heal before the big day.

So, over the next three weeks, I’ll be doing slow easy miles. Like the 6 I did last night (10:32 pace, 73% MHR). I’m going to treat the next three weeks like a big dress rehearsal. Now that I’ve been through this a couple times, I know what *can* happen. Time to figure out how to recognize and fix issues before thy become big problems. Over the next few days, I’ll be attacking the checklist that comprises the *rest* of taper (Oh my! What a pun!)

Speaking about the power of the mind - it’s time to exercise mine a little during taper madness. This will be my third time doing 26.2. The first time was pure hell. The only thing that I was sure about was that I needed to do another to get the monkey off my back. The second time was better, but there was still a lot of experimenting going on right up to the start line (and maybe even beyond). I know I could have benefited from more planning. Anticipating what could go wrong before the race will leave you more prepared to deal with catastrophes during the race. Anyone who has been there knows what I mean. So, what I thought I would do here for the next couple of weeks is, with the help of yesterday’s article and my own experience, show you how I am dealing with taper madness.

As we wind down the miles in week 1 of taper, there are a number of things we can do to get mentally ready:

1. Weather - It’s time to start watching the weather. March weather can be such a crap shoot here in L.A. Average temperature is 70. Record for March 21 is 93. Rainy season won’t quite be over. Um yeah. The start time is late (7:30 AM), and by the time my wave hits the start line, it’s likely to be 7:45 or 8:00 AM. This means that I will be finishing around 12:30 to 1:00 in the afternoon. The last thing I want to do is be overdressed at the start and suffer later on as the sun comes out and the course heats up.
2. Goal pace: I’m going to start practicing running at goal pace if I’m not doing a tempo run. I need to run by feel. Right now I don’t know that feel. Starting Sunday, if I’m too fast, I *will* slow down. No reason to be setting practice records at this point. It’s always too easy to get caught up in the excitement of the moment and to go out way too fast. Believe me (experience speaking here) - it will come and grab you in the butt later on.
3. Clothing and gear: The carnal sin on race day is to be doing the race in something new. This weekend’s long run will be done in the same shorts, shirt and socks that I used for Long Beach - not because I’m superstitious, but because I need to check them out to make sure that nothing has changed (either my body or the clothing) that is going to result in chafing. Believe me - I will be in enough pain. Chafing is the last thing I need.
4. Shoes: This is also the time to take stock of my shoes. My race day shoes currently have 271 miles on them. I have 95 miles left on the plan (including race day). I alternate shoes during training, which means I’ll have around 320 miles on my race day pair. I typically put about 400 miles on shoes, so I should be safe.

So there you go. Enough to keep me busy for a couple days. On the schedule today - hill repeats. Six of them. Hey! Aren’t I supposed to be tapering?

Bottom line is February went out like a lamb. Part of it was a little too much racing - three races this past month - Surf City Half on the 7th, WTRS 21K Trail race on the 20th, and the Firecracker 10K this past Sunday. With all the mini-tapering that went on, that definitely put the kibosh on serious mileage:

• Week ending 2/7: 28 running, 9 rowing - 37 total
• Week ending 2/14: 41 running, 10 rowing - 51 total
• Week ending 2/21: 29 running, 9 rowing - 38 total
• Week ending 2/28: 23 running, 5 rowing - 28 total
• Total: 121 running, 33 rowing - 154 total

That’s about 25 to 30 miles short of plan when I started the month. Oh well. Consistency is really the name of the game. Or so I convince myself that it is.

And now? Nervous time begins! The L.A. Marathon is less than 3 weeks away. Gulp! That means that I start taper this week. I’m going to forgo the rowing machine for the next few weeks and put my mileage in on the roads and trails. For this week:

• Monday: Scheduled rest.
• Tuesday: 8 general aerobic miles
• Wednesday: 6 general aerobic miles. Stretch and core workout.
• Thursday: Hill repeats. 6 miles total including 6 hill repeats.
• Friday: Scheduled rest.
• Saturday: 12 miles general aerobic.
• Sunday: 4 miles general aerobic. Stretch and core workout
• Total plan: 36 miles

This time around I am committed to not showing up at the start line tired. So while this week’s schedule is a medium effort for me, next week and the week after will be rather pedestrian - 25 miles next week, and 8 miles (plus the marathon) the following week. My challenge will be to not *eat* like I’m still running 40 miles…..