Cleveland Marathon taper plan

This morning I had an excellent speedwork session. I did 9 miles total with 1600s at 5:34, 5:34, and 5:36 with a 400-meter recovery after the first repeat and an 800 after the second. Overall, I felt pretty good despite a mild case of dead legs.

Having averaged over a 100 miles a week the last four weeks and completed five 100-mile weeks over the last seven weeks with aggressive speedwork and tempos mixed in, my goal this week is to run about 65-70 miles, with a marathon-pace run on Friday. This total mileage may be difficult as our baby will be born on Friday! Yes, we're extremely excited!...more than I could possibly express in this post. :)

Back to running! I'd like to have about 50-52 miles done by the time we go into the hospital on Friday morning, and then chip away at the remaining 15-20 miles over Saturday and Sunday, if that'll even be possible. My wife wants me to go to Solon on Sunday morning and get in 12 with the club. Yes, she really said that. I don't know if I will. It depends on how she's doing.

For next week's plan, I consulted with Mark G. to come up with the following:

Monday--off
Tuesday--3x1600s at marathon pace (6:41-6:45 pace)
Wednesday-Saturday--3-5 miles with a day off somewhere
Sunday--race

He also said to focus on protein until Wednesday and then up the carbs on Thursday. I'll do it, though it'll be tough with the hospital food and all.

My goal for Cleveland is a 2:55, with the first half done in 1:25-1:27. I'd like to get to the 20-mile mark in about 2:10-2:12 and then, of course, break the tape at 2:55. That's 6:41 pace--a tall task. But I can do it. And I will do it.

I'll take it easy the week after Cleveland, maybe running 45-60 miles to get me back to feeling good going into the Mohican 100. I have a planned 90-100-mile week the week of June 2-8. To get in that kind of mileage with a newborn at home, I'll likely have to do my second/PM runs during my lunch hours to ensure that when I get home I can be the husband and father I want to be and should be.

Then I'll taper after the big week.

What happens after Mohican? I have a big 2008 race schedule, which includes the summer Buckeye Trail 50K, maybe--just maybe--the Burning River 100 if (I break 3 at Cleveland and won't need to focus like a laser beam on breaking 3 in the fall), the Columbus Marathon, potentially the JFK 50, and a few other events--that I'd like to complete. We'll see.... I'll keep running hard and never stop, you can count on it.