Marathon Training: Week 15 a.k.a. Taper Week 2

I can't believe my first marathon is coming up in January! All those last few years of thinking about it and knowing that I wasn't ready to commit to training for one seemed like forever ago, and now it's real and I couldn't be more excited (and nervous - let's not lie here lol!). For the marathon plan I'm following, I chose one for beginner runners who have about a year of running under their belt. While I'm not a beginner, I wanted to work more on hills, technique and speed and I feel that this plan will allow me to do that to a greater extent come January for April's marathon. 

Week 15 is made up of some of the same crazy feelings I had on week 14...the self doubts, the uncontrollable desire to go run to burn off stress but the knowledge that I shouldn't...At this point I just want to make it to marathon time without losing my crap.

The taper crazies are worse this week and after crying over a radio show this morning and devouring 6 chocolate chip cookies last night I'm ready for this race to start. I'm also going to plan my race day outfit this week, because it'll be 30 some odd degrees out and this will take some thinking. 

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The week 15 breakdown went as follows:

Monday 1/7 Spinning Class. I woke up at 4:30 to make it to a 5:30 spinning class and I can't believe how great it felt. Not the morning wake up but everything else. It felt so invigorating and was a great way to start the day, not to mention that I found out that I desperately needed to be training on a bike, so it worked some muscles I forgot about, including those pesky fast twitch ones. I'll be going back. 

Tuesday 1/8 Rest day

Wednesday 1/9 Two miles in the park. My doubts are slowly creeping in there and making me feel like I should be running 8 or 9, but no, I'm going to trust in the training. Yikes. 

Thursday 1/10 Rest day

Friday 1/11 I took another spinning class at the studio because.. well heck...why not? I can no longer control my nerves and the taper crazies and just need an outlet. 

Saturday 1/12 Rest day and photoshoot day with friends at this pop-up museum. It was a ton of fun and a great way to relax and be artsy. 

Sunday 1/13 "Long Run Day" 6 miles in the park. This will be my longest run before the marathon. I'm dying to know if it will be enough to get me to that finish line, but I'll find out soon enough.