Taper madness

Last week I ran 26 miles and was very pleased with myself. No sore legs and was up and running a day later. And so the taper madness begins...

For those who are new to running taper madness is a unique blend of anticipation of the race to come and blind panic for the race to come. One week you can run long miles with relative ease and the following week 3 miles becomes a struggle. You start to imagine you are getting all sorts of injuries - achy ankles, sore knees, cramping calf muscles and almost always you end with a cold of some sort. The thing is none of these things are really happening, this is the taper madness.

So after my long run of 26 miles I decided I was going to try and combat the madness so have run a couple of 4 miles runs and then on the most glorious day took myself up Carnethy. A short but steep run.

Parked the car at the bottom of the hill and then set off along the footpath. I decided at the footpath marker that I would head up the other side of the hill and run over the top and down rather than the up and down route on the same path that I would normally take. This is a little bit harder as it is quite steep and the footpath runs out meaning that you have to scramble through heather, following the sheep paths (no song jokes about sheep please Alastair Scott, Jean Crosland and Hazel Eyres!!!!).

The sun was quite strong and the wind was very gently unusual for Carnethy. Slowly worked my way up the path until I got to the bit of the hill where the path runs out. Sat down for a break at this point. 26 miles were making their presence known.

Finally I got to the top, legs were complaining a bit but I was having fun and the sun was shining so on I went. Had a wee chat to two men who were out walking and on the way down, they laughed and said that I still had a way to go and to enjoy myself! 

The views from the top were stunning and as always the wind was blowing a hoolie. The sun was shining and it was very warm. Stopped for a bit to take photos. Then I headed back down. The best bit! The last time I was up the hill it was wet and muddy and the stones were very slippy this time the grass was dry and it was a nice run down.

After a great run down the hill I got back to the car and then home for a nice cup of tea. Another successful run. So where does the taper madness come in?

Today I went for a short run (3 miles) my legs were heavy, my head was sore, my ankle was hurting and I struggled to run those titchy 3 miles. But I know it is all in my head and I will be fine in a week's time when I head off for Kielder. 31 miles just seems such a long way. eeeek!