Let the taper begin!

I ran the big 20 miler today! I am officially in the taper now. Last time, I was a little bit crazy in the taper. This cycle, I am very excited to taper. None of my long runs have been fabulous, until today. I struggled a little bit in the last 2 miles, but I started fingerspelling country and state names in order to mentally distract myself from the pain. Yay for studying while running! My knees were hurting a bit.

Only one mile was over 11 mins, and it was just barely there (11:01). Runner's World tells me that this time will lead to a 4:30 marathon time, but I don't think I can maintain my pace through the last 6.2 miles. Sub-5 hours is definitely possible (and that's my goal), but I think my time could possibly be 4:45. It depends on the hills. My long run route is relatively flat, and the marathon is quite hilly. I've been working on hills though, so we'll see how it goes. Adrenaline should have some affect as well.

I have decided that I will not do sprints during the taper. My IT bands have been pretty tight lately, and I think that sprinting is contributing to that. I'll still do hills though. After today's run, I'm excited to see what I can do after a taper. The RT 66 marathon is going to be fantastic! :D