Wednesday, May 13, 2015

The Burn of Taper Madness

Two weeks until the Bayshore Marathon and I am in taper madness which include thoughts like :

OMG why am I running so sloooow? Shouldn't I be running faster right now? I was going faster last week, wasn't I? 

Why didn't I do any speed work? 

Pace? What pace?

How the hell am I going to PR?

Where's the mental toughness I need? I lost it. Where did it go? Will it show up for the race? Maybe I don't really care anymore.

Go down in miles? I feel fine. What's a couple more miles or one less rest day?

Crap, I might gain weight before the race. That's two seconds slower per mile. I need to pick up some miles.

Damn. Should have done more Yasso 800s. Next time.

What is wrong with my breathing?

And you want to run 100 miles??? What the hell are you thinking?

What if it's windy and rainy?

Embrace the suck, fool. Embrace the suck.

Why did I make another peanut butter pie. That is two in a week …  just stop it!


And the only thing that is true for sure, is that I am out of time. I need to let my muscles rebuild to see the magic that is the taper. Think about 1-0-0 after this marathon.

With 5 months of training, changing my diet and losing 15 lbs (that's right and 10 more to go before Superior 100), I NEED to see results. I NEED that perfect day:
no GI track issues
 mid-50s to 70 degree temps
 no rain
 no asthma
 pure mental toughness
 no aches
 keep the pace, keep the pace
 rested

Feeling sluggish, anxious, and getting freaked out almost daily … what's a girl to do except throw on the most awesome pair of capris that just arrived, and then take some pictures because they rock that much!! They make me rock! They'll make you rock!

I'm just going to go on the record as the woman with genetically gifted calves LOL … at 16 inches around there will be no false hopes of getting smaller. That's right, be jealous of my calf size boys. In fact, I HATED the stirrup pants and fitted pants look of the 80s. Someone—a stupid boy—once told me I shouldn't wear them because they didn't look good. All the other girls looked like pixies and that was never going to be me. And another boy told me I was built like a guy because of my calves. Yep, see the burn coming on here?

Finally, a capri that really does fit all sizes. This is what a woman really needs. A capri from INKnBURN called RYU with a dragon head that says to me, "Girl, you're huge! Well ALRIGHT! How far can you fly?"


When I saw these a month ago on pre-order, I was hoping for the capri of my dreams. They are, and more. The RYU Capri is athletic wear that looks like dark blue denim and fits more like an elastic tight material, but goes on easily. They are sized 0-12. But bare in mind since they do limited runs, they are GONE when they sell out. I can even wear underwear with no lines showing. They truly nailed this badass design. (No, I don't think I can write a post without saying badass.)

I don't want to call out the other brands I have tried with false promises of no lines, but there are plenty with a suck-tion I refuse to embrace.

As my taper madness continues for the next two weeks and the crazies keep flying, I am going to throw the dragon on now and then just to feel like the rock star I should.

And with relentless faith, I'll find my focused drive.


Incase you NEED to make that Peanut Butter Pie, I compared two of them and liked this one the best from the The Pioneer Woman.