Today was one of those days. One of those days where my legs just don't want to work. I was supposed to run an easy 3mi, but for whatever reason, it felt like those were the first miles I have ever ran. I felt incredibly sluggish, though, oddly, not the whole time. It came in waves. I started off feeling stiff, and although I was breathing fine, my lungs felt tight. Then all of the sudden the feeling would go away and I was feeling perfect, light as air. Then, as before, that feeling would pass and the stiffness would return. Are you starting to see the pattern here? I actually didn't even finish the 3 miles. I only went 2, because of the wonkiness (don't mind me, just making up my own words) of the situation. I'm not really sure what's going on, but I'm sure glad today was not race day. Which brings me to the 5k I'm running on Sunday. I feel kind of silly for saying this, but I am actually tapering for the race.
I haven't reduced my mileage at all so far this week, but I have been doing only easy runs since Tuesday and I will not be running at all tomorrow (which is normally my long run day). I was telling a friend this on Tuesday (she is in taper phase for her half on Sunday), and she kind of laughed at me. I didn't think it was that dumb. I think it's good to have fresh legs, no matter how far your race is. Well, because I am a Googleholic (still making words up), I decided to search for an answer. What I found was good enough to make me feel a little better. An article on active.com states that (clears throat), "Tapering isn't just for marathoners. In fact, one recent study showed a huge performance benefit when subjects tapered for a 5K." Well, there you have it. Tapering for a 5k is officially ok. So, I will just get back to my tapering duties (is it just me or are there a lot of parenthesis in this post?).
What do you think? Is it weird to taper for a 5k?
Anyone else running a race this weekend?
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