Starting the Taper

Now that I've done my last 20 miler before the marathon, I'm officially in taper mode. This mainly means that my long runs won't be quite so long. I run three times per week, so for most of my runs, my legs are fairly recovered. I will be continuing to run at this consistency for the next few weeks as well.



In the next two weeks, I have two more runs planned:
1) This Saturday is the Davis Turkey Trot Half Marathon. I am still trying to decide if I will run this at tempo pace (~my half marathon pace) or slower (just faster than or about marathon pace).
2) Run to Feed the Hungry on Thanksgiving morning. I talked about this run a few days ago, but this will definitely be run at a nice, easy, relaxed pace. This run will be for fun and enjoying the day.

Ideally, I will also do one other longer run of around 8 miles the week before the race, but I'm not sure if I will be able to fit that in with the Thanksgiving holiday (Ry and I are going away for the weekend). Many websites suggest to run 80% of your volume three weeks out, 60% two weeks out and 33% the week of the race.

I will be doing my best to eat healthy, especially with Thanksgiving and some travel thrown in the mix. But at least carb loading gives me a good excuse to eat lots of mashed potatoes and stuffing! I will also be focusing on hydration. Sometime I forget to drink water during the day, so my goal will be to drink at least one full bottle (I carry a big water bottle with me every day) by the end of the work day.



The next two weeks I also plan to do this series of hip and glute exercises (great video and exercise explanations, by the way!). I noticed during Clarksburg that my glutes and hamstrings were really getting tight, and I could feel a little bit of IT Band soreness. None of it was anything to be concerned about, but with 3 weeks left, I could do 2 solid weeks of exercises and stretches to make sure I am strong for this race.


How do you taper for a marathon? 

Any thoughts on my pace for Saturday's race? I could use some advice...