Its hard to describe the feeling you get when after a race, you stop and take a look at how you’ve performed, and commit to making some changes to do better in the next race, and it all comes together …. I don’t think I can be more ready (both mentally and physically) for next weekends Flying Pig marathon … I really made an excellent effort of sticking to this plan of getting back to eating better, adding some cross-training and doing a proper taper after just an “ok” performance just a month ago at the Ocean Drive. Let me elaborate a bit on each of these ..

First, about eating better … I dropped the whole attitude that I can eat whatever I want, whenever I want (which is so NOT true) .. I then started using Livestrong’s Daily Plate to track my eating, which I really found is much better than the old Fitday calorie tracker I used awhile back. I even got the Daily Plate blackberry app as well, so I can’t make any excuses for not keeping it up to date (since my blackberry is attached to me at all times). I’m not sure I agree with the calculation they make for calories burned when you run (its like twice what i would estimate), but I calculate it on my own, but really find the value of the tool. I also remembered that what I eat is important when I train, I have the right amount of protein, carbs and fat .. and am eating veggies and fruits and back to whole wheat breads and rolls and stuff. It took a few days to get used to it again, but after awhile, it was just like old times..

The other thing I did was added some cardio boxing to my training program 3 days a week, and am working on the hundred pushups program as well, i’m up to 75 pushups now after just 3 weeks, which isn’t too bad considering the fact i’ve done NO upper body strength training in almost 2 years.. I can feel myself burning more calories as I wake up those muscles that haven’t been used in so long..

Lastly, I realized after the Ocean Drive that I really felt tired when I went out for race, which leads me to believe that I didn’t cut the miles down enough during the taper. My tapering is kind of unique because each season I do multiple marathons, so my taper is usually short and sweet and I tend to NOT cut the miles enough, so i’ve changed that, and already I feel a difference.. the big difference this time is that I usually head out for a jog the day before the race, but since i’m traveling Saturday morning, that won’t happen, so I should be VERY fresh for the race on Sunday…

So its logistics time, ensuring I have everything I need and getting mentally ready for the race. I have to make sure I follow my own tips on tapering from this post.

1. Try not to stress over things you cannot control (a good example is that the weather will be what it is …prepare for anything and make the most of whatever is thrown at you). So far this year, I have trained in the heat, the cold, the rain, thunderstorms .. you name it. If you trained for things you cannot control, you have NOTHING to lose!

2. Don’t change your routine or try anything new. (that means foods, shoes, supplements, workouts etc.) You’ve made it this far doing things a certain way, don’t try to change the routine now. The tendency during tapering is to break your normal routine, whether its getting up early, eating good, going to bed early, etc … you’re body needs that routine, stick to it!

3. Keep yourself safe and be smart .. for example, don’t go walking around the house barefoot in the dark because you don’t want to break a toe or get a major bruise or fall down the steps or something. Also, don’t go out and decide its time to paint the house or re-shingle the roof or something since you have all this “free time”, it never leads to anything good.

4. Keep the marathon on your mind even though you’re not running as much .. focus on things like what your pace will be, the image of crossing the finish line, the scenery during the race, etc.

5. Be realistic in all your expectations in a marathon. One good example that I’ve learned is that you can’t expect to go out and run faster than what you trained for. There is no “race day magic” that will allow you to run 20-30 seconds per mile faster for the entire 26.2 miles .. or to keep a faster pace than you can handle.

5. Remember to take some time to be objective about your fitness and be prepared to adjust to the race day conditions. Remember that I said in number 1 that things will be what they will be, so be flexible. Not every race is the perfect race as much as you want it to be. I’ve had GREAT marathons, and BAD marathons .. all for different reasons, so you can’t predict it but have to be flexible either way.

6. Don’t wait to plan your logistics around the race, this includes travel, packing for the race, pre-race and post-race locations, etc. Know where you are going, how to get there, the packet pickup time, where bag dropoff is, etc … Trust me, running around at the last minute only makes the nerves worse… I stressed out terribly at the MCM last year over this, and it didn’t help that it was raining like cats and dogs the day before…

7. Remember to always TRUST YOUR TRAINING! You did the miles and the workouts, and if you feel you’ve accomplished something, you have, and believe me, you’ll be fine!

8. Don’t worry about all those aches and pains that seem to be coming out of nowhere for no reason. You’re body is in repair mode during taper, repairing all the muscles and ligaments for many weeks of pounding the pavement, its natural to feel achy.

9. WATCH YOUR DIET! Don’t go on a diet thinking that you can lose a couple pounds, or don’t think that you can continue to eat like crazy like you were in your maximum mileage week. Remember that you still need calories for recovery during this time, so you can’t fast, but you also stand to put on weight if you’re not careful.

If there are any of these tips that i’m worried about not following, the would be WATCHING MY DIET and continuing to eat right and the second being not obsess over the weather. I’m already checking the 10 day forecast EVERYDAY to see what they are saying, and surprisingly it changes each time I see it (don’t get me going on meteorologists)..

Well, a couple more easy runs and it’ll be race day.. I can’t wait to catch up on my sleep and maybe stay up later than 8:30pm each night (its sad when I go to bed at the same time as my daughter)…