Poor tapering

26 September

With nine days to go I really shouldn't have run as far as I did today - in my defence, I didn't realise I'd set out on a marathon and once I did, I took it pretty easy.

I've been getting the jitters about remembering the route from my house out to Rochester, i.e. the first 50k, which I have stitched together in the last years poring over maps, by walking, cycling and driving them. It's just a tiny bit complicated and I've realised this week that I couldn't actually remember the way. I felt sure I would once I was on the ground, but it was still giving me the heebie jeebies.

So - on a whim this morning I caught the train to Grove Park, to trim off about 9-10k of running and then set off to run to Rochester. I estimated this would be about 30k, which if taken gently could vaguely form part of a tapering week. I was out by quite a bit and in the end did exactly a marathon. With stops included I did it in 4hrs30 - so no great pace, but it is still more than I should have done this week. But, it was a trade off between psychology and physiology. I now feel properly calm about the route.

It was a lovely late summer / early autumn run through the towns, villages and country lanes that surround London. I got caught in one big downpour at Longfield, but otherwise dodged the rain and got to Rochester in time for lunch. Now I really will stop running (much) until the big run - perhaps a few 10k slow stretch outs next week, but that's it. Definitely!