The last few weeks before a marathon are a special kind of hell.
For months, your top priority has been training consistently.
Now, all of a sudden, your runs are getting shorter.
Some of them drop off your calendar altogether.
Its new territory, both mentally and physically, and its totally normal to kind of freak out.
(Other sports have their own version of this; weightlifters may talk about their deload.)
Both take timeon the order of days to weeks.
As race day approaches, though, you want to tie up the loose ends.
You want to recover from the workouts youve already done, without adding any extra stress.
So three weeks before a marathon, your training is effectively done.
(Or to use an old coaches saying: the hay is in the barn.)
During those last few weeks, youll run less.
I interviewed him while I was tapering for my own race, and I was like…excited?
It helps to understand why your thoughts go haywire.
Say you go for an easy run, Lane says, and it feels hard.
Well, workouts are hard sometimes!
You just have to trust the plan and stick to it.
In a Facebook running group hes in, People will start off, I got a cold this week.
I dont think Im going to make it.
… and then within about ten minutes, 400 other people will say Ive got a cold too.
You dont even have to post online, just read what other runners are saying.
Mentally plan everything
While youre sticking to your training plan, dont forget mental preparation.
What will you eat?
What will you wear?
Three weeks out is not too soon to start writing up your checklist and getting supplies in order.
Start tacking that warmup onto your easy runs, now that those runs have gotten shorter.
Then on race day, youll be able to do your familiar routine.
Mentally plan the race route, too.
Lane suggests searching Youtube for race course preview videos.
I felt tempted by the possibility of a two hour half-marathon, for example.
Because the truth is, your finish time depends on a lot of things that arent under your control.
Even the things you’re free to control, you cant always predict.
(Lane also points out that the slower you are, the bigger the range of possibilities.
In the end, you kind of have to just run by feel.
(Fish and a baked potato, he suggests.)
Expect surprises
While you should stick to your plan, nothing in life is ever totally predictable.
Expect something to go wrong, and prepare to roll with it.
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