We are less than three weeks out from race day!

Time to taper

The taper is a period of reduced training before a race to improve performance. The taper is intended to reduce the negative effects of fatigue from the full training block while preserving the training adaptations that have been gained.

Sunday was my longest run in this training plan and my longest run ever! 32 km (~20mi)!

The 32km run was a good run. The training for the next three weeks starts to reduce distances (for most workouts) with my next long run being 23km and the following long run being only 13km before race day. The Wednesday interval workouts are still hard this week and next.

I was not feeling great about the event after the 28km and 30km long run days – but I am trusting the process and am looking forward to slightly more ‘restful’ run days before the big event.

Travel plans

My first marathon is in Cape Town on the 20th of October 2024. I do not live in Cape Town, so there is an added stress for the race in planning and organizing travel to my race destination.

Fortunately, Cape Town is a short 4-hour flight, and I have family to assist with accommodation and pickup at the destination. The main planning is what and how to pack for a ‘destination’ marathon – great practice for future international marathon trips.