A taper means you run less than normal in anticipation of having your legs well-rested for the race. Any hard training near the race no longer helps your race performance and can only serve to hurt you, so the idea is to taper down your running until race day. Again, I had no problem adhering to this. I have read about "taper madness" where people get antsy and have a hard time reducing the thing they love to do, but this time, at least, I felt really good about it. My last few runs were kind of crappy, anyways, so I was happy to take a little break and build the excitement about the race. Last Saturday through Monday I ran a total of about 17 miles and my legs were toast for the rest of the week. I did a slow easy run on Wednesday night and intended to run another slow easy run on Saturday (today), but I didn't have a chance to (read: too busy carb-loading to let my stomach empty enough to fit in a run!).
On Thursday afternoon I went to my physical therapist. It was only my second appointment with her and so far I am not in love. Last time she sent me home with ideas for stretching and strengthening, which I did more or less every day with pretty much no change in my hamstring/shin issues. On Thursday she taped up my hamstring and shins with kinesiology tape and sent me on my way. Well, that was nice, but not sure what that is supposed to do for me in the long run (pun not intended!). I ended up ripping all the tape off today because I realized I didn't want to run with my legs all taped up like a neon Christmas present for my first half marathon ever, especially since I had never run with the tape on before. So far my injuries don't negatively affect me while I am actively running I wasn't too worried to take it off. Maybe I will try taping and running another time.
Side note: how random is it that when I run hard I feel fine, then hobble around like an old lady when I stop running, only to be able to leap in to a sprint again?
![]() |
Obviously this is just my shins, my right hamstring was all taped, as well. |
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment!