Well, as I've pontificated before (does that make me a pontif?), I'm a big believer in a 3-week taper before a marathon. But I really didn't feel I got enough LSD work in before the next marathon, which is 2-weeks from tomorrow. I had a couple of 18 milers, but nothing over 20 since the Rehoboth marathon back at the end of November.

Now, this will be my seventh marathon in two years, so I have a big mileage base. But I was still concerned. But, I'm now into the 3-week taper period. So I talked this over with my coach and he told me that, essentially, I probably didn't need a 20+ mile run in. He went on to say however, that if I thought I could use the confidence that having at least one 20+, and as long as I wasn't trying to recover from any injuries, it was probably fine to have a 2-week taper.

I'm not nursing any injuries (except the obvious mental ones).So I went out this morning and did a 21 miler. Kept up a good pace throughout and finished strong. So I'm trying something new (to me) - a 2-week taper. I have a reduce-mileage plan for the next week and then just easy maintenance the next week. And then, Sunday, March 1, the B&A Trail Marathon.

I'll report back on how this works out.