Too much time on my hands, its ticking away with my sanity
I've got too much time on my hands, its hard to believe such a calamity
I've got too much time on my hands and its ticking away from me
Too much time on my hands, too much time on my hands
Too much time on my hands - Styx
 
Excuse me, while I kiss this guy - Jimi Hendrix
 
Oooo ooo, there's a bathroom on the right - CCR
 
The training is over - all that's left is the payoff.  Congratulations.
Now that the training is over, let's get down to business - it's time to do three things - relax, recover, and reassess.
 
Relax - you need to relax as much as possible.  There is no such thing as nervous energy.  Nervousness burns good calories, not fat.  Nervous jitters are not helpful in the weeks leading up to a marathon.  Normal, yes - Helpful, No.  So everytime you feel anxiety creeping in, hit yourself in the head.  No, everytime you feel anxiety creeping in, bite your tongue really hard.  No, everytime you feel anxiety creeping in, picture yourself on a cool, crisp, partially overcast Saturday Morning with about 7,500 people (700 or so in bright yellow shirts) standing on Broad Street hearing the National Anthem playing followed by the required theme from Rocky.  You'll be excited, the energy around you will be so positive you'll feel like you can run forever.  It will be a great day.  Then, take a deep breath and get some fluids.
 
Recover - Your body is beaten.  We have dragged, pushed, cajoled, and ridiculed you into running hundreds of miles over the past 22 weeks.  For many of you, this was new.  Your body needs the extended rest that the taper provides.  The number of miles will decrease steadily, that's fine.  Don't let the intensity decrease.  Run some of your miles a bit harder.  Not sprinting, nothing that creates pain.  But you can move a bit more briskly to keep your legs used to moving.  But don't go crazy.  We are trying to restore your muscles that were broken down on the Huegenot Bridge and Forest Hill and the Lee bridge Riverside Drive and Main Street and the Boulevard.  We want our muscles to recover because recovery leads to greater strength.  So don't worry if your activity level is a bit lower.  This is part of the plan.  If you have any nagging aches and pains that don't disappear in the next few days, it may be a good idea to contact a health care professional to discuss this.  We need to make sure that any little stuff gets the right attention early in this process.
 
Reassess - It's time to start thinking about marathon day and pace and plan.  Everyone came to our first week of training with some type of goal.  Maybe it was an Olympic Qualifying time, maybe it was a Boston Qualifying time, maybe it was to beat your friend or maybe it was to finish a marathon (all are great goals).  Here we are 22 weeks later, do you have the same goal?  Is the same goal appropriate now?  Only you can answer that.  We can help you with this assessment but in the end, you have to decide.  We will talk about pacing plans and marathon strategies ad nauseum, so I'll not hit it hard here.  Just know that you won't hear anyone suggesting starting fast... There's no crying in baseball and there's no banking time in Marathoning...
 
The question will come from someone soon.  Why do we taper for three weeks rather than two?  Two week tapers are great for some people.  We don't know which people until they have run several Marathons and experimented with different training styles and plans.  We have always used a 3 week taper in this program and the SBMTT has tremendous success getting people to the finish line.  There is no right answer for everyone.  Think about it differently if you prefer.  We ran 20 this past week.  This would be a normal recovery week.  Then, starting next Monday we'll do a two week taper.  2 week taper, 3 week taper, we don't know which is optimal for anyone.  Unless you have lots of experience or want to experiment with something - stay with the schedule.
 
Not trying to direct traffic to RunRichmond but you may want your friends and/or family to read - Taper Madness - http://www.runrichmond.com/id33.html it will help them understand your behavior the next 19 days.
 
Final Race Preparation Clinics are Wednesday and Thursday of this week.  7AM on Wednesday, 6:30 on Thursday.  These are highly recommended!  Check the website for more details.
 
Still plenty of room at the Pasta Dinner - bring a check or money on Sunday - $15 per person - friends/family are welcome to join us and help prepare for the Marathon.
 
Don't forget November 2 - the end of Daylight Savings Time or is it the beginning of Daylight Savings Time?  No idea - either way -
SET YOUR CLOCKS BACK so you don't miss the only 12 this weekend.
 
Good Luck to Angela, Jill and Kevin (and Coach Blair from the Pink Team - they are running the Marshall Marathon this weekend.

Have a great week -
 
The Coaches of the Tremendous Purple Universe (we're way bigger than a Nation)