Pat, At our age I think you have to be careful leading up to something this tough. I'd err on the conservative side rather than risk an injury. After many years at this I have to say it's a cruel reality that I just need more recovery and taper. A little up tempo stuff in the last week is fine, but be careful not to do too much. Physiologically, you are not adding anything to your level of fitness at this stage, and the potetial to pull a muscle or just dig in to your reserves is too big a risk. REST is not a four letter word. Good Luck!

Hey Pat,

taper is a highly individual thing and depends partly on age, conditioning, past level of training (intensity and duration) etc. No one taper is right for everyone. But, in the final week (s), lower volume and some higher intensity workouts do well. This does not mean you go out and hammer a hard 10 mile run the week of your race. Higher intensity could mean doing a 15 mile ride that includes four 1 minute long surges at race pace with a couple of minutes easy between each. Or a 4 mile run with one mile in the middle at a tempo pace. Any of these higher intensity level workouts should not have any kind of lingering effect as far as recovery goes. Of course you should also be cutting back on your volume, so that combined with some of the above should leave you rested and feeling sharp on race day, not fatigued.

Good luck at the half!!

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Mike Plumb, TriPower MultiSports
Professional Running, Cycling and Multisport Coaching, F.I.S.T. Certified
http://www.tripower.org

sorry for not coming by today Mike, my race started in 5 mins. Man that was much more windy than last year! I was only 5 seconds faster than in 2002. The thing is, I did a 23:58 10 mile TT last weekend. I guess the wind and hills come into play today. At least it was not too hot.