Don't like the taper

In a lot of endurance training, there is the concept of the "taper". After months of hard work prior to a race, you ease off on your training to give your body time to absorb your training and "get ready" for the race.

I've got a half marathon on Sunday (the Great Bay Half Marathon) which means I should be in full-on taper mode. But I don't like the taper.

I don't know if this is because I started endurance training so late in life (being inactive for the first 40 years will do that to a girl)...which makes me very reluctant to lose any of this extremely hard won fitness or if it is because I have yet to truly experience the benefit of a taper.

Because I am so new to endurance sports, my training is much like my racing. I'm just trying to get through the workout/race. I don't go faster during a race because of the adrenaline of all of the other participants, I'm going as fast as I possibly can already - there is no faster.

Going into this race, many people have chided me and told me to taper - so I have cut back...but my "cut back" is still fairly serious. As I told a friend, "I'm only doing one sport a day and not swimming at all." Which looking at that now sounds like I'm trying to rationalize the no-taper taper.

So - one more bike ride (tomorrow), one more easy run on Friday and then nothing (gasp) until the race. We'll see how *that* goes.