Episode 38: The final phase of training: Taper like you mean it

You hit your last long run and now you’re just…supposed to back off? Yeah. That’s taper. And if you’ve ever felt weird during this time—physically, mentally, emotionally—you’re not alone. I’m in it right now heading into Cocodona 250, so this episode is real-time. What’s actually happening in your body, why your brain starts questioning everything, and how to not blow it by trying to do more when the whole point is to do less. 

In this episode, I talk through:

•  What taper actually is and why it matters (it’s not just cutting mileage) 
•  What your body is doing right now...repairing, refueling, calming things down 
•  Why you’re not losing fitness…you’re shedding fatigue 
•  The mental side of taper and how easy it is to start doubting your training 
•  Taper tantrums—why you feel off, restless, or a little unhinged 
•  How long taper should be and why it depends 
•  What your runs, lifting, and recovery should look like during this time 
•  Fueling, hydration, and why this is not the time to under-eat 
•  How to shift into race mode without spiraling 
•  What to actually do with your extra time so you don’t overthink everything 

The work is done. You don’t need more fitness...you need to show up ready to use it.

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Transcript

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Hey y'all, welcome back to Dirt N Out Diaries. I'm your host, Brittany Olson, Trailrunner, Women's Trail Running Coach, Hype Woman, and Professional Overpacker of the Mid Run Snacks. This show is for the everyday trailrunner, the ones training on real life legs and real life time. You've got work, relationships, laundry, pets, a group text that never shuts up, and maybe a big goal sitting quietly in the back of your head that you're not totally sure you're allowed to want. You're not out here chasing podium spots, you're chasing finish lines, sunrises, and maybe a little sanity. This podcast is about trail running, but it's also about navigating life. The hard seasons, the joyful ones, and the ones where everything feels like too much. So let's get into it. Alright, y'all. Um I have finished up my Coca-Dona training. Uh it is now two weeks out, so I will already be on course two weeks from today, which is crazy. Um, but it's where this podcast came from. Um, we're gonna talk about tapering um because after I finished my run yesterday, straight into taper mode, uh, which means less volume, hopefully some more rest. Um, possibly, I don't know if I could eat anymore though I've been eating, but definitely like keeping up on fueling uh and just letting that uh fitness settle in. So super excited for it. It gives you some more time to pack for Coca-Dona, but also just to do some things I've been sitting on the back burner. Um, so definitely I always look forward to taper. Um we have a joke about taper tantrums, I will say, as the race gets closer, I start to get a little more like anxious to move and all of that, and that happens, but typically I enjoy this time because this has been, and especially this one, it has been the most I've ever trained for anything so long as I've ever trained for. So I am looking forward to just like getting to chill for a bit. That doesn't mean I don't run, which we'll get into that too, but and it doesn't mean that I don't lift either, but it is like a lot less volume, a lot less time consuming, um, and all of that. So I almost did a podcast. I don't know if y'all saw it, um, with the Nike ad, which was just a bunch of bullshit where it talked about uh walkers being tolerated. Um, but I didn't because taper is on my mind. So that might be a future one, but it's really shows how exclusive running still is when it should be inclusive. So um I already have a podcast written on that, so I might just add in the Nike stuff and just how companies aren't always helpful in um making the sport inclusive. Like they really like to make it exclusive because they care about their marketing and their money, they don't really care about the people. But I digress. Let's get into taper because that's what I'm thinking about, and that's kind of my personal update. I'm in taper and I am it is day one, and I'm just trying to uh enjoy it. Well, I am enjoying it, but uh I'm gonna hopefully get a lot of sleep and do all that. So anyway, let's talk about what actually taper is. Um, so less running, more time, uh, which I already mentioned, but it's also not backing off just because like you're tired. So I was ready for taper. I've been talking about taper for two weeks. This has just been a super long training block. I work full-time, I coach, I do this podcast. Um, there's just a lot. Like, I'm a busy person, so like I was craving it, but it wasn't because my legs felt just like super fatigued and burnt out. It was more the mental space and just exhaustion from that, but not because like my legs were just I had trashed my legs, or because like, you know, my uh my shoulders were tired of carrying my pack. Had nothing to do with anything physical, it was just more time um that I wanted back to be able to just like I needed time to chill. But it is a time to back off of your body, physically, mentally, emotionally, all that. So you can actually use everything that you just did in that training block. So during a training block, you are never 100% recovered. That is by design. Um, your body, if you're running, it doesn't matter even what distance you're running. You will notice that your running volume, your time on feet, maybe you run by miles, I don't know, but you will more than likely not hit that time on feet or that mileage for that race before you race. It's about how you um accumulate miles throughout that training block and how by the time you have your long run, you've already ran that week and weeks prior even, and all of that adds up to making you feel a little bit more fatigued, never recovered, but you want your legs to be a little bit tired, not completely tired, but a little bit tired when you're running some of those longer distances. That way you know what it's like to run tired because you will in your race more than likely. So, what you're doing now is you are backing off because you're letting that fitness settle in and you are going to get to that start line fully recovered. Hopefully you got to sleep some. You can't bank sleep, by the way, that's just not a thing, but you can show up to the start line well rested. So just remember that you can't bank sleep, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't sleep more or try to sleep more, but you can show up there totally rested, totally recovered, and ready to go. Because hopefully you didn't just train to survive the day. Um, you survive to actually race that race. Even if you're like, hey, I'm a back of the pack or Britney, but like it is still your race day. It doesn't matter where you fall in that. Sh you want to be able to show that you want your train to show up on that race day. So your fitness is already built, you're not gaining any fitness right now, you're just absorbing it. And I shouldn't say just you are absorbing it. That's what's happening. If you keep pushing like this, like you're either still in your peak weeks or you keep pushing towards that, like you're like, if I do this, I'll build fitness. A lot of times you're not gonna show up strong, you're just gonna show up depleted. A lot of people like to push and push and push, and that's just not a thing that you should be doing as you get close to your race. We'll get into this a little bit too, but a taper can be anywhere from one to three weeks typically. Some people have a four-week one depending on life and what's been going on, but I tend to sit in that two to three week spot for my athletes and myself. So, but what is actually going on in your body at this time? You guys know I don't get super sciencey in my stuff. There are already enough scientific uh podcasts out there about what our body does when we run and all of that. So, but I do want to give you a little bit here, just so people understand the importance of the taper. So, your body is actually doing a ton when it's in that mode. It's repairing muscle damage for months of training. It's rebuilding those glycogen stores, so your energy tank, it is it is rebuilding those too. It's letting your nervous system calm down. That's a big one. It does. Like physically and mentally, that does obviously impact us. So, like, it's letting that system just because when you're out there running, it is gonna go back up again. So, again, we want to be at that start line, fully recovered, fully rested, because all these things are gonna come back. You're reducing inflammation. Hopefully, your hormones are starting to regulate again. Yes, I know women, we have periods, we have cycles, we have that. So, but there are things that are going on outside of those two that hopefully will start to regulate and everything starts to feel a little more, I don't want to say normal, but like not feel like you're just training all the time. Um, this is when your legs a lot of times start to feel good, like weirdly good. Um, at least for me it does. So, like they get they're a little bit peppy. Um, because for me, when that volume goes down, I've been running a lot. So whenever I see some, it's like you have a 45-minute run, and it's like my brain and body are like, sweet, let me go run, and everything just feels lighter. Everything like my my feet have a little pep in them when I'm running. It's great. Some people it takes a few days to get to that point because mentally it's like very hard for people to do this taper, and then they're like, oh my gosh, I'm losing my fitness, and they get in their head and runs start to feel a little bit flat. That's normal too. It just depends on who you are. But remember the big thing is you're not losing fitness, you're shedding fatigue. So you're not losing fitness, you're shedding fatigue. So that's the physical part, which is important, but that is something that is just going to happen as you are um, as your running volume goes down in the week of the races, it goes down even further and you get some more rest days. Um, but what's happening mentally is something that I want to focus mentally and emotionally, like are some of the big focus points for me. Because there are people who really struggle in the taper or they don't even know what to do, and that's why I'm a big um proponent of like talking about how running should not be your whole life. Um, running can be taken away from us at any moment. It's a privilege to be able to run, but it's not just for that, it's whenever you do have time, sometimes people don't even know what to do. And I'm fortunate, I feel like, to be a coach because I have plenty to do, but I have other things too that I like to do. Like, you know, like I do enjoy reading, I enjoy cleaning, I know of all things, and my apartment is just like trashed right now. Um, but like I like those kinds of things. I like being able to go out with friends and like not worry about the time so much and just chill. Um, so there are things that I can do, but yeah, you can hear all about my life, right? I should do a whole episode. Here's what I do. Um, but no, so but here's where people can get in trouble. You've been in go mode for months, months and months, depending on what you're training for, how your experience and background, how long the training block was, but you had structure, purpose, constant forward motion. So it was just like always go. That's what I mean by that go mode. Um, and now there's space, and your brain's like, ooh, am I have I done enough? Did I do enough? Should I do a little bit more? If I had a little bit, am I gonna lose fitness? Oh my gosh, should I should I go test myself real quick? So you start having these doubts about your training or if you should be in taper. And I'm gonna tell you this I guess all those questions are no sit down. That's it. You gotta calm yourself down, sit, don't jump on the bike, don't do like some, don't go out there and lift some heavy weights, like chill. Yes, you can do if you're doing yoga already and you like to do some easy yoga, do that, do some mobility, go out for a walk with your dog, with your kids, with your partner, but like for the most part, take a chill pill. Make sure you're sitting, eating, doing something you enjoy. Don't get online. I did an episode of this, and start asking the online world questions because they don't know your training, they don't know your life, they don't know you, and you're gonna get questions that either you're trying to find the answer for because you want you want a certain answer, or you're gonna find people that are just really based in that their question, they're gonna answer it based on them and not on you. So don't get that's kind of an emotional thing, too, but it's also mental. Don't start asking those questions now. You have done all the work, you've done all the testing, you've done everything you can do. And getting online now and starting to get your brain to spend does not help you recover completely. That is a huge mental and emotional block for people. So be confident in your training, be confident in what you've done. Do not go out and try to search for more that you could do. You won't for me, I only have two weeks left. So say we're gonna pretend like it's two weeks, by the way. You have two weeks. You can't do anything in those two weeks. Sorry, you just can't, outside of rest. So, and then if you've had a couple little niggles, say your ankle or foot's been bothering, maybe your shoulders been bothering, just something's been out there, it's a great time to rest. And it's not that it's not that you were injured or anything, but there's been a couple things on me that I can tell is my volume is went up. I'm like, ah man, let's stick to my physical therapy, make sure I'm getting it all in. But it doesn't mean I don't feel any kind of soreness or anything. It's like, mm-hmm that could use a couple rest days, and it's probably gonna feel pretty good. So rest is important. So again, trust your training, trust all of that. You don't need to prove your fitness right now. That's for race day. So trust the fact that this taper is gonna have you well rested once you start on race day. Um also emotionally, this is where I call this is what I call the taper tantrums. I feel like mentally and emotionally, some of these things do intertwine. Um, but like this is what this is definitely the taper tantrum. And this is part the part that I think as trail runners, we actually do kind of laugh and talk about a lot. But it can also, like, maybe outside of the home, it can be funny, but then sometimes inside inside the home, you're feeling irritable and restless and a little emotional for what you think is no reason. You're questioning everything, you're weirdly low or you're weirdly wired. Guess what? I'm weirdly wired, imagine that. But you're feeling all these things, and it can impact like how you sleep at night, how you're eating. I know people who will try to, because they're feeling today, they they will try to restrict their calories too much, and they either start to lose a little bit or they don't have the energy they need. This is not the time to restrict your calories. I like to go in a couple pounds heavier than when I ended my training block if I can. It's not like I'm eating unnecessarily, like I'm just eating when I'm hungry, um, and I'm giving in to a few more cravings at this time. Um, I have I'm a little sensitive to some foods, I think. I don't know if it's sensitive, like whatever, but some foods just don't sit well, so I tend to avoid those anyway because of the inflammation I get. But like I still am normally eating quite a bit more than I normally would because my body is still hungry because it still is used to the volume I've been putting in and I'm still running some, but then at the same time I know that I don't want to, I don't want to restrict myself, period. That's not good for recovery, and it's not good for getting you to that start line. But I mean, these things happen. There's some like reduced endorphins, just so you know. So like when you're running less, there's less endorphins, so that can be why you're feeling irritable or restless or like in a weird space. Um, you all of a sudden have more mental space. Uh, and then there's the anticipation of just that race day or that race week, whatever you're running. So that anticipation can really like help those taper tangents like escalate. Um, and also your identity not being tied to constant training for a second. Um, I feel like a lot of what I've been doing has been so focused on training, like my meal prep, like um working through my schedule, making sure like Greg knows I have a long run this way and then a medium run this day, and then a medium run another day, and then like making sure like he knows these things because like we have things going on at home, and it's just like trying to feel like everything has been tied to this training and figuring out how to place things around it. So whenever that happens, things start to feel different. You start to have those taper tantrums. So that is part of the reason why you could feel low or wired. Um, but basically, you're just a little unhinged right now, and that's okay. It's okay to be a little. It's whenever you get to the point where you do go out and start running. That's when there's a huge problem. Or you're like, you know what, I'm just gonna lift for one more day, whenever it's a a week, the week of race, and you shouldn't be lifting at all. Um, so again, if you are like highly irritable, highly restless, highly all these things, it will impact sleep. It probably will impact eating, all of those things. But the big part is like really if you start doing more physical activities, that's gonna impact you even more. So again, sit down, chill, enjoy, have other habits outside of running. If you don't have any habits outside of running, maybe in that taper that you're gonna find something you like. There's gotta be something out there besides running. It is not our whole life. We are not elites here. I love running, as you all know, but it's also I have things outside of that. So it's a fantastic time to figure that out. All right, though. But so okay, so we've talked about the physical, we've talked about the mental, we've talked about the emotional. Now, I did mention earlier I was gonna talk about this, like why why taper? Like, why or not why taper, but why is it one to three weeks? Um, and why is it not just, hey, two weeks is the sweet spot. You know what? Because it depends, as always, it depends on the race and on the load that you just had and on your experience and um what your goal is. Is this is this a training race? So you actually don't even really need a taper because training races you shouldn't need a taper for, by the way. That's not the point. The point is to include that race in your training so you aren't tapering or recovering for long periods of time. Um, but a lot of it does depend on the distance that you're going um and then also the experience you have at those distances. So shorter races, which means lower volume, you could do about a week. If I was racing a 50K, I would I could do a week taper and there would be no issues at all. So I would say 50k or less. Um longer, any efforts above that, I typically like to see that two to three week taper. Um when I get up to three weeks for myself or my athletes, it's it's normally um due to either life circumstances, maybe there was a trip planned. Um, work could just be getting hectic. There just could be something going on that they need those three weeks because personally and running-wise and work-wise, and all those things, a two-week taper, it's just not gonna work. They need that three-week taper, and that's fine. You're not losing fitness in those three weeks. Um, but I will say for like the the multi-day ones, especially like seeing two to three weeks is nice. Again, mine's that two weeks sweet spot, um, but I haven't had anything in life that has made me be like, hey, I need that three weeks. Um, I've seen people do four weeks, and it's I call it kind of um uh it's a it's not like a hard taper, it's more of like a softer taper going into it. So you're still running a little bit higher volume, but it's gone down more than what you would be if you were still building up for this next race. Um, but again, we do it because we've accumulated more fatigue, you need more time to actually absorb the training, and the cost of showing up underrecovered um is way higher. So I even talked to my coach about this about how it is better to go into a race under-trained than over-trained. Um, it really, really is. Uh, and people are like, what? Like, of course we'd love to be ideally trained right in that sweet spot, but it is way more important to be not over-trained because you are going in and you just are already, you're already halfway toasted, maybe more. Um, so it is the cost of showing up underrecovered is way higher. So we want you 100% recovered for that. It's not a random thing, it's super strategic. So we're looking to make sure that fatigue is gone, everything is rested, the inflammation is down. Um, during Tabor, I am actually going to get a massage. Um, because not too close to the race, by the way, y'all. Do not do it too close to race day. I need five to seven days in between and I'm good. Some people might need more, but never do it a couple days before or less. Like, don't do that because your body does get inflamed from getting a massage too. But I am getting one of those. I'm hoping to see my PT. She is amazing and booked, but I'm on the wait list. But I would like just there's a couple little things that I'm feeling like I said in my foot. So taper in that two to three weeks or one to three weeks, whatever you're taping for, is that's a good time to do those maintenance things too. And again, not just a couple days before the race, but like I hopefully you're doing the work throughout. But sometimes there's just a little something, something going on, and you just need to get it fixed. And that two to three week taper allows you to have that time to work on those things rather than doing a build week um tour torture race. So yeah, but what do you actually do during the taper? Well, please don't sit around and just panic. You can sit around, you can do some Netflix binges, whatever it is, and some murder show binges. I don't know, but like just stay. But when it comes to start with running first, stay engaged, but in a different way. So you can keep the frequency that first week of taper. Remember, we're talking about two-week taper. You can keep the frequency, but reduce the volume. So this week I am running Tuesday to Sunday. Um, I am working actually Cactus Man this weekend, so it's gonna look a little weird. We're gonna try to figure out how to get those in. But like my volume is super, super reduced. I have I've been to I have a couple hour long runs. I know one is labeled as 45, maybe two is labeled as 45 minutes, I can't remember. And then my long run is Friday for two hours. So I just went from three back to back-to-back runs this last week into a two-hour long run. So, but again, I'm out there six days this week, but the volume is reduced. And just so you know, if you decide to do instead of six days, or maybe you're on five days and you just reduce by one day and also reduce volume, that's fine too. There's nothing wrong with that. But some people like to keep that frequency because they like to get up, they like to have that same cadence in their day, and it just helps them stay in that routine, and that's totally fine. Um just remember, like, you're not, these are easy efforts too. We're not doing workouts, we're not pushing up hills, we're not trying to fly downhills, we're not trying to tip or nick a rock with our toe and eat it. Um, we're looking at easy effort runs. And just do things that don't dig a hole. Um, I'm gonna include lifting in here too. I will lift up until the week before the race, but I am not or well race week I don't I do not lift like within seven days of a race. Um I will continue to do mobility uh up to the race day. Um I won't throw anything new in though. Like I'm not gonna be like, oh, this looks like a great movement to do, and then like, oh, my body doesn't respond to that. It's things I've already been doing that feel good. Um my physical therapist, uh Megan Slavin says this too. Like, as you are getting close to race, do be do the things that feel good. Make sure you're doing the movements. Don't do the movements that are like heavy and you're getting sore, um, you have DOMs, anything like that. Make sure you're doing the things that make you feel good. And if you've been doing these movements, you know which ones make you feel good. Uh so and even when I'm lifting, like lifting this week, it's gonna look a lot different. I'm gonna focus a bit more on my ankle and foot PT, but the same movements I've been doing. There's nothing new. When I do my lower body, I will reduce the amount of weight I'm lifting. Um and I will not increase the reps at this time. No point in upper body, same. I don't need to be lifting heavy, it's just maintenance, and for me, it's more of a mental maintenance, just to keep keep moving, keep moving, keep moving. Um, because if you do take two weeks full weeks off when you start a race, um, your body doesn't it takes a couple miles to even like figure out what the heck's going on. Now for a 250-mile race, two miles, three miles to actually feel good is fine. Uh, but whenever you are um racing any kind of race, even if you've taken like three or four days off, some may some of you may have noticed that whenever you start running, even it's not a race, it's just a training run, you kind of feel like you're breathing a little bit heavy and your legs are like, what the heck's going on? Your body just needs some time to get warmed up. Um some people are aware of this and some aren't, because I've had many people that'll text you, like, I've lost my fitness, I've only not run for three days, like what the heck? And it just has to do with your body needs to like get connected back to you. And then once you're out there for a bit, all of a sudden everything starts to calm down again. There is science behind that, but again, I'm not getting science-y. So, but your body will calm down, it will respond appropriately. But that's why it is still good to keep moving at some capacity. So when you do hit that start line, you're not just like your body's not like, whoa, hey, we haven't done this in a couple weeks. Like, come on, come on now. So also, so we talked running strength, recovery. Sleep like it's your job if you can. Um I'm not saying everybody can sleep eight to ten hours a night or whatever it is that you need, but get some sleep. Don't set an alarm some mornings if you if you can, like if you don't have to get up and run. Uh just sleep. Sleep, sleep, sleep. It is very important. It is uh maybe the most important thing when it comes to recovery. I feel like it is the. The most important thing, but there's a lot of research between food and sleep, just so you know. Um, eat like you actually want to perform. So I've mentioned that earlier. Do not start reducing your food so much that you aren't feeling yourself appropriately and you're already losing energy just in your day-to-day life. Um, so eat like you actually want to perform. And that doesn't mean you have to eat like you were eating, say, after a you know, six-hour long run, because you might not be that hungry. But if you're hungry, eat. If you have a craving for something, have it. That's fine. Um, hydrate consistently and not just that race week panic hydration, right? Because you don't want to be peeing all the time. But keep that hydration up, have some electrolytes in your drinks depending on where where you live, how much you sweat, all that stuff. I'm not here to give you the formula for your electrolyte consumption right now because I don't know you, but make sure you're hydrating, drinking water. Maybe you have a certain like it could be it could even be Gatorade that you like, fine, have that, whatever. Maybe it's scratch, maybe whatever it is, like make sure you're having that consistently, but not like race week panic, or the even the day before the race, because then you're gonna pee all night and not sleep much. So just be consistent with that. Um make sure like you're not also just spending so much time thinking about what you need to do on race day like can all the time. If you're coached, hopefully you've had overhead, already had a pre-race consult with your coach, you've chatted about how things are gonna look. Um, but don't be spending so much time just like focused on that because running is not everything, first of all, but you're just gonna have you're gonna feel more panicked and it will impact how you're sleeping, feeling, and all of that. Um mentally, what do you need to do? Again, I said don't go overboard here, that's why I mentioned that first. But it's okay to visualize your race day. Think about it. Not just like the star, but the middle and the hard moments. I mean, I'm doing 252 miles, y'all. I'm I'm thinking about some stuff, but like it's been pretty positive thoughts by the way, but I'm like, I also don't know what I'm like sleep deprived, but I am being realistic about things. It's just like here, okay, I'm gonna have this person here at this time. You know, this is where I absolutely have to have a pacer because I'm scared of height. So like I have thought about these things, but they're also already spreadsheeted out. So like I'm not panicking about it, just more like I'm thinking about them, and I'm thinking about thinking about them in a good way. Thinking about how I do have the logistics in place, how I do have crew, how I do have a pacer. Like all of these things are there. I'm just thinking like how it can look when I'm out there. Oh, I'm gonna hit this section at dark. Okay, like I know this, that's okay. I'll have my headlamps. My crew will make sure I have my headlamps. So those. I also think about like I mentioned earlier, like I'm scared of high such a section that I am nervous about, but I'm like, I will have a pacer there because I said it is critical I have a pacer here and I already have somebody who is gonna be there for me. So keeping that in mind um as you're thinking about your race day. Make sure you've got your logistics down so you're not scrambling later. Like when I say not scrambling later, I mean like two days before, who like that is something. If you're doing, say, a shorter distance, you know, um we'll say like half marathon, marathon. Um, it did if you and 50k, they don't all have crews and all that, so like it might not be as like logistically challenging for you because it's a shorter distance, but you do want to think about like make sure you have your drop bags packed. Um, make sure like you have uh your your pack packed, like make sure you know what you're gonna have there. Uh if you're gonna have food waiting for you afterwards, those types of things are easy to be um overlooked. So just make sure everything is ready so you're not scrambling later. I've had my logistics, like I've only got them completed, I think, last week or the week before. I I I had started them and then the course got changed, and the course got changed again, so I just stopped until everything was going to be like pretty settled where nothing's gonna change too much. So, but like the earlier you can do it for a longer race, especially if you're gonna have pacers and crew, the better. But still, like when you're doing a little bit of a shorter distance, um, you know, two to three weeks ahead of time is plenty. It is plenty of time, so you're not scrambling. And then just start shifting from like training mode to execution mode. Um, that means you're not thinking about like the runs, the missed runs, because we've probably missed a couple runs. You're not thinking about maybe you missed a strength training session, you're not thinking about like that next long training run. You're thinking about like, okay, again, like I said, kind of visualizing that race day. You're thinking about I have to, I'm gonna execute on this and I'm gonna be out there longer than I've ever been, or I've been out there longer than I was during training. So shifting over your brain to that. But again, not letting it overtake you, just having those thoughts and and and making sure you're prepped uh mentally for that day, mentally and emotionally. Now, what can you actually do in your daily life, right? Like that's that's a thing, because what? You might have some time. Um, hopefully you don't have to work more during that time, but you do. It's like, whoa, there's time in my day. Um, read the book you've been half reading for two months. Uh clean your apartment. Like I said, mine mine needs it big time. Um, we also just got uh if you guys haven't listening, we got a dog Kai, so like things have been even busier. Uh, so like things need to be swept a little bit more too. But like, take some time. Um, maybe cook a meal with your partner or your family instead of like throwing something together. Not something you have to do. I'm a huge meal prepper and I love just getting food from the fridge and putting it together. But like, if it's something that, you know, you realize, like, man, I used to cook with my partner. We haven't done that in a while. You know, take some time to do that. Uh, spend time with your people without looking at your watch. It's nice not to have to do that. Uh, get outside without it being about mileage. Uh, Greg and I sometimes like to go throw a frisbee. Um, don't get hurt throwing that frisbee. I haven't yet. But it's just nice to be able to chill. Um, and I can't tell you, maybe you're not a reader, maybe you're an audiobook, maybe you need to catch up on podcasts. I don't listen to music or or podcasts while I'm running nor on the trail, so I don't normally catch up on podcasts then. But like it could be something as simple as that. Um, it could be a not rushed trip to the grocery store where it's like every every time I go somewhere, I feel like I am in constant motion, so I normally have to rush quite a bit. So it's nice just to chill out. Um maybe it's just going to a coffee shop and being able to sit without thinking about, oh, I have this run or I have this to do. You can just chill. So the point I think you're getting is chill. Chill. Get the brain to calm down, get the body to calm down, get your emotions like down, and you'll be good. It's not waste of time, guys. It really isn't. It is super, super helpful to for you. It is super helpful for you to show up to that start line ready. So this part is like showing up as you're as a whole-ass human on race day. You've been a whole ass human this entire training block. That hasn't changed, and that's you're gonna show up at race day. So being able to do those human things that you like to do, but haven't done as much because of training, it's nice during that taper time. So just me again, I don't live your life. You don't have to be reading if you don't like to read, but there's gotta be some things that you like to do. Maybe it's writing, whatever it is, try it out. Um, maybe try something new if you want to. Uh, but also with this like daily life stuff, I do want to mention, like, and I kind of briefly mention it, but like how to avoid the taper tantrums. You don't have to avoid them though, you have to manage them. So I mentioned it, keep some structure in your week. Don't go from doing from hundred to nothing. Um, unless you're under doctor's care, physical therapist care, and you've got something going on, they're like, hey, you gotta chill out. This is the movements you can do, but we need you to not do anything until race day. That happens sometimes. But I will not override your doctor. Um, have a short list of default activities when you feel restless. Stay off the comparison trap. Oh my gosh. A lot of people get FOMO around this time. They see people running. They will see people who are doing the same race they are doing, and they're adding some volume and miles to their, to their uh or are doing more volume and miles than what they're doing. Strava stalking, awful. Don't do that. Don't do that. It's a bad idea because you start seeing what other people are doing and it makes you want to do them. So just don't do that. Um, unless you, by the way, if you don't have a problem with like that, if you can get on Strava and it doesn't bother you, don't, you know, that's different. But a lot of people get on Strava and they get it gets in their head. Um remind yourself that feeling weird does not mean you're not ready. Um, we start thinking, again, I mentioned this earlier, we start thinking about how maybe we could have done more of this or we could have done more of this. Um, and we start feeling weird. Maybe we feel like we're being lazy, maybe it's just the thoughts of what we've already done. Maybe you start having doubts about the race because you're having doubts about your training, you're not trusting it. It is normal to feel those things, it is normal to feel weird about things, but it doesn't mean you're not ready, it means you're human. And that's okay. Like, call it out, say, man, I'm gonna take in my taper tantrum spiral, noted, and then move on. Like, just accept that this is happening. Um, and that's okay. So we want to reframe the taper then. This is how I'll end it with y'all. This isn't the end of training, it is the final phase of it. So it is a part of training. It's just like the week after that you recover, however, how long it takes you to recover. It's just like when you have a D-Load week and we we step back your volume. All of this is part of training, and the taper is the final phase where we hit that finish line. You're not doing less, you're doing what actually allows everything to come together. So, yes, technically you're doing less volume and all that, but you're not doing less because you're lazy, you're not doing less for no purpose. You're doing what actually allows everything to come together. So, last long run is done, the work is in the bank, now the job is simple. Not easy, but simple. Trust what you've done, take care of yourself, let your body do what it's been trying to do for months. Because you don't need more fitness right now, you need to show up ready to use it. Alright, y'all, super grateful for you for listening, spending some time with me. Um I didn't go off the deep end. I thought I might, man. I'm my tape retainers haven't hit for me, but like uh super, super appreciate y'all listening. And uh, if you love this episode, download it, follow show, leave a rating or review, share with a friend. It does help more people or helps more people hear this this message and all of that. You know, maybe it'll get somebody into running, maybe it'll get somebody to enjoy their taper a little bit more. Uh, but I am uh super stoked to get started. So this comes out, this is Monday, this episode comes out tomorrow, and then I will have one more episode before uh Coca Dona. So that's exciting. Alright, guys, go move your body, drink some water, stretch your calves, and if you're listening while running, loosen your shoulders. You're welcome. Good effort, positive attitude.