Professional cyclists look at each others’ butts. Did you know that? It’s true. They will stare at their rivals’ hineys in those tight black shorts to see how solid they look. Statistically speaking, at least some of them have a prurient interest in the subject but for the most part they are being totally professional. After years of clocking the gluetii maximi of fellow bike riders, most pros can tell how close to “form” another member of the peleton is. If they need more data, they might cop a feel. Like squeezing a melon. That is how they know if the rival has peaked.
Because you will peak. If you are Lance Armstrong, you have it down to a scientific formula. If you are Jan Ullrich, you eat a lot of donuts and the go ride your ass off. Literally. If you are me, then you do neither because you are not so scientific or so batshit crazy that you try to achieve that sort of form. Plus, I’m not riding a 3 week grand tour. This year. I am running a marathon, and not as an analogy either. I should be, and fortunately seem to be, coming on to form right about now in order to peak at my marathon roughly two weeks hence. This is the point at which many people begin “the taper.”
I hate “the taper.” It’s usually about this time that I’ve gotten used to running a lot. A lot, a lot. I run and I feel good. I feel confident. I feel fit. Then I taper. I feel bad because I am not running. It’s a let down, and I miss it. I have not yet done the big thing … the marathon and I start to doubt that I can, or that I can in any sort of form like when I was training. I get edgy and not nice to my family. I hate the taper.
So I’m not doing the taper. I’ve probably run the farthest I will run at one time during this training period. I will run long this week and next. Somewhere between 16 and 18 this week and 12 to 16 next. I’ll keep doing about an hour most other days. I’m not going to worry about it too much, because I’ve gotten plenty of miles into my legs up to this point. I certainly don’t want to injure myself in the next two weeks. But I also don’t want to lose this feeling and confidence that I have in my running right now. Plus, my ass looks fantastic. Solid as a rock.