I hate this tapering business…

Tapering refers to the training phase right before a long distance event, typically a marathon, when a runner starts to cut back on his mileage. Preparing for marathons, runners typically start to taper 2-3 weeks before the race which gives them a chance to rest and recover, not to mention to mentally prepare for the competition.

That doesn’t mean that I have to like it. This last week I was supposed to run three short sessions of 10k or less, but I only managed two of them due to an overload of night shifts at work. Which has – quite literally – resulted in a cerebral meltdown. My legs are all jittery and I’m afraid I’ll take off like Bugs Bunny once the gun goes off next Sunday.

It’s one week to go before Vercingetorix, the 51 km (1800+) race of Alesia Trail Jakob and I will be participating in. Dad will join us for the slightly shorter, but still impressively challenging Oppidum where he will run 16 km (500+) on parts of the same course.

Oppidum is marked in green while Vercingetorix is marked in red (including all of the other colours as well), the course being run counter-clockwise.

We’ll be visiting our lovely relatives Nic and Maria and their pretty toddlers M and E who live a couple of hours from the starting line. It’s always a pleasure visiting France and Jakob and I have fantastic memories from the last time we were here, in June 2012, when we completed the 108 km (6700+) Trail du Verdon. During Alesia Trail, we’ll try to keep you updated on FB and my own account on Instagram (jakobklcovansky), so stay tuned!

I’ll leave you with an awesome video of last week’s race Nordmarkstravern filmed by the race’s main sponsor Helly Hansen. Coach Stefan and our friend Peter are glimpsed for a few seconds (13 seconds in), sitting down and chatting before the start of the race. Enjoy!