This is my first week of tapering for Paris.  I'm 3 weeks out and am reducing mileage by about 1/4, from 53 miles a week to 44.  Longest run is 16 miles.  Really glad to have new sneakers. MONDAY- between morning clients I had half an hour to do some weight training. Until race is over i'm focusing on moderate to light weights, 8-12 reps, supersets of strength and stability. Less total body work and more focus on short workouts more frequently so everything gets trained at least 2x a week. Thursday this week will be the last of my leg weight training (i think), so lots of upper body work. Did 4 exercises for back and 2 for shoulders. Both shoulders are cold and my flexibility is poor this early in the am so kept everything pretty easy and focused on short rest.

Right after clients I ate a pear and got dressed for a run. It's dreary out, threatening rain but just looks damp right now and temps in low 50s. Going over the brooklyn bridge and up the west side for 10 miles. Should be a good combination of hills and flat. As I started running could feel some IT band pain which went away once warmed up. My tempo for 10 miles should be 9:20 but i'm feeling light and quick today so going to keep an eye on my HR and go with whatever pace  feels easy. Had to stop for a bathroom around 4 miles and took a gel at 5 miles and turned around. Feeling really good and pace is averaging 8:50. My energy and HR remained low so I was able to keep this pace working a little harder than planned up and down the hills. Final numbers for the main set of 8.34 miles was 8:53 pace and a nice low HR of only 150bpm.

TUESDAY- my only training for today is to swim so I'm taking advantage of the low work load and doing a cleanse/fast day until just before leaving for the pool.  I't been way too long and I need a break from food. Would like to cleanse all day, but know I won't be motivated to go to pool, nor will I have a good workout unless I have an Isalean shake before. Got to the pool early and had a nice easy workout. That was the plan for the day and I was happy to follow it. Did lots of drills. Sets were interesting. Combined freestyle and backstroke. Sets of 200 free then 100 back, 100 free/100back x3 more. Including drills and cooldown covered 2300 yards but didn't feel like it. My back stroke is getting a bit better, less water up my nose at least, and kicking takes less effort. Think my kick has improved a bit since last time I did backstroke. Found that the 100 yards following a set of back stroke really good, not effortless, but better than continuous sets of freestlye. Not a great day, took lots of concentration and i'm just not focused on swimming today. Didn't get as much work done as I wanted to and have more to do when I get home at 9:30.

WEDNESDAY Right after clients I went for a run. Did not have my customary shake, instead I ate mostly carbs. Had a hard boiled egg around 6, and apple around 8 and some energy beans right before the run. Wearing a new pair of shoes today. New brand (Mizuno) and model than before. Warmed up the 2 miles going to prospect park. The plan is to run the rest of the 6 miles at race effort. Since it is hilly and about 40 mph winds I'm not focusing on pace as much as HR and perceived effort. I set my Garmin at 1 mile intervals. The interval paces varied from 7:38 to 8:21 and the AV hr for the intervals was between 163 and 173. The total average pace was 8:00, juts 5 sec short per mile of my race goal, but feel considering the terrain and wind that this was a good race effort. Felt really good in the new shoes. Did not have any gels, just want more energy in my water. IT band was quite a bit better than my run on Monday, not unnoticeable, but much better. Good run. Will follow up with stretches, a mini shake and then weights.

After my run I went to my basement gym for a shoulder workout. Since my shoulder is nicely warmed up from the run I'm going for high volume, but still not too much weight. Did supersets of strength and stability. Rep range from 10-12 and all were 3 sets. Did 6 exercises, so 18 sets total. Everything felt good. Finished with upper body stretches and 10 min of bosu abs. Still have one more run today. Running with TNT in the evening. a 4 mile "tempo" run, which will be at 9:30 pace at the most. Think it's not a problem at all, but need to be conscious of the schedule moving forward in my taper.  It was a super easy run with TNT. Decided to add these runs, although they are short and very slow including walking as well as easy jogging I need to be aware of all mileage. Walk/jog 3.63 miles av pace 11mm.

THURSDAY- I had two clients in the morning and no time to eat so had a plum before my run. Felt good going into this easy 6 mile run but felt a bit low energy around 4 mile mark. Ran from John street, down chambers, up the west side and back up chanbers. So, mostly flat, but some hills. This easy 6 mile should be at a 9mm pace and HR in mid 150's. Legs feel good, but overall the run did feel a little harder than a typical easy run.  Should have eaten more.  Averages including warm up and cool down was HR 153 and pace 8:50.
This will be my last weight training for legs for about 4 weeks. Paris marathon is 18 days away now, and for at least a week after I will not be doing any weights. Did squats 4x10 reps, deadlifts 20x3 very light, leg extensions pretty light 3x10, cable lateral lunges with spinal rotation, finished with 3x8 single leg squats. All this in 30 minutes. Could have done at least 2 more reps for all exercises, so although it was a lot of volume the weights were pretty light.  Before my last client of the afternoon did abs and some foam rolling.
SATURDAY- This mornings run was fantastic. I got up and spent some time on the computer and prepping dinner to go into a crock pot so didn't get out the door until about 11. Had my typical long run breakfast which was a chcoloate isalean shake with banana, isagreens and Isacalcium. Added new insoles to the new sneakers and headed out. It's quite cold today. A bit of a shock to the system. Only 34 degrees and at least 15 mph wind. Going for 16 miles flat today. My last so called long run is next Saturday and it's a drop to 10 miles, so today is just get out there, have fun, go easy but push it a bit if you are feeling good. By the 3rd mile I was well warmed up and really enjoying the run. Shoes feel great, IT band pain on left leg is almost gone, gait is smooth, posture feels good, shoulder feels good. Pace going up the hudson river path was a little slower than the return because of the wind, but for most part was about 9:10mm with HR steady around 156bpm. Had a gel at 4 mile and 8 mile then turned around. Had last gel at 12 and a bathroom stop. Took the last 2 miles from top of the bridge home pretty hard. Added some speed pick ups. This run was supposed to be at a 9:30 pace and average pace for all but the warm up and short cool down was 8:58 and HR 157bpm.
SUNDAY- Had a good indoor trainer session today. Got a new book "workouts in a binder for indoor cycling". Been looking for more focused indoor trainer workouts and I think this book will help me through pre-season and give me options that are more demanding for race season as well. Picked a speed workout that focused on high cadence. Worklout SS4 Aero Position. 15 min warm up consisting of 5 min easy at 90 rpm then another 10 min at 90rpm but focus on pulling back on the up stroke. Main set is in zone 3 which was not a problem today. Most of them were at the top range and found by rep 5 I had to reduce the resistance to maintain the reps. Not used to working at such high reps but legs felt pretty good. Entire workout was in aero and took breaks to sit up during rest interval. did 8x3:00 in zone 3 with RPM averaging 93 followed by 3 min rest in zone 2 again high RMP about 85. Finished with 5 min cool down. Not a particularly hard workout but was a lot of sets. Thought it fit well into my race taper schedule.
Week totals: 9  hrs 45min;  44 miles running; 1:15 swmi; 1:05 bike; 1:30 weights over 3 days.  Feel good going into week 2 of taper, not lethargic, glad the real work is over.
Had dinner with a friend on Friday who ran Paris Marathon last year and clued me into some things that made me more confident.  First they hand out water bottles, very nice.  And the croud is a bit rough which I prefer because I hate being polite everytime I want to pass someone.