WEEKLY SUMMARY (September 9-15): 40 miles (90% at easy and 10% at tempo paces)
  Sunday: off
  Monday: 8.1 miles at 7:33/mi.
  Tuesday: 2 easy, 2 x 2 miles T at 6:19/mi., 4 easy (10 miles total)
  Wednesday: 6 miles at 7:32/mi.
  Thursday: 10 miles at 7:25/mi.
  Friday: off
  Saturday: 5.9 miles at 7:48/mi.

This turned into a very light week for several reasons, in roughly this order: 1) I was more worn down than I thought from the preceding high mileage weeks, 2) September marathon malaise (see below), 3) I started worrying that the half-marathon race on Sunday 9/16 would push me over the edge unless I took things very easy this week, 4) I wanted to see how I'd feel after the sort of light week that Daniels has scheduled for the last week of the taper before the marathon, since I've never felt right after a standard taper in the past and am starting to think about how I might do it differently next month. On Tuesday I did the first part of the long tempo workout that I had skipped earlier. I felt fine, though not as extra fine as I felt on my tempo run the previous week before my stomach freaked out. But that's when I decided to take things easier this week than I had planned. A long tempo just a few days after a 22-miler and a few days before a half-marathon race finally struck me mid-run as crazy, so I turned around and went home. By Thursday I was feeling well rested and, predictably, ran too fast on an easy run. My legs were starting to ache as well when I wasn't running, presumably because some rest enabled me to feel the effects of all the running I've been doing. When the numbness starts wearing off, though, I get worried, because (usually) I race better when numb from having run lots of miles than I do when I've rested too much. This is what has me rethinking my taper before the marathon. I might drop mileage two and three weeks out but increase it again somewhat during the final week (e.g., 50, 40, 60). Or maybe I'll take a very light week like this one three weeks out and then ascend gradually during the next two weeks (e.g., 40, 50, 60). We'll see. I've also started thinking about life, and running, after the marathon, as I typically do about now. Marathon training gets old, and I miss doing shorter races. I suspect that another (or perhaps the main) cause of September marathon malaise is that, as the actual event approaches, I start girding myself for the suffering it involves. A natural defense mechanism tells me to protect myself by not running as hard or as much. But I still have one final push ahead of me. How next week goes depends on how I recover from the half-marathon, but I'll try to get in a good number of mostly easy miles (maybe up to 70) so that I'm fit for attempting two hard weeks at 80 miles after that. Then the taper, whatever it turns out to be, will begin.