WEEKLY SUMMARY (September 30 - October 6): 76 miles (96% at E/L and 4% at T paces)

  Sunday: 22 miles at 7:39/mi.

  Monday AM: 4 miles pushing a stroller very slowly (no watch)

               PM: 6 miles at 7:36/mi.

  Tuesday: 9 miles at 7:50/mi. on a treadmill

  Wednesday: 6E, 2T at 6:19/mi. (2 min.), 1T at 6:20/mi., 3E (12 miles total)

  Thursday: 9 miles at 7:55/mi.

  Friday: 10 miles at 7:38/mi.

  Saturday: 4 miles at 7:57/mi.

This final pre-taper week went pretty much to plan. For Sunday's long run I had beautiful, cool, dry weather. Instead of trying to run faster, I focussed on getting my body to metabolize fat better by taking in very little sugar before and during the run. I ran the first half conservatively, averaging 7:48/mi. at halfway, then ate my only gel of the run and started progressively picking up the pace. Soon I realized that I'd have to chose between a) eating another gel and getting down to marathon pace for the final 2-3 miles, or b) not eating another gel, getting down only to MP + 30 seconds or so and then probably bonking a little near the end. I chose b) and did indeed bonk a little, but not so much that I couldn't keep the pace in the 7:20's at the end. That was the first time the weather has allowed me to do a low-fuel long run this season, and I'm very glad to have gotten it in. The weather turned first rainy and then just muggy from Tuesday through Thursday, which caused me to cut back my second quality workout of the week on Wednesday a little. The problem was humidity rather than the tightness in my back and hamstring that I was worried about last week, but by Friday that tightness had come back and I still haven't shaken it. That plus the weather forecast have me a bit worried about tomorrow morning's (Sunday's) metric marathon. A cold front blew over us this afternoon and is supposed to bring rain and much cooler air (upper 40's) by tomorrow morning. If it's windy and rainy, then much cooler air than we're used to could cause already tight muscles to stiffen up further. We'll see how it goes. My plan is to run marathon pace: high 6:40's or 6:50 average. If the weather slows me down, then I'll try to put in that kind of steady effort anyway. It'll be my last hard and sustained effort before the marathon. I have no particular plan for next week except to start resting up, lowering weekly mileage, and shortening workouts. For starters, I'll probably do only a very easy run on Monday and then take Tuesday off.