@Amateur, bummer to hear about the SF, the pool running will make you mentally tougher come October!
@Reed Nice 5k. Again, your range is really something else right now.
3 Weeks out - 8 days because I moved my long run to monday for a monday race.
Totals - 85.5 miles, 8 days, 8 runs, 10.9 hours, 3400 ft of climbing
Wed - 15 @ 7:45 w/ 700'
Friday - 3x1600 @T (1 min rest), 3x1000 @I (2 min rest), 3 x 400 @R (400 jog rest). Ts felt super easy and I ran 535, 36, 35, far faster than anything I have done for T pace and about 8 seconds faster than last year. However I went a bit too hard and only averaged 3:18 for the ks (3:13 last year) and 77s for the 400s (72 last year). Still a confidence booster to see how easy 535s felt with 1 minute rest, even if it was a bit too hard.
Monday - 3 w/u, 3 x 2 mile (2 min rest), 8 mile c/d. This workout has always been terrible for me, to the point that if it went well, I would have been concerned that I wasnt timing my taper correctly. So I changed it up and did it on feel with a TON of hills, about 400 ft up and 500 ft down in 6 miles, on dirt and in high winds. Averaged 6:07s for the T pace. Definitely didnt feel good, but also went better than usual. I dont know why I always feel like crap 2 weeks out but Ive stopped letting it bother me.
The track work on friday was further confirmation that my lack of speed is probably starting to limit my marathon performance. It seems like Im probably 4 VDot Points slower at shorter distances. I would think that being well trained for the marathon could put me 1-2 points ahead of say a 5k, without being a limiting factor on marathon performance, but at 4 points, I think it's holding me back. Ive said for years that I should go straight from a marathon into 5k or 10k training before taking time off but havent done it. That will definitely be a necessity if Im going to continue to improve.
Enjoy your extra energy in your taper everyone. See you in 13 days.