Full Fatigue

    I am entering the last few days before I start tapering for my next race, which couldn't come soon enough.  I am so anxious to start racing again, to see my payoffs from the off season.  I am also looking forward to my taper week because I am currently going through the "FULL BODY" fatigue phase of training.  After my race in Puerto Rico I had about four days of easier workouts before I started getting back into the harder and longer days.  Since, that point the workouts have just been building with volume and mixed with building intensity, which has finally caught up to me this week.
     I really noticed it in my running performances, my mind would say :go faster" and my body would say "no I think were good right here at this pace."  I would try to swing my arms more to get my legs to move faster, I tried to lean more over my feet to try and get my legs to move faster but nothing seemed to work.  I would even notice it after workouts just milling around the house, especially going up the steps.  My legs would feel fatigued and would even get out of breath a little bit, and I would say man I feel out of shape (partly joking).  It wasn't just my legs though it was the "FULL BODY FATIGUE."  My whole body felt spent.  My whole demeanor changed and was starting to get frustrated.  When I get frustrated I tend not to relax and try and push through workouts which for me doesn't work.  I need to relax a let my body do the work.  Then I consulted my coach and we altered my training for the the past two days to try and revive my body a little bit before the taper officially starts. 
    The past two nights I have been trying to log more hours in bed to allow my body to naturally heal itself and it seems to paying off.  Today I feel like I have more energy in my whole body and more juice in the legs.  I have a long swim today so I will see how that feels.  So the plan is to push hard through the weekend and then start to shut it down in preparation for the White Lake Half in NC next weekend.  
    REST, REST,REST is critical during these hard long weeks, so don't forget to REST!!!