The Holiday Taper

     "On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me" Eggnog, beer, turkey, cookies, pie, ham... among many more other delightful food/drinks to enjoy! Ahh.. the holiday season, not only do we indulge in food/drinks we indulge in family, time off of work, school, shopping and staying up late to ring in the new year! Its festive, relaxing, joyful, chaotic, a sense of togetherness, family and wellbeing. Its my favorite time of the year, its seems as though the whole year crescendos into the last two months and cumulates into the holiday season, a well earned reward for all the hard work throughout the year.
      This time of year can also be a holiday from running, there are not many races taking place, most runners seem to be ramping down their mileage and/or cross training. Is this holiday taper out of necessity or is it our reward for all the hard work and training we have done throughout the year? For many (like me) its both, on one hand the holidays season necessitates more time with the family, vacationing, the kids are out of school and there is unfavorable running weather, all these factors play a part toward having to shift more time and energy away from running. On the other hand the body needs a break, you can only push so hard throughout the year racing and training till your body starts to rebel against you. All the accumulated miles, elevation gains, pushups, sit-ups and crunches start to take a toll on the body, the body needs a holiday too! Sometimes It just feels damn good to kick up the feet, grab a beer and watch some football!
     But the holiday taper can be a tough pill to swallow sometimes, most runners feel a sense of guilt, grumpiness, not measuring up in there fitness or a sense that something is wrong. When you run a certain amount of miles each week and attend to a fairly strict diet day after day, it becomes routine, its becomes a way of life, it feels good to work out and eat right. We sometimes crave running down a single track or killing the weights at the gym, it truly becomes an addiction of sorts. So ramping down the mileage or cross training for the holidays can be a difficult thing, Its taper madness! Add in all the holiday goodies that sabotage our diets we start to see our skinny ass running waistlines grow bigger and we start swearing at the bathroom scale.
     In the end a holiday taper from running is a good and for the most part enjoyable thing, we just need to trust in our prior training efforts and know that our bodies are in fact repairing themselves from the abuse we have been putting them through all year. We are also resetting our desire to run, a break recharges the desire to get out there and truly enjoy the run. We get so caught up in training our bodies to run at its maximum potential we need to step back and remind ourselves of why we enjoy running so much in the first place. Most will continue to run, but with less miles and not as high of an intensity, some may cross train with weights, on mountain bikes or by skiing down slopes, either way we need to go out there and get our bodies moving to keep them in shape during the holiday season. We also need to make a conscience effort to eat a balanced diet without getting down on ourselves for the occasional splurge on holiday goodies.
      In the end we deserve the holiday treats and we deserve to rest our bodies, we have worked hard for it! Now is a good time to catch up on other hobbies we have brushed aside, getting household project we been putting off done or to start catching up on all the recorded TV shows. Most of all we need to spend some quality time with the ones we love, after all that's what the holidays are really about. Come January when its time to slowly ramp up the training we can do so with a rejuvenated body and mind while getting prepared to crush another year of running, till then a beer to celebrate and a trail to run...