After this race, we had accomplished goal #1- run a time that would auto-qualify for the semifinals at Trials. He now wouldn’t have to run a qualifying heat. The next goal was to get a few quality pieces of work in and taper for nationals.
We would follow a hybrid of KitKat and CF’s taper model. The key idea would be to keep away from heavy lactic work in the taper period, yet . With this done, it was time to start the taper. A final workout of 300-250-150 was scheduled. I wanted to be absolutely safe, so I asked him to run off a three step walkup, which he ran in 33.40, with a 250 in 27.40, followed by a 150 off a three step walkup in 15.72, which was a big boost. He was about .60 faster than in his standing start 150 during the GPP test week in late April. My suspicion that the speed would come back easy was thus correct! It’s a real rush watching someone really start to fly on the track. Now it’s time to head into the taper, and also time for the next blunder…