Half marathon 4 weeks before the Boston marathon

<p>Should I race it all out, should I taper for it? Or not.  That is the question.</p>
<p>I know I don't need a supported MP run.  I am curious what half time I can run, but at the same time, I don't expect I can run the half at PR level since I have been focusing on how to bring the full pace closer to the half pace (last year, the difference was about.... 55sec., 7:40 vs. 8.35, yikes).  So how should I go about doing this race?  Some suggested in the past not to focus on peaking on one race but to have 3-4wks of 'race peak' period.  Based on the thought, I probably should start cutting down the volume and increase the intensity, and just race hard.  There is a 10k two weeks before Boston, that could be another race.  Or, staying with convensional wisdom, and just train through it (or taking just a few days easy prior to the half) and race.  Still one more week to go after the half before starting a convensional 3-wk taper.  I am just trying to figure out where to place the speed work before the half.  And that will determine if I run a long run this Sat or Sun, and of course how long is another question.   </p>
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<p>I realized I have never run a half as a tune-up race for a full.  I have always run at least one 10k. </p>
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<p>You are probably tired of reading all of these questions related to a marathon training.  Me, too.  I thought I would know what I was doing by 7th marathon training. <span><img alt="wink.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/wink.gif" style="width:16px;height:16px;"></span></p>
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