Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Tri to Taper

Posted by CheapRunnerMike

This is it, race week…Sunday is my first Half-Iron race!

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I think I'm ready, but until the day gets here you never really know.  I feel great about my swimming, I'm okay with my biking (wish I had done a bit more, but too late for that now), and oddly enough it's my running endurance that has me perhaps the most nervous.  I've been getting in some really awesome runs for a few months now with lots of speed, but nothing too long.  There have been countless 10K's, but the longer runs have been few and far between.  I will really need to make sure I don't go out too fast on race day or these legs could be toast.

This past weekend at the cottage I managed to get my last couple bike rides in…a nice 21 mile ride on Saturday followed up by a shorter 8 mile ride Sunday that I paired with a 5K brick run.  For non-triathletes, a brick workout is where you pair two workouts together, like the bike and a run immediately afterwards.  It's a great way to recreate the jello legs you feel during a race and get different muscles involved.  I was happy with the brick as I nailed a 5K beach run (beach running is TOUGH!) off the bike at a sub-7:00/mile pace.

The weekend featured some perfect weather, which was great because the skies were threatening at the end of last week…here's what it looked like on my Thursday runch

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Those would be some pretty black clouds…even up here in Canada we are "Tryin' to Reason With Hurricane Season".  Thankfully it held off through the weekend, and despite it being cooler on Friday, the weather was perfect at the beach on Saturday and Sunday.  I got out in the lake with the kids both days and Kennedy and I got in some fun swims out pretty far off shore.  That kid just loves the water!  I'm guessing we will get a few more longer swims in this summer.

Taper time is now here and today is a rare Tuesday rest day.  Nothing on the schedule at all.  In fact, the only workout I have left on the plan (who am I kidding?  I never had a plan) is tomorrow night's Splash n Dash.  I guess I will need to hold back a bit and not try to go overboard…easier said when done once those competitive juices get going.  Other than perhaps an run somewhere in there, that's it activity-wise.

The rest  of taper week will be filled with hydrating and loading up my body with the fuel I need to get me through 70.3 miles.  Race week nutrition is something I really need to work on, so any tips are appreciated!  We are heading out for Geneva, NY on Friday morning and that's when it is going to get real.

Did Hurricane Arthur bother you where you live?

Any triathlon taper tips to share?

3 comments:

  1. Yess!!! Musselman week is here! Can't wait to meet you, Michelle and Rhoda! You ARE ready and you ARE going to kick ass. I just got confirmation of my volunteer spot for the morning (Figured I would help out since I decided not to race)... I'll be pulling your butt out of the water when you come up the boat launch. I only have to do that for a few hours then I can hang out with your fabulous ladies while we cheer for you!

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  2. So exciting that all of your hard work is fixing to pay off!!!
    No tips but can't wait to hear all about it!!!
    No hurricane stuff down here -I guess that is a benefit to being in the middle of the country!!

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  3. Best of luck! You are already crazy ridiculous fast and such a strong athlete!!
    Trust your training! Your consistency will pay off!!!

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