A lot of people say they get tons of energy during taper because of the reduced training volume. Well I just realized something- I hate tapers! I've been feeling sluggish, slow, and out of breath all week in my workouts. I thought back to the pre-race week for my last few races and realized I'd felt the same way then too. Apparently this is a common reaction- who knew? Coach Kevin says, "Tapering is tricky because of what happens when the athlete starts to give themselves rest, the system in the body that responds to stress starts to shut down. You will start to feel like you are out of energy, sluggish, and getting out of shape. THIS IS NORMAL." Phew! I guess that makes me feel a little better.
The "Taper Twinges" are in full effect as well. TWICE this week my shin felt funny during runs. By now though I've gotten pretty good at telling the difference between bad pain and pain I can ignore. I think this is the latter, fortunately.
For a bit of good news, today I set a new PR for 100 yards! I've been in the 1:30s for a looong time now. The last two workouts that had hard sets of 100s I was able to hit 1:30, but I'd never broken it. I decided today I was going to go for it. I had a quick set of 3x100 descend. I don't know what the time of my first 100 was because swim practice ended so the coach took the clock away in the middle of it. Oh well. The 2nd was 1:33. The last one, I went all out from the beginning and just tried to not let up. Usually when I swim "fast" and it gets hard, I let up a little because I think I won't be able to make it to the end if I don't. This time I wanted to see what would happen so I kept going. I figured, 100 is short so just suck it up and go! The last 25 I was trying to decide if I'd gone fast enough to hit 1:29. I thought maybe, then no, then maybe. Hit the wall, look at the watch- 1:27! Woo HOO! Yes I know that's still not considered "fast" by swimmer standards, but I'll take it!
Tomorrow (Friday): No training. No work either, woohoo! Go to expo. Get packet. Get GNOTri race top. Go to bike shop and have cadence sensor fixed, tires checked. Drive new portion of bike course. Make gear lists and start putting stuff together. Go to Macca's talk. Grab his ass for Molly :) GET A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP.
Saturday: Rehearse transitions. Check and recheck that everything is packed. Quick spin and run. Drop off Stella at transition. Mix up concentrate. Get more sleep.
For all you who wish you could be in NOLA for the inaugural IMNOLA 70.3, here are some pictures to help you feel like you're here:
Jackson Square, where we'll be finishing:
Satellite view of Lake Pontchartrain and the NO area, with the course highlighted (swim = red, bike = blue, run = yellow)
And one from Al, trying to scare the out-of-towners:
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