Officially tapering! After a BIG weekend, I am so excited to be three weeks away from the IM and tapering. Friday kicked off the weekend with 10 miles running and a bit over a mile swim in a WAVY Lake Michigan (i.e. not so fun). Saturday I got up to Madison at 6am for a last brick (ride and run) on the course. 106 miles biking and 6 miles running later, I drove back to Chicago in time to make a concert. I was exhausted. But, we had fun with my sister-in-law and her husband and she made an amazing dinner which I thoroughly appreciated after a long day of liquid nutrition. Sunday morning, I was running by 7am and ran 19 miles in just under 3 hours. Had a friend with me for the last 8 miles which made the end to a tough weekend much more enjoyable. So, over the course of 48 or so hours, I did half of the IM swim, almost all of the IM bike, and well over the miles in the marathon of the IM. Woo hoo! Even better, my body (and specifically my legs) are feeling great today!
Although I’m tapering, this first week really doesn’t have too much of a volume decline. Last week I trained for ~18 hours. This week I’ll probably be only down to 14 or so – that’s still A LOT. But mentally, I’m in a whole new world – I don’t think I’ll have to wake up before 5am until race day, which is fabulous!! Now I will have the time to work myself up by having time to think about actual race day.
Its already started.
I went to my blog page to start this post and really LOOKED at the picture at the top, which is the swim start of the race. Freaked me out a little, not going to lie. Look at how many people there are! I am so nervous to battle 2500 other people in a lake – I really would prefer to keep my goggles intact, and more importantly, my teeth. With my swimming background, I still feel this way. I can’t imagine how people who have recently learned to swim would feel faced with this mass swim start (a lot of triathletes start out as bikers and runners and add swimming only because they have to do in order to participate in a triathlon). Although the whole race is intimidating – will I have a technical issue on the bike? How will my heart rate and digestive system really react to running a marathon after swimming 2.4 miles and biking 112? How do I know if I’m drinking and eating enough before its too late? What will the weather be like? – I am most anxious about the first 15 minutes of the swim. It is just going to be awful. Instead of succumbing to the fear right before the race and entering timidly, I think the tactic I’m going to take is just to get pissed and claw my way through the fray - not trying to hurt any of my fellow competitors of course, that sounds like bad karma, and not trying to use excess amounts of energy – but I think being in that mental state with some extra adrenaline will help my overcome my fear and the reality of avoiding 2499 other bodies.
Although I’m tapering, this first week really doesn’t have too much of a volume decline. Last week I trained for ~18 hours. This week I’ll probably be only down to 14 or so – that’s still A LOT. But mentally, I’m in a whole new world – I don’t think I’ll have to wake up before 5am until race day, which is fabulous!! Now I will have the time to work myself up by having time to think about actual race day.
Its already started.
I went to my blog page to start this post and really LOOKED at the picture at the top, which is the swim start of the race. Freaked me out a little, not going to lie. Look at how many people there are! I am so nervous to battle 2500 other people in a lake – I really would prefer to keep my goggles intact, and more importantly, my teeth. With my swimming background, I still feel this way. I can’t imagine how people who have recently learned to swim would feel faced with this mass swim start (a lot of triathletes start out as bikers and runners and add swimming only because they have to do in order to participate in a triathlon). Although the whole race is intimidating – will I have a technical issue on the bike? How will my heart rate and digestive system really react to running a marathon after swimming 2.4 miles and biking 112? How do I know if I’m drinking and eating enough before its too late? What will the weather be like? – I am most anxious about the first 15 minutes of the swim. It is just going to be awful. Instead of succumbing to the fear right before the race and entering timidly, I think the tactic I’m going to take is just to get pissed and claw my way through the fray - not trying to hurt any of my fellow competitors of course, that sounds like bad karma, and not trying to use excess amounts of energy – but I think being in that mental state with some extra adrenaline will help my overcome my fear and the reality of avoiding 2499 other bodies.
So the swim is what I'm going to focus on this week - both having good workouts and visualizing my swim start. Next week it'll be time to visualize and obsess over the bike leg!
These next four are from the Racine Half Ironman. Unflattering wetsuit picture. Yikes.
