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<\/p>\nWhile it was an anticlimactic last official week of training, the truth is now that it’s officially taper.\u00a0 OMG.\u00a0 Shit just got real!<\/p>\n
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Choppy lake is choppy but the rest of the day was loverly.<\/em><\/p>\n The weekend before last week I did my second long day.\u00a0 The first one, I felt just fine after resting up Sunday and taking it a little lighter early in the week.\u00a0 This one, coupled with a few nights of bad sleep, wrecked me for most of the weekdays.\u00a0 I mounted a comeback and put in 4.5 hours over the weekend, more than doubling what I did during the week.<\/p>\n Would I have liked to have done more?\u00a0 Sure.\u00a0 But, the hay is in the barn.\u00a0 I’m ready.\u00a0 There are bales of it, piled high, ready to feed the hay-eating-beast on race day.\u00a0 I can second guess things, like perhaps I could have accumulated more hay or compare myself to other farmers who might have bigger barns (more training).\u00a0 I can organize my bales a bit so I can make use of them better on race day (practice transitions, more open water swimming instead of in the pool, strides on the bike and the run, etc).\u00a0 However, the time for gathering the bales is now officially over so it’s simply time to protect the barn.<\/p>\n I did my long day #1 (2\/25) a month out from long day #2 (3\/25), which is 1 month out from long day #3 (Ironman day).\u00a0 Between #1 and #2, I had convinced myself that I had gone too long without a long effort and I’d forget how to ride my bike.\u00a0 I didn’t.\u00a0 Now it’s time to remember the same thing during taper.\u00a0 Your body does not forget how in a month.<\/p>\n It’s taper, so it’s time to replace a little #sockdoping with a little #hammocklife.<\/em><\/p>\n Last week (heavily modified):<\/p>\n As you can see, it was kind of a fail in terms of keeping a schedule but there’s enough in there that it was still a decent recovery week.\u00a0 I think I had two weeks of the thirteen so far which I significantly reduced volume.\u00a0 Besides that, I’ve stayed healthy, uninjured, and (relatively) sane, so I can’t complain too much.<\/p>\n This week:<\/p>\n This is a lot for taper normally, but considering I took last week lighter, I’ll leave it on the plan and we’ll see how it goes.\u00a0 Next week will be a significant reduction either way.\u00a0 The open water swims are priority, since I’m feeling flaily at them lately.<\/p>\n I will make a gametime call at how hard I’m going to run 10\/20.\u00a0 I’m doubting I have a PR (sub-1:36) at the effort I’m willing to put out (aka, not wreck myself), but I also wouldn’t mind running it harder than easy.\u00a0 It also will be determined by what I do the day before, if its a 60 mile TT ride + brick run + open water swim, I’ll probably not want to kill it for 10 miles (quite as much).<\/p>\n Life stuff:<\/p>\n Proof sometimes I dry my hair and wear makeup and real person clothes.\u00a0 It might take two people getting married, but it happens!<\/em><\/p>\n Perspective is a weird thing.\u00a0 Only training 8.25 hours last week meant we had so much tiiiiiime to do other stuff.\u00a0 We went to Costco one day.\u00a0 We had another Thursday date night checking out a new place for appetizers and drinks.\u00a0 We went to a friend’s wedding at Voodoo Donuts and after party at a speakeasy.\u00a0 I spent all Sunday afternoon enjoying the perfect weather reading in the hammock.\u00a0 It was nice!<\/p>\n This week, I’ve got a few things to tackle, but it’s really just prepping to have the best ME I can on race day.\u00a0 Now that we’re in taper, it’s time to do the non-workout part of protecting the barn – which is treating myself as nicely as possible over the next few weeks so I’m rested, refreshed, loose, and unfrazzled as possible.\u00a0 To that end I have a few goals:<\/p>\n #1 – I’m pretty sure my calorie balance dipped into the positives last week.\u00a0 I need to resume tracking for the next 3 weeks so I don’t overeat and gain a bunch of weight.<\/p>\n #2 – My foam roller and I have been estranged lately.\u00a0 It’s probably because my body has adapted to the training and I’m not collapsing onto it every 5 minutes to unkink my back and booty.\u00a0 This is a good thing.\u00a0 However, just because I don’t have an urgent need for it doesn’t mean it won’t be good for me.\u00a0 So, I’m rededicating myself this week, each day before bed, I need to do my quick little 5 minute rolling routine.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Date nights are fun, but they’ve been turning into too-late-nights.\u00a0 But it’s super fun to actually go out a little.\u00a0 Absence (from the couch) makes the heart grow fonder.<\/em><\/p>\n #3 – The good news is I have been keeping my consumption to one weekday (typically Thursday).\u00a0 The bad news is I have been staying up a little too late on said weekdays when I have some booze (read: 2-3am, sleeping as late as I can before work, only getting about 6 hours sleep max).\u00a0 I can use all the sleep I can get over the next three weeks.\u00a0 So, I’m going to take a page from January (when I actually found bed at a decent hour most nights) and if I have drinks on the weekdays, they will be beer or beer-like substances until after the race.<\/p>\n #4 – And even in non-booze related evenings, I need to start shifting the time to be in bed reading to more like 9pm rather than 10pm, so I can a) be more rested and b) start waking up a little earlier.\u00a0 If I can get 6:30-7am to not feel like the middle of the night, I will probably be better off on race day having to get up at 4.<\/p>\n In other life stuff, the bike shoes I ordered failed (way too small), and I never made it to the running store to get new shoes.\u00a0 The new bike shoes are on order, and I plan to hit the running store one day this week at lunch.<\/p>\n Other than that, I’m pretty much taking the month to ignore anything else that is not a) race related or b) an emergency or immediate NEED.\u00a0 If I don’t need to stress about something before April 22nd, I’m making the call not to.\u00a0 Shipping an update at work and doing an Ironman will be enough for me this month, thank you very much.\u00a0 Anything else can be added to the list starting approximately May 1st or so!<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/adjustedreality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Apr3-4.jpg\")
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weights and swim<\/del> 11 hours sleep (OFF)<\/li>\nhour run and cycle class<\/del> 5k run at like 12:30 pace and 11 hours sleep<\/li>\n2 hour run AM<\/del> 9 hour sleep and 1 hour run at lunch<\/li>\nmaybe a work bike commute and maybe make up the weights with a very lazy core session<\/del> but also maybe not any of that.<\/li>\nriding bikes to and from Barton Springs (~2 hours) and an open water swim.<\/del> Due to the storm, 2h15m trainer ride.\u00a0 And book\/hammock reps instead of my swim.<\/li>\n\n
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