Tapering.
Posted by katymoe on June 20th, 2010I have mixed emotions about tapering. I think I always have this little ideal situation planned out in my head where I’m going to cut back on my training, feel great about every session I do (because it’s short), and then spend the rest of my day being an energetic bumble-bee flittering around and doing EVERYTHING I usually don’t do due to training time/energy constraints.
It just doesn’t happen that way. It seems that I’m usually still really really tired, my workouts are kinda flat, some are even bad, and I’m preoccupied with the planning for the trip etc. so I don’t even feel like I have a ton more time.
My last long brick was a couple of weekends ago. It was HOT. We started our ride around 7 am, it was supposed to be a 2.5 hour ride with a 8 mile run. It turned into a 3 hour ride and a 7 mile run. I probably started my run around 10:45 or 11:00, and I don’t know how hot it was when I started, but I was BAKING about 3 miles in. I hadn’t really planned out my 8 mile loop back to the car, but knew I had some shorter and some longer options….and I was NOT willing to go for the longer ones.
I definitely some down moments on this run, with lots of self doubt. These are the times where you question all of your training, and evil little thoughts start flying through your head. “…if I feel like this now, how am I going to feel in my marathon?!?” & “if it’s hot in CDA I’m screwed” & “what if it’s raining and windy?!?…” This way of thinking can quickly spiral into a deep dark depressed slow sufferfest if you don’t get it in check. So, I made myself start thinking of all the things I was thankful for. The first thing I thought was, ” well, I am NOT thankful for this heat”….not quite right. That’s how much of a brat I am that I even make snotty remarks to myself when I’m trying to get myself out of a funk. Idiot. Sooner than later I got on the right track. It started with my legs, I’m thankful for my strong legs that I’m running on right now, I’m thankful for my heart who LOVEs to run, I’m thankful for my family who taught me to enjoy being active, I’m thankful for my mom, brother, and Brett for going all the way to CDA to watch me pull together 9 months of training and pack it all into 11 hours and 55 minutes *wink*…..the list went on and on and on and on…..but I totally perked up and felt pretty good my last couple of miles. It’s amazing what a good attitude on a run can do.
This past week I feel like I’ve been on survival mode a little bit. Working, cleaning, organizing, packing, planning, list-making, cleaning, chore assigning, vitamining, hydrating, can I carbo-load yet? I’m kind of an over achiever when it comes to that. Mmmmm, food.
I have a few pics to post that I hope you’ll enjoy (I’ll post them in a new post)….the thumbnail is from my final brick…and I was thankful for the beautiful view!
Tags: cycling, Ironman Triathlon
