Taper Towards Tri

Good morning.

Taper is going very well. It's funny, but I always feel fat during taper. Maybe it is a little guilt about not working out hard. But, after doing this several times I know it's all in my head.

The excitement for Saturday's 1/2 Ironman slowly grows inside me. My body feels very good. I went on a 6 mile run yesterday and my usually slow first mile was in the mid 8 pace without even thinking about it. It was very hot and humid but that did not bother me at all. Maybe I am becomming even more heat acclimated.

Or, maybe it's the Chia Seeds I've been adding to my morning oatmeal.

The six mile run was just an easy effort, but those easy efforts are becomming a little faster. This may have been the last run before the event. If I do run again it might be a couple miles on Friday. But, why even risk it if the 1/2 Iron is the following day. I might just skip it. The run looked like this:

Split Time Moving Time Distance Elevation Gain Elevation Loss Avg Pace Avg Moving Pace Best Pace Avg HR Max HR Steps Calories
1 0:08:34 0:08:27 1 0 7 8:34 8:27 3:54 116 131 0 85
2 0:08:16 0:08:11 1 14 0 8:16 8:11 6:54 128 154 0 85
3 0:08:21 0:08:06 1 0 0 8:21 8:06 6:34 135 145 0 92
4 0:07:42 0:07:39 1 0 0 7:42 7:39 6:20 142 155 0 91
5 0:07:52 0:07:53 1 0 5 7:52 7:53 6:43 147 151 0 98
6 0:07:54 0:07:51 1 0 5 7:54 7:51 6:27 146 155 0 94
7 0:00:43 0:00:44 0.09 0 0 8:00 8:00 7:14 153 154 0 10
Summary 0:49:26 0:48:51 6.09 14 17 8:06 8:01 3:54 135 155 0 555


All I have left for training this week is a 45 min bike on the trainer workout and one more short swim of around 1000 yards with 1/2 of that near race pace.

My coach sent me a You Tube video where a triathlete says something to himself when the going gets tough on race day. He says, "shut up legs." I like that and will most likely use it Saturday.

I had an interesting Monday afternoon. Got to meet 3 time Ironman World Champion Chrissie Wellington at a Fleet Feet luncheon. I was one of the few who got to ask a question. I asked about her nutrition and calorie intake. She is not anal about nutrition but does eat all good stuff. She does not count calories but guessed she may consume around 4000 calories per day when training. She is very nice.

One thing she really was strong about was, visualization. This was a nice way to start the week.

Tomorrow I will go over my goals for Saturday and also provide athlete tracking data for those who may be interested.


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" Beyond the very extreme of fatigue and distress, we may find amounts of ease and power we never dreamed ourselves to own, sources of strength never taxed at all because we never push through the obstruction."

* It takes courage to push yourself to places that you have never been before... to test your limits... to break through barriers. And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight inside the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” - Anais Nin