Yesterday's Workouts: Taper Madness Setting In

I was apprehensive going in to today's workouts. Tapering, you know. Part of me hates not working out so much and the other part of me recognizes that I need the rest. Regardless, I am eminently aware that tapering messes with your mind and body.

You are on this mostly regular schedule--for me, it's two workouts a day--and because of that you are eating certain amounts at certain times of the day, and let's just say it here, it keeps you damn regular. You get used to the ebb and flow of your energy level throughout the day. You know and expect what it's like to be tired at the end of the day because you trained hard. Your mind is accustomed to the break it receives when you work out and it views that as integral to its health. You are used to a certain level of endorphins which, face it, are the best drug. For me, since I typically do one workout in the morning and another later, this also sets the timing of my showers, so I get used to being grungy for only short periods of time. The end of the day fatigue sets in and you easily, and pleasantly, fall asleep, and deeply. You wake up the next day and you are already looking forward to your workouts.

Compare and contrast that with a taper: maybe I have to do one workout; maybe NONE. My eating and showering schedules are all messed up. I don't even think about eating much or else I obsess about how I can't eat so much because that would be stupid to put on weight now (how much does it suck to be tapering during Christmas and New Year holiday weeks???). Some of the workouts are so, well, SHORT, that I even consider what the hell, I could just skip it! I am not sure whether I'm tired and need to rest or lazy. My mind is not happy. It goes from thoughts of I've trained really hard I am SO ready for this race to I suck--exercise is just an excuse to not do other important things in my life. I forget to take my mid-day break from work, and because of that, am a little more ornery than usual. Working 8 straight hours in a row is not healthy for me! I think about other athletes preparing for the same event and wonder if they are laughing at me because, face it, I am a slow runner! My god some of them will be running sub-7:00 miles both days at Disney, and my lowly goal is to make it through both races in one piece, hopefully running the entire time maybe 10:00 miles! Then I have to slap myself and remember that this is ME, and my goals are different, and I am not a lifelong athlete, and I have come a long way, and oh by the way I've been training for an Ironman while training for this Goofy shit.

Much of this comes down to something that a runner at my Y shared with me a few years ago. This man runs marathons regularly. He's not ultra-fast, but he is faster than me, and he truly enjoys running. He and his wife run their own business, and a few years ago when I was tapering for something else, we were discussing tapering and all the stuff I just wrote about and he summed up my thoughts precisely: "Regular life sucks." I totally understood what he was saying. Not that the rest of our lives truly suck, just that if we didn't have our exercise and the accompanying good effects of it, well, what kind of life would that be? He further remarked that every single day, even though he enjoys the freedom of being his own boss, he looks forward to his daily run, and so when he is tapering it is just madness if he has a day off. I love this guy! Ever since then, all I have to do is tell him I'm tapering, and he just looks at me and shakes his head, and says, "You'll get through it."

Yesterday I had to do a swim TT (time trial) to establish my T-pace, which is threshold pace per 100 yards. This speed can then be used to calibrate subsequent workouts and also serves as a fitness test of sorts. My swimming has sucked the big one lately from the intensity of the strength work that I've been doing, and I just haven't been swimming much, so I wasn't optimistic. But I finally decided I had better get my sorry ass to the pool and do it and not worry so much about it, because I get another chance next week and I have months ahead of me to improve. I figured Friday before Christmas, pool can't be crowded, but I was WRONG-O.

12:25PM Swim 2250 yards in :45 as 200s, 200k, 1000s (TT), 300k, 500s, 50 easy. This wasn't exactly how I was supposed to do the workout because lots of people showed up. I ended up circle swimming with one girl who looked to be a college swimmer on break (oh, great) and this other guy who, based on my observations, is the fastest swimmer at this Y. This did not bode well for me, the slow one, being in the lane with them and getting a 1000f done. Oh well, I figured whatever I could do would be fine. So I cut my warmup a little short, and just went for it after 200k. I have to say it helped to have "sharks" in the water with me--they pushed me to swim really hard for once. I know I can, but well, I'm not a swimmer by nature (swimming since 2000), and whenever I'm tired, my swimming really suffers. But, I did have the previous day essentially off, and it had been 4 days since I lifted so I should have been able to swim at least "ok." College girl was actually drafting off me for a bit! I was totally shocked. She must have been doing an easy swim. Well surprise, surprise, I managed to hold 1:45/100. That's, I think, the fastest T-pace I've ever achieved. And I've been a slacker this fall, swimming-wise. So maybe there is hope. I would really like to get that down to 1:40 which would be flipping amazing for me. Slap on a wetsuit, throw me in some salt water, and maybe there's hope!

Needless to say, getting that swim done under those conditions made me feel pretty good, and so I looked forward to my little run. I decided I would run outdoors, as it made it to 41 degrees, so there was really no excuse, and besides, I'm sick of the treadmill. So I put on my new pair of Running Funky tights, hot pink with black zig zags, and headed out.

2:41PM Run 44:23 about 5.2 miles. The route out my front door is fairly challenging. Mile 1 is flat, then there's a gradual uphill for a mile, then a mile of good size rollers. I hadn't run this in about 2 months, so it was interesting to see how it would feel. Well, I was so happy to be outside, and I actually overdressed slightly on top, but I knew I wasn't running very long so it would be fine. Oh my the looks I got wearing those tights! Not that they were unexpected. There was no way anyone could miss me in them! I totally enjoyed this run, and I could have run a little easier, but it was good to see there's some speed (for me, anyway) in these old legs!

Today I only have to ride 1:30 and then run :30, gotta go and get ready to do it.

Happy Christmas Eve!