aaaaaaaaaaaaand....I'm Tapering Again

It officially started yesterday. I heard the alarm, saw flashes of light, got up without turning on a light to check it out, and it was lightning. At first, I thought, great! I will just go back to sleep for a bit and swim at the Y since the outdoor pool would be closed because of the lightning. But then I remembered my Y is closed now for 3 weeks for cleaning and repairs. Still, I hit the snooze like 3 times, got an extra 1/2 hour of sleep, and ended up driving to the Good Samaritan Wellness Center to swim. That's where I'll have to swim for ROTPM, unless they extend the morning lap swim at the outdoor pool.

On the way to Good Sam, I remembered that they have an awesome hot tub, and thought I'd still have time for that after my swim. At the front desk, I pre-paid for 7 swims (at least they aren't overcharging us Y refugees), and got things set up so that when I return, it won't take me but a moment to check in. I felt pretty good during my 3400 yard swim, got in about 5' of hot tub stretching, and got home and started work by 8:30.

Even though the swim felt good and was a good recovery thing, I felt pretty damn shelled from last week's festivities, and as much as I mentally wanted to start in on my strength training, I decided to just rest for the remainder of the day. I ate like a champion, though, as I must have been down on my replacement calories from all the biking I did over the weekend. I stretched well, and got to sleep early, although I wasn't as sleepy tired as I thought I would be. A little over an hour of working out just doesn't do it for me some days!

This morning I got right up with the alarm, fixed breakfast, noodled around a little on the Interwebs, and then got ready to bike to the outdoor pool. I managed to leave at 6:05AM, and I could have used a flashing light on my backpack since it was still not fully light because of some cloud cover. But I was careful, and enjoyed the ride. I am savoring every last ride there because it is going to come to an end soon!

I didn't need to swim at all today, but I just want to enjoy the outdoor swimming as much as possible before it ends. The water was a glorious temperature, and I just made something up, thinking I wanted to do about 2000 meters is all. I got some things going on in my head besides just tapering right now that I won't go into, but I really needed to flush those things out, as even though next week isn't an "official" race, it is to me because of the overall effort required, not just to do it, but there is a bit of planning to do to be ready for it. So there's that, and then some other things that are weighing on me right now. I really just wanted the water to wash all of that away! It took a few hundred meters before I became totally relaxed and just enjoyed the feel of the cool water and the cool air on my skin, and if someone had videotaped me underwater, I am sure they would have seen me smiling! So mission accomplished on just enjoying the swim!

I had a 1:10 ride/:30 brick run scheduled for today. It seems like every day now I am looking at my training history for the past and trying to decide if I should do more during this taper because of what I am doing next week, and I am just playing it by ear. I intended to ride only for an hour since I'd already put in 11 miles to/from the pool, but it was so nice out, and I got on LGL, and I just wanted to ride! I'd intended to hit my usual interval loop, but there was some issue on the railroad tracks creating a traffic mess and nobody could cross the tracks, so I went into my industrial park interval area.

There was a strong wind from the west, and I was heading west, and I just love that when I'm trying to ride hard. Plus, when I got through the industrial park and into this residential area that has some nice little hills, I noticed they'd finished repaving all my favorite roads! I was like a kid in a candy shop--I want to climb this, and this and this. And so I did, and on the last climb, which is about a mile, I was so excited to be able to bomb down on fresh asphalt. A woman in a car on a cross street seemed to be able to tell I was hammering, and there were 2 small crests I had to make before the big downhill, and I was standing up and loving it, and finally, near the bottom, she drove by me and gave me a thumbs up! I know I was just smiling from ear to ear, it was so fun! I ended up riding 1:12, funny how I came right up to the scheduled time, huh?

I got rid of the bike shorts and put running shorts on and my visor and shoes and headed out. I think my transition time was like 2 minutes. This is the first time I have run off the bike since IMLP, and I knew I had ridden pretty hard based on how my legs felt, even though I hadn't run since Friday. Well, tiny steps, quick cadence, just do it. I made myself run up the hill from my house 4 times in the process of getting in 3.5 miles, not very fast, but steady and solid.

I get to do these same workouts on Thursday, so hopefully the run will go better, but I'm really not that worried. If it's nice out, I will swim on Thursday morning outside, too, just because. So I guess this is not a conventional taper, but next week is not conventional either!

Thankfully, I'm off to get a massage shortly that is much needed, and then I plan on some R&R tonight after I run one more errand.

It's T-7 days to ROTPM. Fuh-UCK! What was I thinking when I said I'd do that?