It's Taper Time

Had my last hard workouts and now it is time to rest up and get ready to race.

I am kicking my taper off today with a rest day. I will do the Ab Ripper X DVD in a little while but that is it, no swimming, bike or running today!!!!

Thursday I did an easy 45 minute trainer ride. I used the Softride training DVD and didn't push it too hard. Then I did ab ripper.

The weather forecast wasn't looking good for Friday so I decided to wait until after dropping the kids off to school to go for my run in case I had to do it inside. Turns out it didn't rain until about 1:30 that afternoon but the wind was tough. I ran 13 miles of hills with a PMP goal. I ran into the wind on the way out and think I fought it too hard. I ran out of steam on the way back and ended up with a 9:11 pace overall. So close. After the run I had a 1500 yard swim. I took it nice a slow and was really trying to focus on catching the water with my pull.

Saturday's plan called for a 4:30 ride with a 0:15 run off. I waited on Ronnie to get home from golf and headed out about 1:30. It was a beautiful sunny day, about 60 degrees, and 17 mph winds that gusted up to 29 mph. Despite the wind, I had a great ride, I dare to say my best ever. I stopped after an hour and ate 3 Fig Newtons and drank some water. i was riding into the wind at the time and was really looking forward to making a turn. When I finally had the wind at my back, I was able to coast at 17-20 mph (can't do that on a trainer). The cross winds were almost as bad as the head wind and those gusts made it a fight to keep my bike on the road. I stopped again at 2 and 3 hours for cookie breaks. At 4 hours I was riding into the wind and didn't have a good place to pull over so I ate my cookies while riding. At this point I was close to home and had to figure out home to get in my last 20 minutes. I did one more loop of Pomroy. I was racing the clock to make it home by the 4:30 mark. I didn't make it. 4:34. 74.77 miles. 16.4 mph average speed. I never claimed to be fast.
I got off the bike and changed shoes. The first few steps of the run hurt. I felt like I was barely getting one foot in front of the other. I glanced at my Garmin and it said "Pace-8:30" I just laughed, there was no way I was running 8:30, I was just shuffling along. I got to one mile and sure enough 8:30. Wow, I could actually have a great run off the bike. I looped back toward home (still fighting the wind) and got in 1.79 miles for an 8:27 pace.

I took and ice bath, drank a Mike's hard lemonade and then went out for Mexican. Ahhh taper time!!!!!