Slap bang in the middle of taper time and as usual I'm getting itchy feet. My 'taper madness' has mainly manifested itself in raiding the fridge, although I've tried to keep it to relatively healthy choices (almost). I find I tend to eat too much when I get stressed and the last couple of weeks at work and with family, have added to that; throw an impending Ironman race into the mix and it can start to get ugly. Taper madness also usually entails me heading to the shops for last minute 'essential supplies'. To be fair, I did buy gels and 2 new tubes which are essential. The tri top I bought? Not so much. But you can never have too much lycra, right?
Taper training has been much of the same as the last 8 weeks, keeping the intensity up but cutting back on the volume. At the weekend, Simon and I did our last OW swim at Heron Lake. 3km steady, although I upped the rpe a little over the last 2 laps. It was a comfortable, if unspectacular swim with much better sighting that last time. We did a long ride the day after, although it was only 2.15 hrs. We headed off on the hilly route that took in Effingham, Ranmoor, Cranleigh and Dorking, skipping out Boxhill. I felt strong and was not working hard. I think I probably fell into the trap of letting the ride be a little aimless and therefore didn't enjoy it as much. Both Simon and I had punctures which was annoying, but hopefully that's my visit from the puncture fairy for the week. *fingers crossed* I had a really encouraging run yesterday. A shade under 70 minutes, clipping along, low rpe, no twinges; fantastically boring!
I've had some interesting comments from people as I have gradually let the cat out of the bag about the race. A friend from work came in today from being on maternity leave. 'You've lost weight, in fact you look gaunt.' There was me thinking I looked rugged and athletic. :-/ Adam was giving me a grilling about what time I thought I would be doing it in. I genuinely don't know. I have purposely not timed myself when doing the OW swims, just ensuring that I get a sense of effort level and stroke rate. I have timed a couple of my long rides but again I have really tried to ignore the cycle computer and disengage myself from the outside, instead trying to focus on within, how I feel, what my effort level's like and how tired I am feeling. I have developed a pretty good sense for that now and I have confidence that I know enough to keep things under control.
The run is a completely different kettle of fish. As I have said before, that would normally be the bit that I would have most confidence in, but this is a long way from anything that I have ever done before. Under 'normal circumstances', I would like to think that I could knock out a 4 hour marathon relatively comfortably, but, having 112 bike miles and 2.4 miles of swimming already in my body is not normal. I think I could be run / walking for anything up to 6 hours or so, although I hope not. During my training runs I have tried to get into the habit of 'micro-chunking'. Looking no more than a few feet ahead and running to that point. Geez, it's boring, but it may be a strategy I can use when it gets tough to try to keep my legs turning over running, as opposed to walking. Talking of turn over, I have also tried to run with a shorter stride but keeping the cadence relatively high. When the wheels fall off, as they will surely do, it'll be a run / walk strategy, trying to ensure that I keep the walk breaks small and manageable. That's the plan; just gotta do the race.
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