The Countdown Is On

Thursday evening was my daughter's open house at school. This is a time to meet the teachers. In elementary school, the kids have one teacher so on open house night you go, meet the teacher, look around and leave. Not so with middle school. We actually went to her first period class first, stayed until the bell rang, then went to second period until the bell rang, and so on (the bell rang every 10 minutes). Quite interesting seeing how her day progresses.

When I got home and the kids were in bed, I hopped on the treadmill for a 4 mile run. I needed it. It felt good. Friday is typically my off day. Well, off from workouts. Not off from housework, laundry, etc.

Saturday morning I met with the Nike run team. My half ironman was three weeks away from Sunday. Before a big race, most athletes taper. All season long, workouts have built in time, distance and intensity. As you taper, you decrease all these things so that your body is recovered and refreshed for race day. Typically for a marathon I'll taper for 3 weeks. So three weeks out I'll do a 20 miler, 2 weeks out a 14-16 miler, and one week out a 6-8 miler. With the half ironman, I had planned on doing a 3 week taper so I wanted to get in a longer run this weekend. Running with the Nike team got me a 14.25 mile run. And I ran every bit of it, only stopping briefly at the aid stations. It felt good and gave me confidence for the half ironman.

However, the planned 56 mile bike ride didn't happen. The lady who was suppose to ride with me had to cancel at the last minute, and I just don't feel comfortable going that far on unknown roads by myself. So, when I got home from the run I immediately hopped on the trainer for an hour and 45 minutes. I felt like I could have gone longer, but I needed to shower and get ready for my son's first soccer game of the season.

And I'm not exactly sure why I showered first, because it didn't do much good. The soccer game was at 3:15 and it was HOT. There were no trees to be found and I was sweating all over again. But it was worth it. His team played really well. They only have 8 players, so no substitutions. Every boy had to give his all for the entire game. They did, and they won.

Today I went swimming after work, getting in my 2,000 meters. Then after dinner and after the kids were in bed, I hopped on the trainer for an hour. Doesn't sound like too much of a taper to me. And it may not be. I have another opportunity timewise to get in that long bike ride this weekend if I can find someone to go with me. I'd really like to do that so I am familiar with the course and so I know where I can push myself and where I need to take it easy. If I do that, then I'll end up with a two week taper. I've never done a two week taper before. Then again, I've never done a half ironman before either. I'm just taking each day as they come.