Friday, April 25, 2014

Taper thoughts and Race Ramblings....

This was my first official week of tapering for IM 70.3 StG and I have done a whole heck of nothing this week.  I ended up being way more sore from the SLC Half than I anticipated, so I took it easy for a couple of days.  Even trying to walk my dogs left my legs fatigued.  I was feeling a lot better by Wednesday, so I thought and easy run would be okay.  Wrong.  I came home and they ached so bad I put on compression socks and took Advil!  What the heck!?  Three miles has never been so painful!  Apparently my legs need more time to recover from a two hard races within 7 days!

So then I thought I would attempt an easy swim with the pull buoy and work on upper body.  Then I got to the pool to find it was closed for lightning.  I still don't get why indoor pools are closed for weather, but it obviously doesn't matter what I think, it was closed regardless.

So here I sit on Friday, I am supposed to run 6-7 miles.  I will attempt it, but I am going to take it easy for sure!  Then tomorrow is supposed to be a 35 mile bike ride.  AND the weather calls for temps in the high 40s and 90% chance of rain.  I know this is why God created bike trainers, but I hate with an intensity changing out my back tire to put it on the trainer.  Looks like I get to SUCK IT UP BUTTERCUP and do it anyway.

As much as I hate how this week HASN'T gone, obviously my body is trying to tell me something, and I need the rest.  Especially with StG coming up, and all those hills.  And all that heat.  And all that wind.  I know that I won't lose much if any fitness and the rest will do me good.  I have also made the mistake in the past of NOT listening when my body is trying to tell me something, and Heaven knows I won't do that again.

So what are race week plans?  I already have a sub for next Thursday and Friday and am heading down as soon as I drop the kids off at school on Thursday morning.  Ken and the kids will join me on Friday.  I really want to be down there for the Pro Panel on Thursday at 4:00, the pro line up for this year is AMAZING!  Can't miss the chance to meet these folks!  Linsy Corbin, Crowie, Andy Potts, and many others will be there.  Friday I plan on doing an easy pre-race swim out at Sand Hollow and checking in my bike and run stuff that day.  I also want to be able to take my time in the Athlete Village and the Expo, without having to worry about boring other people (read: Ken and the kids) to tears.  If the kids get down there in time on Friday, they will do the IronKids fun run as well.

The weather forecast for StG has been scaring me a bit.  The original one I saw a few days ago was calling for a high around 97.  That had me freaking out a bit.  Okay, maybe a lot.  The most recent one has it sitting around 90 race day, but with high winds.  I am not convinced that is any better.  I am not making any changes to my nutrition plan, just up the water potentially and FOR SURE do salt tabs, including on the run.  I am again grateful that I was able to do Rage just a week and half ago, because the conditions will be pretty similar, just longer and hotter :)

So, that is it for now.  I am nervous but at the same time so excited for this race!  I have many good friends who have done this before, it is on their yearly race list, and I keep hearing amazing things.  Plus, I love StG and this will be a gorgeous race, and I plan to not let that escape me on race day.

So in the meantime...Happy Tapering/Training/Racing all!

No comments:

Post a Comment