It's officially taper time! After back to back 25+hour weeks to end June, I took a much lighter week this past week to let my body heal a little bit. I'm back at it this week, but with less volume and more race pace sets. Rather than go with the more standard build to a peak and then start a 3 week taper, I decided to follow something I found over at QT2. Although I'm not one of their athletes, they have quite a lot of free resources. I found a ton on everyday nutrition, race nutrition, training, and technique... Pretty much anything you need.
Anywho, I went with a taper scheme that they recommend. My longest run was 6 weeks out, my longest bike was 5 weeks out, 4 weeks out is a recovery week, 3 weeks out (this week) is my biggest swim week, and then weeks 2 and 1 are cutting volume way, way down.
I'm already feeling the fitness and freshness in my legs. I'll do one more "long" ride this weekend of about 4-4.5 hours and a "long" run of 1:45-2 hours. This seems like a cake walk compared to what I put down a couple weeks back. I've also started incorporating 2 straight swims of 2500+yds per week. I really fell short on my open water swims this year - I haven't done ANY (except the Jerseyman, which went horribly!). Thursday I'm going to drive over to a lake in NJ to hopefully get a nice long set in. The only reason I haven't taken advantage of this more is because it's late on Thursday evenings, in NJ, and it costs $10...
OK - I'm all over the place tonight... Things to come are my goals and race plan, nutrition plan, and maybe an update if anything good happens.
Just to make sure this is the most scattered post ever I'll throw in something I've been pondering, and the weirdest thing I've ever seen on bike ride.
I'm considering putting some new tires on my bike. I don't feel like spending the extra money, but I could probably use them. How much do I need to spend?? Is it worth it? Or should I just bite the bullet and rent some race wheels? I've been toying with that idea too... But again, the money is an issue. Any thoughts are appreciated.
The weirdest thing I've ever seen - I was out on an early 3 hour ride Sunday. I saw more people finishing their Saturdays than starting their Sundays. Anyway, about 6:30am when I was on my way back to town I saw a huge black man, buck naked, walking down the bike path... He actually did have a pair of all white sneakers on and a tanktop tied around his head. But to make things weirder, as I was passing him he smiled at me and turned to start walking into the woods. Weirdest thing I've ever seen.
18 days...
I am not using race wheels - I am using my tires I have been training with. I CONSIDERED getting new ones, but I didn't want to spend the $$.
ReplyDeleteLOL on the big naked black man. Are you sure that isn't just IM mushbrain giving you PCP like illusions?
17 days.
agreed - mush brain!!
ReplyDeletehaha
love your rally here in the final quarter. seems you have a shot to hit your goals
I am using my stock wheels and have semi new tires ... but thats only b/c my old tires are from last year and i have used them on everything including the trainer...
D
Definitely get new tires. New tires resist flats a lot better than worn tires. Think about how much money you've already spent on your race and how much training time you put in. Plus, you can ride those tires after the race so it's not like they'll go to waste. You'll need them eventually, and if you want you can throw your old tires back on after the race and ride them until they're completely trashed to make sure you get as much use out of them as possible.
ReplyDeleteAs for race wheels....it depends on your goals. I think I'm typically 2 mph faster on my race wheels than my training wheels.
Good luck with your taper. It can drive you mad, but it's fun.
Mike