Fear and Trembling
Webster’s defines Tapering as “the practice of reducing exercise in the days just before an important competition. Tapering is customary in many endurance sports, such as the marathon, athletics and swimming. For many athletes, a significant period of tapering is essential for optimal performance. The tapering period frequently lasts as much as a week or more. To me, it’s just been this alien term that I always heard about and never really practiced, even when doing half Ironman triathlons. To be honest with you, I never thought I was doing anything that was so significant as to need to taper or thought I was even worthy of what is appearing to be a sacred and coveted time in a prospective Ironman’s life. More on that later.
This week was crazy in the training world. I knew it was coming, but had put it off actually. October 12 was to be my longest and hardest ever training day which was the buildup leading into this taper thing. The idea in the plan was to build and recover over and over then immediately after the hardest weekend, the taper begins so that the body can still get a daily workout, just a little less in time/distance to allow for recovery of the tissues, fibers, muscles, and overall endurance.
Saturday morning came very early. When I first saw this workout on the plan, it was months ago and I really did not take into account that it’s Fall now and the sun is rising a lot later than we are used too. As I woke up and got ready, I stepped outside and it was pitch black and cold …. Florida cold, it was 65 degrees. I turned back around and grabbed a long sleeve run shirt and headed out. I was in the saddle and riding under the lights of a very desolate and spooky road. At 21 – 22 miles per hour, that 65 degrees felt like 25 degrees to this Florida Native and I was looking for snow flurries at every turn. I concentrated all day on fluid and nutrition intake and even planned out quick stops to simulate the aid stations and the special needs lane that Ironman will have. The plan called for a total of 6 hours on the bike for the day and I can tell you that when the rear end goes to sleep, so does the brain. I moo’d at cows, said hello to turtles, cussed a snake. I talked to myself a lot, said lots and lots of words of thanks for everything from Stephanie and Kyle to the inner spark that motivates and drives me. I am pleased to report that at exactly 6 hours on the bike, I had completed 106 miles! I was going to go ahead and do 6 more miles to cover the Ironman distance, but as I approached my starting point, Kyle was standing there with balloons for me and Stephanie was holding a very cold bottle of water.
But the day wasn’t over. I had a 1 hour run to do still in what was now a sunny and hot day. 1 hour later I logged another 5+ miles on my tired feet and I was headed home. Sunday concluded the hectic weekend with a 3 hour run that took me 15.25 miles that concluded the buildup of the training plan and welcomed me into what I am now enjoying …. The Taper! But with that entry into this glorious Promised Land, comes fear that is setting in. Fear in that this is the final approach to Ironman. There is no turning back now. Next time I see data like I did this past weekend, I’ll be on the sacred grounds swimming, biking, and running (sloshing, hammering, and crawling is more like it) with some of the greatest names in the sport.
In the books!