Less than two weeks to marathon day, and you know what that means: the taper is on.
We believe in the power of a serious taper, just like we believe in the power of race-day magic. If we didn't I think we'd be cancelling flights at this point.
We each have our own reasons for taking this taper so seriously. Mine is that I ramped up really, really fast, and right now every single run is a battle. They all hurt. After the 65+ mile week, there was a 60 mile week. I didn't even mean to do that. If any of that work is going to take, and if I'm going to show up Dec. 5th anything but fat, slow, and tired, I need to be really well rested. You know, for the race-day magic to even have a shot. KN is tapering big because we know she's got the fitness in the bank from Kona, and now she's added some speed and another 21+ miler, plus she likes to point out that she's older than me and needs more recovery time than us 30ishes.
The crazy mileage is over. Which is good, because when you spend that much time on the road, strange things start happening. Like that guy in the white sedan who went by at dawn one morning and screamed SLUT! from across the street. We assessed ourselves and were unable to determine which one of us looked whorish. Maybe it was the lucite heels? We brushed it off, deciding it was man-speak (also known as ken-glish) for You're super hot, and I like you!
Back to the taper. It's kind of a no win situation. I wanted to run yesterday, but I hadn't taken a day off in over three weeks. And I know it's time to start resting. But I. want. to. run. Not unlike a puppy, I need to be exercised or I will start running around in circles panting. So I swam, in a pool!
first time since May! It was just as tedious and lame as I remembered! Also I was the only one without a snorkle.
And then I tried dancing. I don't dance often, because I'm self-aware enough to know how badly I do it. But here we are at a Hawaii Five-O viewing party:
Who says triathletes are dorky?
Today - more swimming. Or I might try to jump in to Henry's karate class...which would be interesting. Eleven days till Vegas!
swimming? ew.
ReplyDeletei'm sitting here finding many excuses to not go ride my bike right now. running is just so much easier.
when you've been running more, you realize what a hassle and time suck all the rest of it is!
and i have full faith in our race day magic. especially when our rainbow brite powers combine- we will be unstoppable (unless they put a starbucks at mile 19).
What on earth were they doing with snorkels in the pool? And that looks suspiciously like a bike shop that you're dancing in :-)
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