Another nice cool morning for me as well, it was in the 50's and probably creeped into the 60's by the time I finished. Wore my CX-W tights just for the heck of it, didn't quite need the warmth but was neither hot nor all that cold. Haven't downloaded my run yet but I'm pretty sure I hit my 2x20's at close enough to HMP in NGP at least, my route was a little varied and hilly.
Mostly agree with the others, it wouldn't really feel like taper to me except for the weather has finally gotten nice enough that I can excercise in the evenings without melting, the outdoor pools have closed which means Masters now has evening swim practices again and the end result is I'm getting to sleep in a whole lot more often than I did for the rest of the summer. That alone makes it feel like magical taper time.
I have to agree with the "taper my a$$" sentiment. I remember this from last time. Sure we're doing less, but we're tired, and RnP keep us beating the EN drum to a healthy extent. I think it will keep us fresh and sharp in the long view. That said, after this weekend my schedule will be full of LP-tweaks. I have a good sense of where I want my bike and run TSB to be, so I will pull back, use the schedule only as a guide, until I get close to those numbers Last time it took me until Tuesday before FL (which is on a Sat.) to feel, "aaaah, there it is--rested." I will not go into WI fatigued, and I know myself well enough to figure out how to chill and be as ready as I can be. Fingers crossed.
Fantastic 90' run this morning! Effortless, fun, and the time flew by (mostly ). OK, this is weird, but I told myself, if the run went well, and Van Halen's Jump came up as the last song on the run then that would be a good omen for WI. (Yes, I have gone mad like the rest of you. ) I have a ton of songs on my shuffle, and no playlist. Guess what? Turned the corner home, and on came Jump. I just flew down the street elated! I know it's silly, but, hey, I'm hanging onto every and any good sign I can find!
Re going nutz about last minute changes--well, you're talking to the woman who did a fitting! In my defense, my husband's face smash delayed that trip by a good while, but I did it anyway. Our talks are helping me pick up great tips on how to streamline transition bags and the like, but I'm not making any equipment changes--except for bar tape.
Never, ever, ever regrets. Nope. Not me. This experience was almost snatched from me for the most serious, and potentially life-altering set of reasons. The fact that I got this back has made this even more of a celebration--a reason to be grateful and appreciative to all the powers in the universe that have allowed me to be able to do this again with all of you. Might I review how this-and-that could have gone better on race day, or things I could have done in training? Sure. But, speaking for myself, it will be joyful, no matter what.
Neems - I just bought a bottle of Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in Pink Sapphire. It is the closest to chica hat color with a metallic I can find. Easy to get at drug stores, or we can have a chica pedicure party in WI.
Taper -- I just feel itchy.Maybe it is all the muscles healing. But I'm in full get my head on straight and makin' spreadsheet mode. I've had a copy of Born to Run for months now and finally picked it up. Great pre-race read. I'll probably get out my favorite head straightening books of Once a Runner and The Path of Least Resistance next. All these poet warriors? Make sense to me.
This mornings run totally kicked my butt from here to Friday! Felt flat, tired, body is all over the map stomach/system wise, etc. Top end speed is still there once warmed up and got in 3 miles at TP (gotta love downhills!) but man did the PE feel like 245% to do it. Time to stop relying on youth and start paying attention to the recovery details (eat clean and balanced, earlier to bed, stretch/roll, etc etc). Got it done though. just under 10 miles and totally ready for a nap!
To be honest, haven't even remotely thought about lists or to do lists. Goal this week is to get my bike all ready to go and prepped for drop off next week. Will figure out the rest later in classic slacker fashion.
I'm with you guys on the "taper" feeling. It'll kick in soon enough, though.
@Linda: I love your story about your run this morning! What a great omen.
The 90' run this morning sure was a nice gift after so many weeks of piling it on. Beautiful weather sure does make these workouts much more enjoyable. I felt like I was running just for the fun of it this morning and I really enjoyed myself, even the 2 x 20 @ MP of which I nailed the paces. I just keep telling myself that if I can nail these training workouts then I KNOW I can nail my race plan and hit my goal, as long as I execute everything to the "T". No excuses!
I'm with Bob on the "taper". Doesn't feel much like it. Well, maybe this mornings run did. It was sooooo nice out and even nicer to be finished in 1:30!!
Yes, finally did feel like taper this am...1:30 sooo nice
1:30 run in! That did feel good! As a bonus prize, the tall ships are in Lake Michigan right now. Very majestic things to see near the end of a run on a beautiful day!
1:30 run in! That did feel good! As a bonus prize, the tall ships are in Lake Michigan right now. Very majestic things to see near the end of a run on a beautiful day!
Jealous Beth....I love tall majestic ships! So noble and grand looking...eery and lonely all at the same time
This morning was- WITHOUT A DOUBT- the worst drainer ride I have ever had since I started with EN.
I have trained on limited sleep or in the IM "taper" or without stretching or whatever.
We went to Cirque de Soleil last night. I dozed on the ride home and crawled into bed at midnight and was on the trainer at 6:15. The warm up went fine (should have been clue #1 as I usually hate it). As soon as I started the 2x20' (4'), my quads protested. Immediately decided 4x10'(2') would be good. I suffered through it, then did another 9' at 83%. I had yesterday off, so I didn't think no workout was a good idea.
This is the worst I have ever felt in taper. I guess I am doing it right.
My taper is also going poorly, went out to do the TP run last night, couldn't even get close to holding my pace, so decided to do the long run. Got back ok, but my hamstring near my knee was killing me and woke me up during the night and really hurt today. Think my knee exercises have aggravated something. Going to have to do a little tinkering with the schedule based on how I feel, and with the craziness that is going on with people training last minute for the Chicago Tri this weekend. Love all the talk about getting ready, my OCD is ready to kick into high gear prepping my lists and bags and everything else. I'm excited just thinking about it! Really looking forward to seeing everyone in just a few short weeks!!
Bunny is back from Fast Splits all pimped out with new cables, chain, etc. She is sporting new pink bar tape, and a new 11-28. Rich's words ringing in my head--"mo' gears = mo' better." Not sure about the pink tape long term, but it's perfect for this race.
I watched part of the IMWI course talk before bed last night--don't watch that or the 4 Keys at that time of day! I was up ALL night, head spinning. I slept SO little, I feel awful. All I could think about was checklists, and how mine are in sad shape. I'm going to Walden Pond now, then trying the run, but will ammend if needed. Totally, totally exhausted.
#2898. That's the highest number I have ever been--always in the 2400s. Anyway--it's has 8s in it. That's another good omen for me. I don't think of myself as a superstitious person, but I get weirdly quirky about things at this stage of the game.
Today went great. EIther I sited a different tree that was closer, or that was the best Walden swim yet. (Let's go with the latter. ) Run felt great! Done for the day. Time to deal with the IM stuff so I'm not up again tonight!
I started a thread for the bib numbers. I'm 119! Seriously low number. I think the folks registered as Janus Charity Challenge athletes get a little perk there. Has anyone been able to find the Athlete Guide for 2010 yet? That website isn't exactly the easiest thing to work with! Trevor- I'm impressed you found the bib number list!!!
Had a GREAT swim this morning. I just hate the long sets, but today I kept miscounting the 400s and doing 500s by mistake. I'll take that as a good sign :-)
Oh- and for supersitious. My bib # in 2008 (where I had a great day) was 2291. So I like having the numbers 1 and 9 again, plus the double 1's match the double 2's (229 vs 119). It just seems like a nice link back to the past.
Dragging this morning. The run went ok, but got to the pool and did wu, 1 set and cd called it a day. Thinkin bout other stuff and just not in it mentally this am. Excited to see bib numbers!! This really may happen after all
I am freaking out (internally) now that I have a bib number. NOW IT'S REALLY REAL!
I was not in the mood to memorize todays workouts (apparently). I went out and did the TP run, then the swim. I knew the swim was long sets, but I had no idea what they actually were. Sadly, I had already memorized the swim I skipped with all of those sprint sets (20x100 as 50 sprint, 50 easy, etc.) Decided to do that one and didn't hate it as much as I thought. The water temp dropped with all of the rain, so the sprinting kept me warm.
Have you ever been out training and see the same person/ people regularly and wonder about them?? Well apparently, the group of swimmers that I never met but see regularly were wondering about ME!! I am easy to spot since I tow an orange dive buoy. They stopped me and we chatted briefly. They want me to join them (leader says they are all triathletes). And they called me "that random girl out swimming". Totally cracked me up. You never think of yourself as that "other random person".
Do you swim in the ocean Michele? I often wonder about the other triathletes that I see when I'm out at the lake but we are bounded to a pretty small swim area so you end up getting a lot of facetime. Other group I swim with is masters, so got to know them quite well.
I haven't done either of today's workouts yet, I had to do the Wed. swim last night due a schedule conflict, then was/am planning to head out to the state park and do the run and an OWS swim tonight. I'll probably stick to the swim but I'm thinking about skipping the run. My legs feel fine, but a nerve/vein on the top of my left foot is inflamed and hurts whenever I walk. It started acting up yesterday during the long run but I kind of ignored it. It's still annoying me today so I may just give it some rest and stick to the swim.
Trevor- I swim in a large lake. The roped off swim area for our town beach is about 50m from shore to outer buoys and 100m end to end. But I just go over the rope and swim the entire lake. These triathletes start from a private land site on the lake.
Last weekend, for the first time ever, I swam at Walden Pond with Linda Patch and Leigh and Dave Boyle. You almost couldn't turn around without running into a triathlete or other swimmer. Beach area was quite busy. My lake is much bigger, not in a state park, closer to my home, free to park, and not over run.
It's so true about Walden! Sometimes you can't swing a cat without hitting a triathlete. But that's at "rush hour" times of day-- 6 am and 6 pm. I try to avoid those times, and today when I got there about 7:30, it was me, an old dude, and a random lady swimmer. It's nice when it's like that. Now Walden isn't a huge ocean, but it's a body of water with plenty of room for everybody. Leigh will corroborate that when it's busy, you ALWAYS almost smack head-to-head with someone coming the other way. It acutally happened to her. It is inexplicable.
@Trevor--don't run on that foot for sure. Maybe even pass on the bricks this weekend? These little runs won't stack up to a hill of beans, but an inflamed foot--well, you're wise enough to assess and know what to do. I know it's hard to see ourselves objectively, but you are SOOOO ready. Need to keep you that way!
hahahah! I love Walden. Have totally swam smack into people 3-4 times. And we're talking in the middle of the pond here too, not at the corners or shorelines where you expect people.
Dave and I totally have a group of tri-peeps at the lake up north as well. 4-5 of them show up at 5:30 am on weekdays and swim for 30-40 minutes so when they're finishing up we're walking over in our wetsuits. I imagine both groups view the others as intruders because it's quiet and not many swimmers, recreational or otherwise. both groups just smile and wave but we've never actually spoken.
Shhhhhh, I wanna keep this on the DL. But I'm busting at the seems with excitement and must share with someone!
I swapped the rides around this weekend (doing 2 hrs Sat and 3 on Sun) because Joe and I have errands to run on Saturday and I'm meeting ENer Keith Buell Sunday to show him some nice riding out here. Anyway......
I finish up my ride, hit the bathroom, and then head out to run. I'm just running and jamming to my Mile 18 playlist (love). Get home after the required 20 min and look down at the Garmin for the first time to hit the "Stop" button and I see THIS on the face:
7:45
HOLY CRAP??? Downloaded the data, and sure enough, I neg split the run with the first 10 min at a 8:50 avg pace and the second 10 min at a 8:05 avg pace. It feels good to see those kinda paces again- there was a time I never thought I'd get them back.
I just love running off the bike!
Thanks for letting me share. I'm still knocking wood and trying not to jinx myself before race day so I don't want to shout from the rooftops, but God that felt good!!!
@Neems!!!! You have to share stuff like that! That's what it's all about--hard work paying off! You deserve it big time, and I am SO happy for you. That energy lifts all of us. Nice, nice, nice!
I too had a fantastic day on the bike! I am as ready as I will ever be this time around. No, I'm not where I would like to be in FT and pace, but given all that went down in my world, I am thrilled to be where I am. And solid too.
I could not come up with one good reason to ride the FT/85%-type of workout today. For me, that was just going to get me deeper in a hole. THEN, I remember Coach P tweaking this last "training" weekend for us back in '08. Looked it up, and it was perfect. I did:
Kept my foot on the easy gas, kept it smooth, and had a speedy MPH today. Felt good practicing the smooth-is-fast feeling.
For the record, I'll be tweaking the ride tomorrow too, and use the one recommended in '08. The main set will be FT intervals, but short ones. 8x2' (2'). Perfect way to start moderating things to begin the climb into positive TSB.
One last thought...11-28, where have you been all my life????? I love you. I know I'm late making lots of these changes to the bike b/c everything got so screwed up this summer, but (fingers crossed) it seems to be working out. The cadence gap bugs me a little, but I got used to it by the end of three hours. And to ride up hills at those watts? Never thought it possible.
Dragged my DH out on the ride today. Kinda underestimated the effect of the wind...going out was a pretty good headwind, great for the intervals. At 1:30 flipped it and headed home. Not really riding steady---noodling a bit on the flats and charging the hills--then pulled into the driveway at 2:30. Meh, good 'nuff for me. The weather is BE-YOO-tiful today. Felt good. Kinda wish the race was tomorrow...
Wanted to sleep in, but the brain had other ideas. Then saw it was cold out. So I did housework for a while. Rechecked the temp and it had gone the wrong direction!! Left anyway in long pants and arm warmers. Once I got out, I felt awesome! I was flying along!!! I was able to keep the watts going. The weather was perfect.
It all felt so good that I was thinking "Hey, why not ride 4 hours instead of 3??!!"
Luckily, another part of the brain started saying things like "You know, it's not like they give you a time bonus after the race and say- you rode extra in training, here's your reward. Be smart and just go home."
So I did and my reward was nearly being run off the ride and hit by a van. I was pissed and screaming. He heard me, but I'm pretty sure he didn't care
Out for the brick and felt slow but was much faster than planned pace. A really good day on whole.
Quick blurb about the ride today, and taper in general, don't go into it with too much of a taper mentality. I was late out the door this morning and didn't pay much attention to my nutrition. I mixed a feed bottle but didn't measure, just mixed it quickly, not like it matters for just a 3 hour ride... Fast forward to me battling a 17mph headwind the whole way in and bonking big time, stomach grumbling and giving me a queasy feeling. Wasn't a complete disaster, still had a good ride up until that point (64 mi, ~210 TSS, good intervals) but I was waaaay wiped when I got home.
Perhaps you guys aren't slackers like I am, but just because it's the taper and the workouts are getting easier doesn't mean you can phone em' in, still need to pay attention to the details.
It's like I had 'roid rage on the bike today! I am tired, I feel exhausted, but once I got rolling, I felt like I had a full tank (well, semi-full ). I had a great ride. I had just finished my intervals, and was tooling along when am guy came by and passed me as a decent clip. On he went. I recovered, got down in the bars and noticed I was making up ground. That was IT! The hammer went down, I caught him, chicked him, and he and Keith hung on my wheel for a good bit until he took a turn calling out, "awesome pull!" It was a blast, until I thought WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING???? Rich's words ringin in my head--DON'T DO ANYTHING STOOPID! There was no reason to do that but for the fun of it, and I'm am duly self-chastised and reigning in the horses from here on out.
The run was OK--nothing great. It was already heading up to 90, and humid. Ran 25', and mailed it in after that for the last 5'.
Don't know about the rest of you, but now I have to get serious about resting up. In that past, I've pulled up to the line of big races before still too tired, and never want to make that mistake again. Easing on out of training, and into tapering. Here's hoping I get it al back by race day.
Comments
Mostly agree with the others, it wouldn't really feel like taper to me except for the weather has finally gotten nice enough that I can excercise in the evenings without melting, the outdoor pools have closed which means Masters now has evening swim practices again and the end result is I'm getting to sleep in a whole lot more often than I did for the rest of the summer. That alone makes it feel like magical taper time.
I have to agree with the "taper my a$$" sentiment. I remember this from last time. Sure we're doing less, but we're tired, and RnP keep us beating the EN drum to a healthy extent. I think it will keep us fresh and sharp in the long view. That said, after this weekend my schedule will be full of LP-tweaks. I have a good sense of where I want my bike and run TSB to be, so I will pull back, use the schedule only as a guide, until I get close to those numbers Last time it took me until Tuesday before FL (which is on a Sat.) to feel, "aaaah, there it is--rested." I will not go into WI fatigued, and I know myself well enough to figure out how to chill and be as ready as I can be. Fingers crossed.
Fantastic 90' run this morning! Effortless, fun, and the time flew by (mostly
). OK, this is weird, but I told myself, if the run went well, and Van Halen's Jump came up as the last song on the run then that would be a good omen for WI. (Yes, I have gone mad like the rest of you. 
) I have a ton of songs on my shuffle, and no playlist. Guess what? Turned the corner home, and on came Jump. I just flew down the street elated! I know it's silly, but, hey, I'm hanging onto every and any good sign I can find!
Re going nutz about last minute changes--well, you're talking to the woman who did a fitting! In my defense, my husband's face smash delayed that trip by a good while, but I did it anyway. Our talks are helping me pick up great tips on how to streamline transition bags and the like, but I'm not making any equipment changes--except for bar tape.
Never, ever, ever regrets. Nope. Not me. This experience was almost snatched from me for the most serious, and potentially life-altering set of reasons. The fact that I got this back has made this even more of a celebration--a reason to be grateful and appreciative to all the powers in the universe that have allowed me to be able to do this again with all of you. Might I review how this-and-that could have gone better on race day, or things I could have done in training? Sure. But, speaking for myself, it will be joyful, no matter what.
Neems - I just bought a bottle of Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in Pink Sapphire. It is the closest to chica hat color with a metallic I can find. Easy to get at drug stores, or we can have a chica pedicure party in WI.
Taper -- I just feel itchy.Maybe it is all the muscles healing. But I'm in full get my head on straight and makin' spreadsheet mode. I've had a copy of Born to Run for months now and finally picked it up. Great pre-race read. I'll probably get out my favorite head straightening books of Once a Runner and The Path of Least Resistance next. All these poet warriors? Make sense to me.
This mornings run totally kicked my butt from here to Friday!
Felt flat, tired, body is all over the map stomach/system wise, etc. Top end speed is still there once warmed up and got in 3 miles at TP (gotta love downhills!) but man did the PE feel like 245% to do it. Time to stop relying on youth and start paying attention to the recovery details (eat clean and balanced, earlier to bed, stretch/roll, etc etc). Got it done though. just under 10 miles and totally ready for a nap!
To be honest, haven't even remotely thought about lists or to do lists. Goal this week is to get my bike all ready to go and prepped for drop off next week. Will figure out the rest later in classic slacker fashion.
@Linda: I love your story about your run this morning! What a great omen.
The 90' run this morning sure was a nice gift after so many weeks of piling it on. Beautiful weather sure does make these workouts much more enjoyable. I felt like I was running just for the fun of it this morning and I really enjoyed myself, even the 2 x 20 @ MP of which I nailed the paces. I just keep telling myself that if I can nail these training workouts then I KNOW I can nail my race plan and hit my goal, as long as I execute everything to the "T". No excuses!
Enjoy the rest of your day everyone!
Yes, finally did feel like taper this am...1:30 sooo nice
1:30 run in! That did feel good! As a bonus prize, the tall ships are in Lake Michigan right now. Very majestic things to see near the end of a run on a beautiful day!
Jealous Beth....I love tall majestic ships! So noble and grand looking...eery and lonely all at the same time
This morning was- WITHOUT A DOUBT- the worst drainer ride I have ever had since I started with EN.
I have trained on limited sleep or in the IM "taper" or without stretching or whatever.
We went to Cirque de Soleil last night. I dozed on the ride home and crawled into bed at midnight and was on the trainer at 6:15. The warm up went fine (should have been clue #1 as I usually hate it). As soon as I started the 2x20' (4'), my quads protested. Immediately decided 4x10'(2') would be good. I suffered through it, then did another 9' at 83%. I had yesterday off, so I didn't think no workout was a good idea.
This is the worst I have ever felt in taper. I guess I am doing it right.
Bunny is back from Fast Splits all pimped out with new cables, chain, etc. She is sporting new pink bar tape, and a new 11-28. Rich's words ringing in my head--"mo' gears = mo' better."
Not sure about the pink tape long term, but it's perfect for this race.
I watched part of the IMWI course talk before bed last night--don't watch that or the 4 Keys at that time of day! I was up ALL night, head spinning. I slept SO little, I feel awful. All I could think about was checklists, and how mine are in sad shape.
I'm going to Walden Pond now, then trying the run, but will ammend if needed. Totally, totally exhausted.
http://www.ironmanwisconsin.com/2010IMWBibs.pdf
263 is my new favorite number.
Hi Trevor, thanks for letting us know!
#2898. That's the highest number I have ever been--always in the 2400s. Anyway--it's has 8s in it. That's another good omen for me.
I don't think of myself as a superstitious person, but I get weirdly quirky about things at this stage of the game.
Today went great. EIther I sited a different tree that was closer, or that was the best Walden swim yet. (Let's go with the latter.
) Run felt great! Done for the day. Time to deal with the IM stuff so I'm not up again tonight!
Had a GREAT swim this morning. I just hate the long sets, but today I kept miscounting the 400s and doing 500s by mistake. I'll take that as a good sign :-)
Dragging this morning. The run went ok, but got to the pool and did wu, 1 set and cd called it a day. Thinkin bout other stuff and just not in it mentally this am. Excited to see bib numbers!! This really may happen after all
I was not in the mood to memorize todays workouts (apparently). I went out and did the TP run, then the swim. I knew the swim was long sets, but I had no idea what they actually were. Sadly, I had already memorized the swim I skipped with all of those sprint sets (20x100 as 50 sprint, 50 easy, etc.) Decided to do that one and didn't hate it as much as I thought. The water temp dropped with all of the rain, so the sprinting kept me warm.
Have you ever been out training and see the same person/ people regularly and wonder about them??
Well apparently, the group of swimmers that I never met but see regularly were wondering about ME!! I am easy to spot since I tow an orange dive buoy. They stopped me and we chatted briefly. They want me to join them (leader says they are all triathletes). And they called me "that random girl out swimming". Totally cracked me up. You never think of yourself as that "other random person".
I haven't done either of today's workouts yet, I had to do the Wed. swim last night due a schedule conflict, then was/am planning to head out to the state park and do the run and an OWS swim tonight. I'll probably stick to the swim but I'm thinking about skipping the run. My legs feel fine, but a nerve/vein on the top of my left foot is inflamed and hurts whenever I walk. It started acting up yesterday during the long run but I kind of ignored it. It's still annoying me today so I may just give it some rest and stick to the swim.
Last weekend, for the first time ever, I swam at Walden Pond with Linda Patch and Leigh and Dave Boyle. You almost couldn't turn around without running into a triathlete or other swimmer. Beach area was quite busy. My lake is much bigger, not in a state park, closer to my home, free to park, and not over run.
It's so true about Walden! Sometimes you can't swing a cat without hitting a triathlete.
But that's at "rush hour" times of day-- 6 am and 6 pm. I try to avoid those times, and today when I got there about 7:30, it was me, an old dude, and a random lady swimmer. It's nice when it's like that. Now Walden isn't a huge ocean, but it's a body of water with plenty of room for everybody. Leigh will corroborate that when it's busy, you ALWAYS almost smack head-to-head with someone coming the other way. It acutally happened to her. It is inexplicable.
@Trevor--don't run on that foot for sure. Maybe even pass on the bricks this weekend? These little runs won't stack up to a hill of beans, but an inflamed foot--well, you're wise enough to assess and know what to do. I know it's hard to see ourselves objectively, but you are SOOOO ready. Need to keep you that way!
Dave and I totally have a group of tri-peeps at the lake up north as well. 4-5 of them show up at 5:30 am on weekdays and swim for 30-40 minutes so when they're finishing up we're walking over in our wetsuits. I imagine both groups view the others as intruders because it's quiet and not many swimmers, recreational or otherwise. both groups just smile and wave but we've never actually spoken.
Shhhhhh, I wanna keep this on the DL. But I'm busting at the seems with excitement and must share with someone!
I swapped the rides around this weekend (doing 2 hrs Sat and 3 on Sun) because Joe and I have errands to run on Saturday and I'm meeting ENer Keith Buell Sunday to show him some nice riding out here. Anyway......
I finish up my ride, hit the bathroom, and then head out to run. I'm just running and jamming to my Mile 18 playlist (love). Get home after the required 20 min and look down at the Garmin for the first time to hit the "Stop" button and I see THIS on the face:
7:45
HOLY CRAP??? Downloaded the data, and sure enough, I neg split the run with the first 10 min at a 8:50 avg pace and the second 10 min at a 8:05 avg pace. It feels good to see those kinda paces again- there was a time I never thought I'd get them back.
I just love running off the bike!
Thanks for letting me share. I'm still knocking wood and trying not to jinx myself before race day so I don't want to shout from the rooftops, but God that felt good!!!
@Neems!!!! You have to share stuff like that! That's what it's all about--hard work paying off! You deserve it big time, and I am SO happy for you. That energy lifts all of us. Nice, nice, nice!
I too had a fantastic day on the bike! I am as ready as I will ever be this time around. No, I'm not where I would like to be in FT and pace, but given all that went down in my world, I am thrilled to be where I am. And solid too.
I could not come up with one good reason to ride the FT/85%-type of workout today. For me, that was just going to get me deeper in a hole. THEN, I remember Coach P tweaking this last "training" weekend for us back in '08. Looked it up, and it was perfect. I did:
2 x (3x15)
1. 5'@85%, 10'@75%;
2. 10'@85%, 5'@75%;
3. 15'@75%
10' between sets.
Kept my foot on the easy gas, kept it smooth, and had a speedy MPH today. Felt good practicing the smooth-is-fast feeling.
For the record, I'll be tweaking the ride tomorrow too, and use the one recommended in '08. The main set will be FT intervals, but short ones. 8x2' (2'). Perfect way to start moderating things to begin the climb into positive TSB.
One last thought...11-28, where have you been all my life????? I love you.
I know I'm late making lots of these changes to the bike b/c everything got so screwed up this summer, but (fingers crossed) it seems to be working out. The cadence gap bugs me a little, but I got used to it by the end of three hours. And to ride up hills at those watts? Never thought it possible. 
Wanted to sleep in, but the brain had other ideas. Then saw it was cold out. So I did housework for a while. Rechecked the temp and it had gone the wrong direction!! Left anyway in long pants and arm warmers. Once I got out, I felt awesome! I was flying along!!! I was able to keep the watts going. The weather was perfect.
It all felt so good that I was thinking "Hey, why not ride 4 hours instead of 3??!!"
Luckily, another part of the brain started saying things like "You know, it's not like they give you a time bonus after the race and say- you rode extra in training, here's your reward. Be smart and just go home."
So I did and my reward was nearly being run off the ride and hit by a van. I was pissed and screaming. He heard me, but I'm pretty sure he didn't care
Out for the brick and felt slow but was much faster than planned pace. A really good day on whole.
Quick blurb about the ride today, and taper in general, don't go into it with too much of a taper mentality. I was late out the door this morning and didn't pay much attention to my nutrition. I mixed a feed bottle but didn't measure, just mixed it quickly, not like it matters for just a 3 hour ride... Fast forward to me battling a 17mph headwind the whole way in and bonking big time, stomach grumbling and giving me a queasy feeling. Wasn't a complete disaster, still had a good ride up until that point (64 mi, ~210 TSS, good intervals) but I was waaaay wiped when I got home.
Perhaps you guys aren't slackers like I am, but just because it's the taper and the workouts are getting easier doesn't mean you can phone em' in, still need to pay attention to the details.
It's like I had 'roid rage on the bike today! I am tired, I feel exhausted, but once I got rolling, I felt like I had a full tank (well, semi-full
). I had a great ride. I had just finished my intervals, and was tooling along when am guy came by and passed me as a decent clip. On he went. I recovered, got down in the bars and noticed I was making up ground. That was IT! The hammer went down, I caught him, chicked him, and he and Keith hung on my wheel for a good bit until he took a turn calling out, "awesome pull!" It was a blast, until I thought WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING???? Rich's words ringin in my head--DON'T DO ANYTHING STOOPID! There was no reason to do that but for the fun of it, and I'm am duly self-chastised and reigning in the horses from here on out.
The run was OK--nothing great. It was already heading up to 90, and humid. Ran 25', and mailed it in after that for the last 5'.
Don't know about the rest of you, but now I have to get serious about resting up. In that past, I've pulled up to the line of big races before still too tired, and never want to make that mistake again. Easing on out of training, and into tapering. Here's hoping I get it al back by race day.