I wrote about the art of the taper in my last blog, and my understanding of the process grows with each passing day. In some ways I never fully understood some of this because my body was never fully ready to effectively benefit from the taper, which is a bit of a misnomer, because tapering will have a positive impact regardless of how trained and prepared one is. Nevertheless, there is a difference, and I realized it yesterday as I planned for my workout(s) today. Initially, I'd planned to "get in another six or seven miles" of run volume, in order to get my weekly run volume closer to 50 miles. But, after an incredibly solid 18 mile run on Friday followed by a 4 1/2 hour, 78 mile, bike ride yesterday, I realized that adding the run volume was purely performing to "a number." With 21 days to go before Ironman California, it's all about offloading fatigue, while at the same time, sharpening the sword.
My coach put it simply yesterday in a text, you can't sharpen the sword if you're tired. The type of workouts that are literally going to enhance my readiness for race day won't be effective if I'm tired. So, there will be no running today. My weekly run volume will have to tantalizingly remain at 39.6 miles. Touche! It is only appropriate that I not hit 40 miles exactly. That's the point. It's not about a number, it's about how I feel. And, I'm tired. Not markedly so. Any other weekend prior to this I could have gone out and run six to ten miles. I could have gotten some more time in on the bike. That would have added to my endurance training. But, it won't sharpen the sword.
The past couple of weeks have proven fascinating, as I complete one hard workout after another, adding to my perceived and numerical fatigue. I've chosen to take a day off here and there when I've realized that doing so will enhance my ability to do the next important volume based workout. Now, I will choose to take a day off here and there to enhance my ability to do the next sword sharpening workout. Of course, I'm not yet sure what those workouts will look like, though I have some idea. My coach will walk me through this on Tuesday. Today, however, I will swim. Swimming is good for my back. Swimming is relaxing. Swimming is something I've literally delayed training for, because it will have the least impact on my Ironman. That is, of course, so long as the swim doesn't fatigue me at the start of the day.
Hence, my swim workouts for the next couple of weeks will continue to be long and "relatively" easy. I say "relatively" because I really want to approximate my race day swim effort with these training sessions. However, today's swim will be easy. Today is truly a rest day, and it's a great time to see how an easy long swim effects my fatigue, my mind and my body. We'll see how it prepared me for the days to come. Tomorrow will be a short run, just to loosen up, and possibly a short bike, for the same reason. I will probably swim again, depending upon how I feel, as I get ready for the real "work" of the taper, to sharpen the sword.
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