Tapering for an ironman is part science, part art, and part voodoo. Clearly, it doesn’t do a lot of good to run 20 miles the day before an ironman. At the same time, too much rest, while definitely of value, can lead one to come into an ironman “flat.” With four weeks to go before Ironman Boulder, it’s time to start seriously thinking about my tapering plans. A few weeks ago, I’d considered turning my typical traditional taper on its head. Three weeks of enforced rest had me worried about quickly jumping into a more traditional three week taper. The past three weeks of training, culminating in a 20 hour training week this past week, has given me confidence in where I’m at, and at the same time, information about how my body is responding to the training.
This morning I got on a treadmill. I had limited amount of time, and since I’m traveling, had no expectations. In fact, I set my alarm as if I wouldn’t have time to get on the treadmill. Rest and recovery are definitely number one right now. With that said, as I started the treadmill pace at 6 mph, my legs felt sluggish. There was no soreness whatsover, despite being only 48 hours removed from a 3 hour and 5 minute hilly run. Check! One of my favorite revelations about ironman training is how the body hits points where it truly positively absorbs the training. I consider this past week one of those remarkable weeks. Despite being one of my largest volume weeks in a long time, the week left me with no soreness. Some of that is a testament to my patience in not doing anything too strenuous or intense. At the same time, I never really went easy. My 99 mile bike ride was easily at our above ironman intensity. Same for my swim and run. I pretty much did what my body allowed me to do. So, when my legs felt sluggish, instead of shutting it down, I said to myself, increase the pace gradually and see what happens. I’ve obviously done this before! While I only was on the treadmill for 24 minutes, I ended up comfortably running at 7 mph pace and doing a few short thirty second bursts at 8 mph. I could have run longer.
Balancing rest with continued training is on my radar. I definitely put a hard stop at two weeks prior to the race for anything too intense or strenuous when it comes to running. I usually peg my cells recovery needs to be at two weeks. To be on the safe side, I might push this to 3 weeks for my favorite pre-race workout, a hard one mile downhill mile, which is now right around the corner from where I live. One mile up, and one mile down. I can even repeat this if I’m up to it! Boulder has a deceptive elevation profile, and my present hill running, enforced by the area I now live in, will serve me well. Hills also are actually a little easier on the body, so long as you don’t push too hard on the downhills. So, I’ll be looking to do a hard downhill running workout in the coming couple of weeks.
The bike has no pounding, like running does, but one could still overdo intensity getting close to race day. With that said, it looks like I’ll be in Denver two weeks prior to race day, and the opportunity to get a solid ride in on the course can not be denied. Similarly, I’m even considering decent long ride on the course the weekend before the race, something that I’ve never done before. I’ll work this out with my coach in the coming weeks. There’s still time for more cycling volume, and my legs and body are clearly “in the mood” to accept the training stress. Of course, I MUST pay attention to fatigue, as that is the insidious fly in the ointment that can undercut the best efforts to prepare for an ironman. Sometimes, the better part of valor is resting and recovering.
The swim is the most interesting. Even top swimmers rarely taper for more than a week, and since I’ve been building on a fairly poor swimming base, my inclination is to continue to push the volume for as long as I can. Travel may hinder some of this, but when the opportunity is there, expect some more 4500-5000 yard days (or more?). I’ll arrive in Boulder (for the third time in a couple of weeks) eight days before race day, and I’m already figuring on getting in some solid swim volume over the few days right after I arrive. I’m excited to see how strong I can be on the swim, and then how good I can feel coming out of the water.
With all of this said, I’ll depend on my coach to keep my honest. It’s easier to overdo it than it is to do too little. Still, something is feeling very good about continuing to maximize my volume going into Ironman Boulder.
No comments:
Post a Comment