Premature Tapering
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Yesterday was my last major workout of the season. And even as I sit here typing those words, I can hardly believe it. Thinking back to starting this training in earnest last September, the time seems to have both crawled and flown by all at once.
In any case, because of weekend travel plans, I took the day off of work to get in the final double-brick: 4-hour bike, followed by a 2-hour run, followed by a 2-hour bike, and an hour run.
When I turned on the television before I got out of bed yesterday morning (as is my habit, to check the weather and all), the bottom left-hand side of the screen hosted a flood watch/warning map, of which Dane County was a part. They were also predicting thunderstorms throughout the day. Ugh.
After being hit with atrocious weather on both of my 100+ mile rides this summer, as well as a few others in-between, and for both of the marathons I've done (The first was 97 degrees and organizers called the race two hours earlier than scheduled because of not having enough medical personnel to treat the collapsing runners. The second involved temperatures in the high 30's and whipping winds. Both were in May in Wisconsin), I decided that I didn't want nor need to subject myself to a monsoon for a double-brick.
So I hauled my trainer, bottles of Gatorade and water, bike, blackberry/phone, and Clif blocks/bars down to the workout room in my condo building because I don't get cable TV and the workout room does.
I had hoped to binge on all the shows I never usually get to watch -- mainly, any of those on VH1, E!, the Food Network, or MTV. But for the first two hours, I was sorely disappointed. VH1 had back-to-back-to-back episodes of Flava of Love 3 (Seriously?!? Three seasons of this show? Unbelievable). E! was doing a special on the cast members of Friends, which I'd already seen. The Food Network was all desserts (which is fine, but what I really wanted were dinner ideas). And MTV... hmmm. Where to even start with MTV? The channel that no longer plays music, or even pretends to, even though "Music" makes up a major part of its title...the channel that has arguably the worst "reality" programming on television, hands down ("Sweet 16," "Made," "Parents Know Best," ugh. Could go on and on). I was booooored.
Finally, on came "Hogan Knows Best" on VH1 and "The Hills" on MTV, which saved me. Whew.
Looking outside, after finishing the first bike leg, I considered running inside. But for some reason, running in the rain doesn't bother me nearly as much as biking in it, and I had a new playlist to try out, so I laced up and headed out. (Although the whole run it felt like the skies were going to empty out any second. Talk about humid!).
The thing I love most about my Garmin 305 is that it means I never have to make a decision about where I run. All of my mileage is calculated nice and handily for me, with no commitment to a route. I can wander at will. Ahhhh, sweet freedom.
In any case, the run was uneventful. But I felt great the whole time. Ten miles went by like five (only, not quite as fast), and I was chastising myself for maybe not biking hard enough that morning.
But back on my bike on the trainer in my living room (now watching Oprah grill poor Dina McGreevy about not moving out of the Governor's residence when her husband admitted he was gay), I could feel fatigue setting in to my legs. And it felt good to know that I'd been working hard earlier that day.
The thing was, there was no good reason for me to shorten my workout. I felt fine. I was inside and out of the weather. I had nowhere to be last night. But I was bored. I was (sleepy) tired. And I wanted to actually make dinner and not eat at 10 p.m. for just one night.
Weak, I know, but I cut the bike from two hours to one, and the run from one hour to 30 minutes, and then called it a day. I started my taper 1.5 hours early.
Writing that, 1.5 hours now seems like a lot. But in the scheme of an entire year of workouts -- of fighting through 126 miles of hills last weekend and an oly the next morning, not to count the double-bricks upon double bricks in the months before -- I'm over it.
On to tapering, and the big day. Let the countdown begin!
Posted by Erin 11:38 AM
Enjoy the taper.