Here We Go

Well, turns out my body is pretty trashed from the training, so despite my secret wish that this would be another BIG week, we are instead pulling the plug and starting recovery/taper. The fatigue is deep and it's time to shake it! The taper this week is nothing too extreme, mostly just trimming the fat so to speak (and no, I am not trying to lose any weight, haha). I'll only do key quality sessions, and otherwise incorporate a lot more rest.

To break it down:
Monday- ~1hr swim, mostly easy but with some hard 50s. I skipped the recovery bike.
Tuesday- Bike- hard 2 hours or so on the trainer + a hard 1-hr tempo t-run.
Wednesday- just an easy swim day, probably open water
Thursday- just swim as well, but harder with a little TT (500 repeats)
Friday- another bigger quality day with s/b/r.
Weekend- not really sure but probably some swim and bike and/or run? I am also going to SD, celebrating a birthday, stopping by a Rouse party, etc... so who knows. I'll have to keep my act together ;)

Next week- obviously a very restful week. We leave Friday morning for Vegas, race Sunday, then.... two weeks to get it right and recover well. Gonna bust out all my tricks for that in order to be at my best.

I have been thinking about these stretch of weeks for more than a year now, and they are finally here. I'm not gonna lie, as of yesterday when I realized taper is slowly starting I was both excited and terrified. I am excited because I am ready to just do this and be done with it (in a positive sense). It's been a long year, and this last build to IM has been awesome, let's just get on with it already, ya know what I mean?

On the other hand, of course my mind starts to think, "Have I done enough?" "Am I ready?" "What the hell am I getting myself into?!" Well, it is what it is. I am actually feeling incredible and am very happy with my fitness. It's crazy how much better I feel mentally and physically than I did in June/July-ish. I also know that hands down I am in such better physical condition than I was going into Ironman Canada in 2011, especially my running. Not to mention, I have my nutrition dialed in to a tee so there should be no issues there like there was in '11. I almost wish I was going back to that course so I could compare me then vs. me now. Oh well.

Despite how fit I feel, these races offer a lot of unknown variables that could destroy me (us) -- the heat in Vegas; the altitude in Tahoe -- so who knows how those things will affect me when it comes down to it. I mean, I've trained in Big Bear (duh, if you read this blog), but I haven't actually raced up there nor run more than 10 miles up there. And I live by the beach where it's rarely ever above 80 degrees in the summer- feels like cheating for Vegas training! But I'm a girl who likes a tough challenge :)

So up that's where I am. Just in taking a few easier days already, I am seeing a drastic improvement in my HRV and my mind. I feel a lot more clarity and ability to focus. When I am really tired from training it is so hard to focus on work and be sharp -- you guys know what I mean!

Ya know another reason why I'm excited for my races to be over with? Because that means KONA time... Yup, I think it's gonna happen again this year thanks to Endurance Planet and our AWESOME fans/listeners. Man, being the host of this podcast is such a blessing and sooo rewarding....