Training Week 16: 3/31/08 - 4/6/08

Planned Training - TAPER WEEK #2
Monday - 3/31/08:
REST DAY
Tuesday - 4/1/08:
AM - none (changed due to being sick)
PM - none
Wednesday - 4/2/08:
AM - Bike = 1 hr 45 min (bike to work) done
PM - Run = 45 min done
Thursday - 4/3/08:
AM - Run = 45 min done
PM - Swim = 1 hr Master's swim done
Friday - 4/4/08:
AM - Bike = 1 hr 45 min (bike to work) done
PM - Run = 40 min done
Saturday - 4/5/08:
AM - Bike = 1 hr 45 min (bike to work) done
PM - Swim = 30 min at Clements, Bike = 1 hr (from work to Clements and to parent's house) done
Sunday - 4/6/08:
AM - Swim = 2.4 mile open water swim in Tempe Town Lake (DCB event) done
PM - Run = 30 min done

Weekly S/B/R Compliance (based on BT training plan):

Swim = 173 min / 170 min = 101%
Bike = 395 min / 355 min = 111%
Run = 195 min / 160 min = 123%

Total SBR training time for Week #16 = 12.7 hrs

Monday, 3/31/08 Update:
This is it! The last real week of "training." Even though next week is also a taper week, I'm not sure I can count the 3 hrs scheduled as training. More like easy stuff to keep the body loose.

Since today is a rest day, I can compare last year's training totals for March to this year's totals:

March 2007 Training Totals:
Swim = 3hr 0 min 0 sec; 5,800 yds
Bike = 14 hr 28 min 17 sec; 181.91 mi
Run = 9 hr 44 min 07 sec; 45.74 mi

March 2008 Training Totals:
Swim = 13 hr 10 min 0 sec; 33,939.77 yds
Bike = 34 hr 57 min 49 sec; 471.65 mi
Run = 14 hr 33 min 17 sec; 73.37 mi

Um, yeah. You know how much I hate swimming? Well, apparently I acted on it and refused the pool last year. This month last year we were moving and buying the new house. I had also been sick a whole week last year. So this is a huge improvement for me. That's all that matters!

Taper Sucks
Last week was my first week of taper. Before heading into it, I heard lots of people say that everyone feels bad during taper. This was mentioned several times at the TRIFEST conference. But I didn't know what they meant by "bad." It was just this general thing that people talked about, without providing details. Well, after last week, I can now defined what it means to feel bad during taper. Basically, it feels like I haven't done any training, and I'm back at Week #2 of IM training. Every workout is now hard. 30 minute runs hurt. Arms hurt after an easy 1 hr swim. 2 hrs on the bike are hard as if I had done 6 hrs. There is now a different kind of "tired." It's like having no energy to do anything. I feel like I've lost all fitness and I haven't been training. Apparently, according to the scientific studies, this is because the body has been stressed and it's recovering, and it's getting ready to deal with more stress (the race). Every workout wipes me out. I need naps like an old person on weekends. And these aren't 20 minute power naps...no they are the "apparently I went into a coma for 1.5 hours" naps. So that's pretty much why the taper sucks if you've been training hard. See, I avoided all of this in the past because I never trained hard!

Getting Ready
This week will be all about packing for IMAZ. I'm not going to have much time next week to do it, and given that I'm OCD about everything, I want to have lots of time to reveiw what I've packed to make sure it's all there. Here's the process:
1) Make lists of everything that goes into each bag: dry clothes bag, T1 bag, Bike Special Needs (SN), T2 bag, Run SN.
2) Put together mock bags that will represent the race bags (we get "official" race bags for those things listed above). Put a post-it note on the outside of the bag with the bag name and the checklist for what goes in the bag.
3) Pack each bag. Once something goes in the bag, cross it off the list that's on the outside of the bag.
4) Bring all the bags to the race, then transfer all items to the offical race bags.

See...I told you I'm OCD about this. Wait until you see next week's "plans" for each day.

Life after IM
I have determined IM training is very selfish. You have to think about yourself, your training, and your race constantly. Everything is done with your race in mind. You skip group workouts if they don't jive with what the training plan says. You skip extracurricular activities if it doesn't mesh with training. You wash your hands and use hand sanitizer by the gallons because you don't want to get sick and ruin this one race. You worry about getting hit by cars on your training ride, or how you might roll your ankle in dress shoes and decide to only wear flats until after the race. It's all me, me, ME. Ugh. That's the part about this that I don't like. I'm tired of it. This weekend we had some new folks at swim practice, and I was showing them how to use paddles and fins. And it was fun. Yeah, I was in a pool having fun! When was the last time I had fun in a pool?! It was because I was helping out the newbies. So I've decided after this race I'm done with ME for awhile, and I'm going to do more fun things with the new folks and training friends that I've just about ignored over the past 4 months. I'll be recovering, so 10 mile rides with beginners will be totally do-able. Fun rides, hikes, and maybe (MAYBE) even swims will be do-able.

So there will not be another IM in my future for quite awhile. I want to get back to the balanced lifestyle. Go for a hike when I feel like it, and be able to because I don't have to do a 3 hr run instead. Go mountain biking and explore new trails with friends and not have to worry about crashing and injuring myself that may take me out of a race that I paid $500 for. Seriously, it's that altered thinking that IM forces you to do that is totally wacked. At least for me it is.

Tuesday, 4/1/08 Update:
IMAZ Bib numbers are posted! Here's mine: #2022. That's a great number. I have this thing where I need to like my number. If I get a crappy number I have a crappy race, and then I blame it on the number. ;) But this is a great number!

Wednesday, 4/2/08 Update:
I've changed the training for this week, and re-arranged the workouts. I got into work late on Tuesday morning, due to being up all night the night before with severe heartburn (probably due to pre-race stress). So I'll be coming in to work on Saturday to make up time.

Thursday will be my very last Master's swim workout! Yay!