Race Week

It's race week! Sunday is the big day and I'm in full taper mode. Tapering is hard work. It's a period of time before an endurance effort where you reduce volume, allow the body to repair and rebuild and prepare mentally for the big day. Here are a couple of objectives (per Mark Allen):

1. Maintaining intensity while reducing the length or volume of the workload
2. Allowing the body to rebuild quickly (one to two days) after higher intensity workloads
3. Reducing the stress hormones that affect muscle performance; ultimately eliminating muscle soreness and heaviness
4. Maximizing muscle and liver glycogen stores
5. Allowing the body to repair and rebuild so the power output is maximal on race day
6. Performing recovery workouts
7. Maintaining "normal" number of training sessions per week
8. Fueling properly
9. Preparing mentally

RACE WEEK LEAD-IN

Monday ----------

Slept in! Well, until 6:30am anyway. Ace and I went out in the boat to Masonboro for a few hours.  My workout was a 300 yard walk across the island - from soundside to oceanfront. Ah! We spent the morning throwing the ball for Sugaree. Enjoyed plentiful sunshine and salt and fresh air. 

3:40pm Went to see the Great Gatsby. Visited with friends on the front porch and at the Brassierie.

Tuesday -----------

5:00am. Woke up with a nagging sadness.  Went to the bike track - which is really the parking lot of a local mall. It's lighted and flat and the road less traveled at 6:00am. Did 30 minutes around the parking lot - playing with gears and listening to music on the bike - a rare treat. I had Bad by U2 on repeat.

1:00p Still sad. Feel like I could cry at anything - but can't. Distract myself with laundry, work projects and cleaning out my sock drawer. Really.

2:00p Coaching Call with Stacey! An instant pick-me-up. We work through my race plan, discussing everything from what to eat 24 hours ahead of time to what I'm going to think about during the swim bike and run. She recognizes that I have the taper blues - and it's a good thing. She says I'm ready and wants me to empty the well on the run. Yeah, Baby!

Mental Training: Writing down song lyrics on the course maps. Encouraging mantras when the mind monkeys come calling.

4:00p Drop off my bike at Jen's. Coach Stacey has encouraged me to bring more bottles on the bike. Jen is going to use her mechanic skills to attach my new XLAB Super Wing - which will eventually hold two bottles and my tire changing gear. It was the BEST GIFT EVER from the YDubTriClub. It's going to be my saving grace in this race and all my B2B full training.

5:30p  Teach a spin class - the Happy Ride. A tour across North Carolina and back in one hour. I teach "off the bike" which really means I sit on the bike like it's a stool and coach the riders to fly on the flats, use the imagine Pinehurst and Sanford as rolling hill repeats and push hard up the Blue Ridge Mountains. Gets my mind off my taper blues and makes me want to go the distance.

WEDNESDAY  --------

4:35am     Wake Up. Head to Fit Center to sub for a spin class. Spin Easy.

6:30am     Head Home. Eat Breakfast. Work projects. Clean another drawer.

8:15am    Another Spin Class.

10:00a     Massage, Baby! Much needed massage at Massage Envy at Mayfaire. Ask for Michelle. She rocks.

11:30a     Start packing list.

3:30p      Picked up my bike from Jen's and took it to TrySports. Jen couldn't quite get the wing to work so, Charlie George hooked me up while we traded tri stories and  I chatted with Frances about race plans.

Watched this video:

 


THURSDAY  ----------

6:10am    Swim at Banks Channel. Ace and I and a few others swam with the current south for 10 minutes and back to the start (against the tide) for 15 minutes. Good hard effort at race pace as the sun rose over Wrightsville Beach. Glassy conditions and cool water. Love.

9:30am    Taught a yoga class. It was a weird morning. Some guy got miffed at me pre-class and I had to think kind, namaste thoughts in his direction.  PLUS, I was going to do a video for class and got incredibly freaked out by Wai Lana's contortions and outfits. Halfway through, I turned off the giant video screen and did a couple of my own flows.

10:30am - 3:00pm Most productive I've ever been. Cleaned out email inbox. Thought about the run. Prioritized tasks for next week. Thought about the after-party. Wrote a few thank you notes. Imagined my calmness at the swim start. Straightened my desk piles. Walked through Transition in my head. Tasked out a few work projects. Imagined the well being dry at the finish. 


8:35pm     In the bed.

FRIDAY   ------------

5:45a    Slept late! Walked two times around the block with my neighbor (less than a mile). Cut gardenias. Drank a smoothie. Read the paper.

7:00a    Met Jen for coffee at the new Starbucks. Yum. Listened to her convince me that I'm an a$$ kicking machine and that I should expect to blow my goals out of the water. I believe. Here are my time predictions:

8:00am  Cooked up a chicken and rice casserole and an orzo, tomato and spinach salad, made hard-boiled/baked eggs in the oven and gathered all my water bottles. Did a final load of laundry. 

We have a few hours in the car and the festivities begin. Look for my updates on twitter @GumboGirlBeth. Stop by the Amino Vital booth at the Athlete Village, too. I'll be there today from 2:30p - 3:30p! Here we go!