Day of rest

Tapering begins again today. Tapering week often has an undercurrent of nerves associated with it, since you can't help but think about what you are tapering for. Those nerves haven't really kicked in for me yet though. I think in the end this is 4th race in 4 months and so, there is a certain amount of business as usual about it. That will change later in the week, certainly once I am down at Busselton and into the thick of it. But for now I am quite contentedly enjoying the fact that I have had a sleep in and that I have the rest of the day off.

And when I say day off, I really mean the day off. I think I mentioned on Saturday that unlike the rest of Australia, today is a public holiday for Western Australia, so we really do have the day to ourselves. And quite a nice day we are having too. The weather is magic and our little household is having a cruisy day of not doing a lot. Although I have spent a bit of time taking care of those last little bits and pieces of race prep. We don't really have much on the agenda, but I suspect it will take us all day to do it. We may even head down out and see a movie later this afternoon, which is something that we don't get to do that often.

There is nothing quite like a day off that comes at the end of a solid block of training. Last week I had the slight hiccough of feeling a little average on Tuesday, but in the end that didn't derail me too much and I seem to be over it now. I have spoken to a few people and a lot of them having been feeling similar. I suspect it is at least partially the change in the weather to blame. Beyond that though and the last two weeks have been good solid work. No shortcuts taken. The sort of training block that you get to the end of feeling like you have done what you can. A lot of athletes struggle with a bit of guilt when they have a day off, particularly around taper time. These last two weeks have been a really good chunk of work for me, so I am more than happy to have the break. Besides I have been through enough taper weeks to know that when the program says rest, you rest, when it says train you train.

Speaking of training this last couple of days of proper training has included a few confidence inspiring sessions. The ride on Saturday morning was just a spin about, although with a bit more wind than I would have liked. Even though it wasn't intense, it was still a good session. The swim on Saturday was a nice gentle affair, but I finished it up feeling good. The brick session yesterday was the key though. 70 minutes on the bike in full race kit, followed by 18km off the bike. The bike went very well. Dressed up in all the gear the speed comes very easily. Even still it was reassuring to see just how easily the speed came. It was the run that was really good though. I am continuing to work on my pacing when running and this was another step in the right direction. Making sure I was running under control the entire way. It meant that I finished up the run still feeling strong. Even when I found myself fighting a headwind for the last 5km I was able to keep pushing rather than fall in a hole. In the end it was the quickest run I have done over 18km. Just what you want leading into race day. Carrying that pacing over into racing is something I will be working on next Saturday.

All that hard work is behind me, so now I get to enjoy the rewards, which is a relaxed taper week secure in the knowledge that I have done the preparation that I can.