Let the tapering begin

I guess officially yesterday was the first day of taper for Busselton 70.3, but because it didn't include any training, today feels a bit more real.

As it was, today was a good start to the tapering process. I was out on the bike this morning for a 70 minute spin about, just getting the legs moving really. It felt very nice indeed. In fact I probably pushed it a bit hard because it felt so good. Sometimes when the legs are feeling good, it is very hard to put a lid on it. Still, not the end of the world at this early stage of tapering, particularly for such a short ride, but I probably want to keep the intensity under control from here on in though.

I have a couple of normal routes for this sort of ride, mostly out and back type affairs. But yesterday it occurred to me that I could probably get the around the Perth 'River Loop' in 70 minutes if I took a couple of short cuts. So that is what I tried this morning. Worked out almost perfectly in the end with 70 minutes getting me to just up the road from my house. Something I will try more often I think. Not all the time, since the River Loop can be a bit horrible for traffic at certain times of day, which is why I haven't used it much in the past. But having in the back pocket to use when I feel like doing something different is a nice option to have.

With the ride done, I am done with training for the day. Looking forward now to getting through the work day and then having a nice relaxing evening. The last few evenings have been a little bit late at home. We have been out socialising and getting home late (really it is 6:00pm, but when you have small children that need feeding etc, it might as well be midnight). Getting home late in the day has meant that our evenings have been rushed. Tonight shouldn't be like that so I am looking forward to getting home and having a more relaxed evening. Should be good.

I am currently in the midst of enjoying the best thing about racing locally. Not having to worry about anything yet. I should make clear that not worry about it not the same as not focus on. This just means I can think about a race, without having to stress about it. When I race away, I would usually be packed by now and figuring out how to get to the airport tomorrow. Racing so close to home means that I don't really have to worry about that. True we are heading down to Busselton tomorrow, but that in itself is to make the trip more relaxing. Last year I headed down on Thursday, and as is the way with these things I got there late on Thursday. It meant that I really just had Friday to find my feet and then it was race day. I enjoy having a bit more time than that when I race. Sure we won't be down to Busselton until late tomorrow (6:00pm again), but that doesn't really matter. We will have all of Thursday in town to just relax a bit, before diving into race mode on Friday. Much better.

The plan for tomorrow is to do a bit of training in the morning and then spend most of the day packing and getting ready before heading down after school tomorrow. Hopefully it is a nice smooth day.