Post 135 - First week of tapering

This was the first of two taper weeks before the Ironman. All the hard training is done. All the work is done. There’s nothing more to gain. I just have to keep ticking over and maintaining, and get through two more weeks. Arguably these last two taper weeks are the toughest two weeks because although I don’t train hard when tapering, if anything goes wrong then there’s very limited time to put it right.

Anyway, being offered the opportunity to work from home for the final two weeks before race day removed a huge amount of stress – no commuting, no germ-infested trains, no germ-infested air-conditioned offices, more time, more sleep, things would be better all round. Every little helps, every marginal gain helps, and working from home is a big help. It's not something I would have been especially comfortable asking for (maybe I'd have asked for unpaid leave for a week or two) but it was offered and I was happy to accept - I think my local management team are sympathetic after some of the unwarranted stuff I've had to deal with this year. 

Fairly (very) true

It’s strange that after having been so focused, relentless and disciplined in training, for months and months on end, that tapering feels so lethargic and sluggish. It’s a big mental and physical relief to do the last tough training session and then to know that’s it, no more tough training, just a two-week taper and then a race. You expect to feel great in the taper, full of beans, full of energy, like an aircraft sitting on the end of a short runway with the engines on full blast but being held by the brakes. And with working from home, and the extra time I have due to not having to commute, I’m getting 10 hours in bed every night too, so I should be well-rested.

However in reality, I’ve found when tapering, you feel tired, you feel sluggish, it’s difficult to find motivation to do those remaining easy training sessions, and your body seems to not be your own – you feel niggles appear that you’ve never felt before, you feel washed-out, you almost feel like you are coming down with an illness or a bug.

But I suppose all this is a natural reaction to removing all the physical and mental stresses of training (and in my case, removing the commuting and working in an office too), the body just goes a little bit haywire and doesn’t really know what has hit it, and probably a lot of energy is diverted into repair and recovery from all the training done. And I said in previous posts, before I even started my taper, I had felt a bit sniffly and I had a bit of a niggly knee.

I read triathlon internet forums from time to time. I read with interest some of the comments on tapering :

Several times now, once I have physically & mentally taken a big sigh of relief as the long training ends, I get cold-like symptoms as the body starts trying to repair itself. The first time I was worried, but then it happen the next time too, and I was familiar with the way my body worked. Knowing your own body is very useful, something that comes with years of experience.

I remain bitter about how bad taper feels.

Going through my first proper training programme 5 years (?) ago I imagined how great taper would be, thinking I'd have a satisfied smile on my face with all the hard yakka banked, that I'd feel sleek, fit and confident and would be fizzing with energy and vitality - in the peak of health and barely able to hold myself back until the start. I couldn't wait for taper to start, especially during the last heavy block.

When I got there I spent the whole time feeling #@?#, full of doubt/worries, cold like symptoms and entered some sort of lazy mode where I'd not want to do even gentle sessions - and even when done they'd seem hard, clunky and make me feel even worse...

Learning to expect this, and see through it sufficiently to trust the training and know that this is part of the process took a while (and a few cock ups). I remain annoyed that it just feels so unpleasant though....

Anecdotally, I've heard a lot of this. We both get it, and I've heard of others guys talking of 'taper fatigue'. It's basically the body sorting itself out, and using a lot of 'energy' doing it. I can almost imagine all the little 'doozers' (remember fraggle rock?!) in my body focussing on repairs & stockpiling energy, at the expense of being able to 'operate normally'.

I've also had twinges all over my legs the days before an Ironman, then done a PB! I think some of it is psychosomatic.

I too am going through the taper madness currently. I feel like I have been 12 rounds with Mike Tyson! I am knackered, everything aches, I feel heavy legged, out of breath going upstairs etc.

I cannot be bothered. I think with taper you switch off and you start to think well it doesn't really matter. It is really hard to drag yourself out I find.

I’m glad it’s not just me who feels like this…

And then, when you finally get through the taper and get to the race, and you get through the swim and the adrenaline is pumping and you’re on the bike and really getting into the race, finally your legs will feel good, and the output will feel easier because you have tapered and are well-rested. This is a dangerous time. It’s all too easy to push a bit harder, even just a little bit harder than you should, and ruin your race. Any degree of overcooking on the bike will come back and bite hard in the second half of the marathon.

I plan to ride at around 220 watts for the Ironman bike. When I finally get onto the bike on race day, I expect 220 watts to feel easy, certainly for the first couple of hours. I’ll have to force myself to hold back, and not creep up to 230 or 240 watts. This would ruin my overall finish time. Indeed, for the first half-hour, I’ll try not to go much over 200 watts.

For context, for my 100-mile time trial last month, I averaged 263 watts, but for the first couple of hours, 270-280 watts felt absolutely fine. It wasn’t fine though, as my fade in the final 20 miles proved, when I was struggling to produce 240 watts. And it’s the same idea in the Ironman swim and the run. “Pace it, don’t race it.” And, paradoxically, “The slower you go, the faster you’ll go…”

Having finished off my tough training last weekend with a bit of a sore right knee, I decided that Monday and Tuesday this week would be complete rest days, to give the knee a chance to recover. And also to give the body in general a chance to rest and recover after all the training done. I did some foam rolling, took a couple of anti-inflammatories, and went to the osteopath as usual.

I mentioned to the osteopath that I had a bit of a sore right knee, and he had a look at it. I wish he’d told me what he was about to do because I’d have told him no way, but he got into the back of my knee and I almost jumped off the table in pain – the back of the knee is a delicate place and I didn’t want anyone touching it. I only had a minor niggle in the front of my knee that would probably (hopefully) clear in a few days by itself, but after this osteopath visit I now had a sore back of the knee too…

Thankfully, about 4-5 days later, both the front of the knee and the back of the knee seemed to have cleared up somewhat, so hopefully they will be OK for the race. They haven’t restricted me in terms of the training I’ve done this week, but I’ve been aware that they don’t feel 100%. Hopefully the final easy week before the race will see them back to normal. Fingers crossed.

I got on the turbo on Wednesday and did an easy hour, but with 5 sets of 2 minutes going a bit harder. I need to make sure I incorporate a little higher-intensity work into what I do while tapering. I went out for an easy run on Thursday, on grass around the park to reduce the impact on the body. I had an easy swim on Friday. I didn’t do much on Saturday – a few weights, some core work, foam rolling, and a lot of watching of the Tour de France on TV. With some cake… and some Guinness… tapering is about relaxing, right? It's about carbo-loading?

Nice-looking cake, but "sneaky bites"?! 

The whole thing was gone in about 2 seconds,

I literally can't stop eating...

Saturday’s Tour de France stage was in the Pyrenees, around where I worked in the summer of 2006. That’s ten years ago. Crazy. I worked in Saint-Lary-Soulan, between the Col d’Aspin and the Col d’Azet in the Aure valley. A magnificent part of the world. On my days off I was able to rent a bike and do some cycling – some of the mountains I rode up included the Col du Tourmalet, the Col d’Aspin (where I had my bad crash), the Col d’Azet, then Col de Peyresourde, Piau-Engaly and the Pla d’Adet.

I watched the 2006 Tour de France from the Col de Peyresourde and took a young, keen French kid (when I say kid, I mean kid – I was 21 and he couldn’t have bene more than 13) named Guilhem with me, who was staying at the holiday village where I worked. We cycled over the Col d’Azet and up to the top of the Peyresourde. He did really well, at such a young age, to get up those hautes montagnes en vélo. As we went up the Col de Peyresourde, a French TV crew drove alongside us and asked a few questions, then they stopped us and interviewed Guilhem. He was on the TV later that night. Pretty cool.

So I watched Saturday’s stage of the Tour with interest as it wound its way along the roads and over the mountains that I got to know pretty well back in 2006. Below is an antique photo from the top of the Col du Tourmalet – I had no cycling shoes, no cycling jersey, no mobile phone, no digital camera, and no clue or idea what I was doing. 10 years later, I might have all the gear now (bike shoes, bike jerseys, gadgets), but I still have no clue what I am doing…

I had planned to do a 2-hour turbo session followed by a short run on Saturday but I decided to have a rest day on Saturday to give my knee a bit more time to get better. It seemed to be on the mend, and an extra day would do it no harm. So on Sunday I got through 2-hours on the turbo, with a few short higher-intensity bursts thrown in. I followed this with a 25-minute run on grass. And that was week one of the taper.

I’ve been thinking about how much to carry on the bike in the Ironman. The lighter the weight, the faster I will go – the course is hilly and twisty. I’ve always carried two spare tubes, two inflation cartridges, one small hand pump, 2 x 1-litre bottles and 1 x 900ml front aero bottle. If I get a flat tyre, I’ll lose 5-10 minutes. If I get two flat tyres, I’ll lose so much time that qualifying will be off the cards. So I think I’ll only carry one spare tube and one inflation cartridge. Leaving out a cartridge, a tube and the pump will save me 250 grams (yes I checked). Also, instead of carrying 2 x 1 litre bottles, I’ll carry 2 x 750ml bottles, which will save 500 grams. And instead of a 900ml aero front bottle, I’ve got a new 750ml aero front bottle. So that saves 150 grams. This means I will have to do one extra water bottle pick-up at an aid station, but the total weight saving of almost 1kg will hopefully save me a couple of minutes.

I’ve also been doing my sums. Realistically, I think I will do the swim and first transition in 65 minutes. I hope to average between 20.5 and 21mph, which will be between 5:20 and 5:27 on the bike, so I hope to be starting the marathon after 6:25 or 6:30 or so. If I average 8 minutes per mile, I’ll finish in just under 10 hours, and if I can hold 7:40/mile then it’ll be around 9:45. I think 9:45 will have a chance of qualifying. 9:55 will have a lot less of a chance.

I’ve been on the juice this week, and will be on it next week too… the beetroot juice that is. Studies have shown that it can enhance athletic endurance, it’s good for the blood, is full of nitrates, and it is becoming popular. Every little edge helps… I’m still playing around with gear and kit, but fortunately the long-range weather forecast for Bolton looks good at this stage, so hopefully I won’t have to contend with rain. That’s a big plus for me. I don’t go well in wet and cold conditions. Hopefully race day will be a good day all round.

I ordered a few stickers from the internet.
I'll stick a few of these on the bike, 

they will obviously benefit my speed and fortune...

One week left… Come on body, give me one more week. Give me one good race…

Training done this week was as follows:

Mon 4 July: Rest
Tue 5 July: Rest
Wed 6 July: 1 hour turbo (5 x 2mins harder)
Thu 7 July: 25 min run
Fri 8 July: Swim 2.1km
Sat 9 July: Rest
Sun 10 July: 2 hour turbo (10 x 1min harder), 25 min run

Totals: Swim 2.1km, Bike 65 miles, Run 8 miles.