I'm not ready to taper yet!

I have no idea where the last 3 weeks went. I had an extensive 4-week build plus another week of taper to get ready for California. Now I've been left with a few days of post-race recovery, one week of limited running due to some knee issues but plenty of biking and swimming, one week of full on training, and that brings us to now, time to taper. The problem is that I don't feel ready to taper. Not at all. I could really use another week of training. Sure, I had a tough weekend of training and I certainly appreciate a little bit of rest, but I just don't feel as "on" as I did before California, I think. It's so hard to tell though. I know I was exhausted and ready to taper then. I am pretty sure that running was going better. I am fairly certain that biking has gotten better in the past few weeks, but who knows what will happen this weekend.

Yesterday was another unseasonably warm day. I was up around 6 and it was already in the mid 60's and fairly humid. That's warmer than it normally would be during the warmest part of the day in April. I had a somewhat different training day, running for an hour, later biking for 2 hours and then another hour run. I started the first run early to get it out of the way and it was definitely warm out. I only run without biking before about once a month, so it took me a while to feel normal when I went out there, but eventually I warmed up and it wound up being ok. It's hard to judge based on pace because I was of course running on roads I haven't been running on. This particular road pretty much either goes up or down, so who knows if things are going well or if I really am getting slower. Still waiting for that day when the running just really comes together and seems easy and fast. I am a slow runner on a team full of super-runners.

Anyway, after that run I decided to see if the lake might be tolerable enough to stick my legs in for a bit. The water is currently somewhere in the low 40's. Not so great for swimming, but quite good for icing the legs after a tough run. We used to play this game as kids on unseasonably warm days when it was warm enough to take the boat out but there might just still be snow in the woods (I saw a few patches hanging on during my bike rides) where we would see who could tolerate sticking their foot in the icy water the longest. The winner typically didn't have to suffer for more than about 30 seconds. It just makes you ache from being so cold.

I made my way down to the dock, kicked off the running shoes and started with my feet on the ladder. Ok, not so bad. One step down. Ok, tolerable. I made it in pretty much until my knees were submerged, but couldn't really go any further. Although it would've been nice to have soaked my quads, due to the nature of the ladder there is sort of a point of no return where it's really all or nothing. So it was either knee-deep or chest deep, and I don't think I would've survived the latter. However, a few minutes of below-the-knee soaking still felt kind of nice.

After a quick breakfast and a change of clothes I was ready to embark on my bike ride. I decided to take the opportunity to ride with my father. Back when I first started riding we used to ride together all of the time, but we haven't ridden much together in recent years. One of the main reasons for this is that when we are together on the weekends my rides have almost always been in the 100+ mile range, something he is just not willing to participate in. I don't really blame him. If I wasn't in training, I wouldn't ride that far either. But yesterday was just supposed to be two hours of easy riding, which is pretty much just his kind of ride. It was still nice and warm, although cloudy and kind of windy. It was slow and easy, just as I wanted, and we stayed together somewhat, although I would often drop him on the hills.

After that, it was time for one last run. The same exact route I'd run twice in the last two days, and I would be doing it again. Only this time, when it was over, I could collapse in a heap and just relax. Once again, this one started pretty crappy but wound up pretty good, so I'll take it. Done just in time for a shower and lunch and sitting on the couch with the Sunday paper. I always think it would be nice to sleep in on weekends and not rush out and do my workouts, but when it's noon and I've done everything I needed to do and can lie down and relax guilt-free I remember why I got up early to get things done.

I definitely did not feel the same level of anxiousness to get the weekend over and done with that I usually do, just aching for a rest day and week. Doing 6-hour bike rides isn't a big deal anymore. Funny how in the beginning of March those long rides can leave me uselessly couch-bound for the rest of the day, but the more I do them, the less of a big deal they are. Probably why I don't feel ready to rest yet. Well, that and the fact that I feel like due to the little running break I didn't get a chance to really improve my running since the last race, only enough time to catch back up hopefully to where I was. I hate falling behind. I wasn't supposed to have to deal with that anymore.

So tomorrow is supposed to be about 90 degrees out, so that should make me feel nice and ready for St. Croix. Fortunately or unfortunately I won't get a chance to train in it since tomorrow is a rest day. I can tell you that tomorrow morning when I roll over and look at the clock and see 5am and know I don't have to get up I'm going to be very happy about that. I really can't believe that I'm racing this weekend or that I'm going to St. Croix. But I guess that's what I'll be doing this weekend, whether I'm ready or not!