Decisions, Decisions...

I am faced with a difficult decision at the moment regarding another race! Ugh! Some of my friends are trying to convince me to do a second Ironman this year and go sub 12 hrs!  And let me tell you, this is very tempting!  The race would be in Cozumel which I have done twice already and I think I can go sub 12 there after my performance in NY.  I just do not know if I have it in me, both mentally and physically, to push myself at that level again this year.  I pretty much gave it my all in NY and I am super happy with my results. But the idea of giving it another shot to go sub 12 is just so alluring.  I really am not sure what to do and I have to decide pretty soon.  Hmmm.....what to do, what to do?!

Parry Sound Tri

I went up north to my second home on the weekend to participate in the Bobby Orr Hall of Fame Triathlon. I arrived Thursday evening and literally got off the bus and on the bike to participate in the Nacho tri club time trial.  Since this was my first time on the bike since IM I was just doing this ride to ride and not race.  I still pushed it more than I should have but I did not go all out.  I averaged about 32 km/hr for the 16.3km bike ride, not bad! I skipped the run portion though.  Friday I went out for an easy 30km ride and then Saturday I raced.  Before the sprint race happened I volunteered in the try-a-tri.  Maybe not the optimal pre race prep as I was out in the sun for the whole event directing athletes from swim to bike then bike to run.

My race: the swim went ok.  This really was just my second swim since IM and I may have lost some speed.  I completed the 750m swim in 13:50 and came out of the water in 16th overall.  Got on the bike and really tried to push it here.  The course was pretty hilly and there was also a good wind fighting us.  I made up some time here and came off the bike 4th overall and first woman!  That was pretty sweet!!!  I ended up with the 6th fastest bike split of the day! Time was 42:14 for 23km and I avg 32.7 km/hr.  Then the run.  This is when I felt it.  I was not quite ready for such an effort post IM.  I think my trip to the med tent should have indicated to me that I was going to take longer than usual to recover from the IM.  I suffered big time and the heat did not help!  It was super HOT out there!  I held onto the lead of first women overall until about 3km into the run, passed the half way point.  I got a really bad side stitch within the first km of the run and could not shake it off.  I was hurting and could not push the pace anymore.  In fact, I slowed down a lot in the last couple of km because the side stitch was just getting worse.  I really wanted to just walk!  But I fought through it and got passed by 3 women; ah well!  In hindsight, maybe it was a good thing I could not push the run because then I did not cause added stress to my hamstring which I also think is not quite ready for a hard effort.  I ran the 5km in 26:10 for a 5:14min/km pace.  I managed to hold onto 3rd place in my age group, 4th women overall, and 15th overall.  Not too bad!  I then helped out with the take down of the race venue and that was more work than the race itself, lol!  The next day I helped out and volunteered with the kids race and that was a lot of fun!

Race #2 of my crazy 5 week race schedule is done.  Race #3 is next weekend with the Muskoka 70.3 and then that is followed by the Savageman double the following weekend.  In 5 weeks, I signed up to race an Ironman, 2 half ironmans, an olympic, and a sprint race.  Just saying this out loud makes me realize how stupid this is! Lol!  I did not think things through when I was signing up for races last year.  I thought a sprint race 2 weeks after an IM would be fine.  However, I did not account for the effort I put into IM that pretty much wiped me out.  Then the back to back half IM weekends, and hard ones to boot!  Really, what was I thinking!?  Apparently, I wasn't!

The Power of the Mind

As I am slowly getting back into some sort of training I am realizing even more how strong the mind can be.  I have always heard that the Ironman is something like 70-80% mental and 20-30% physical talent.  And I believe it!  Well, maybe more like 60-40 otherwise I would probably be faster! Lol!

I attempted to swim last week and that was a fail.  My legs were cramping in the pool and I resorted to using the pull buoy.  I got back into yoga and that hasn’t been too bad.  This week I attempted to run and this is when it really hit me.  I ran twice this week, not even for 30 minutes, but boy, my body was in pain.  In particular, my hamstring/piriformis and I am surprised at how I managed to ignore the pain on race day and push through.   This realization also hit me when I have been talking to friends about my IM experience.  I cannot believe how I shut so many things out of my mind and just soldiered on.  I am honestly surprised at how mentally strong I was and can be.  I have been reading some of the pros race reports from IMNY and they mention the wind on the second half of the marathon and the humidity during the event.  I honestly cannot even remember the wind, I noticed the wind on the GWB because my hat almost flew off but I did not notice it on the other side of the bridge.  And the humidity!?  Either I trained so much in the heat and humidity this summer that it did not bother me or I really just tuned that out.  Maybe it was both.  But this was with consequence though because I did end up in the med tent in the worst shape I have ever been after an IM.  Funny how I pushed my body for so many hours and the moment I crossed the line and stopped, everything stopped as well.  As soon as my brain shut itself off, my body turned off and went into exhaustion mode.

I have had mini mental breakdowns in races before, for example, IM France last year when I actually cried during the run or Muskoka 70.3 when I checked out mentally on the run.  But in NY, I was solid.  I remembered when my hamstring did hurt, I said to myself to ignore it and it went away.  Later in the run when my adductor started to cramp, I said not now, and it went away!  Wow!  However, it was my adductor in the med tent that had some wicked cramps that left me crying in there! Lol!

The mind is one powerful beast and I am happy that I have a strong one.  Maybe that is why I keep doing IMs and keep training.  Or maybe that is just stubbornness which I fully admit I am! Haha!  But on race day for me to tune out so many things and just focus on turning over one foot in front of the other really does and did amaze me.  I hope I can keep this mental strength up for years to come!

Ironman US Championship NYC/NJ

Ironman US Championships NYC/NJ

August 11, 2012

Race Report

Ironman #8 is now in the books!  And like all the others, it was a tough day out there!  They really do not get any easier.  I was going into this one wanting to PB and break 12:30.  My eventual goal is to do one sub 12 but did not think that I was quite there yet.  It was an almost though! I wanted to PB so bad I was almost worried I would go out too hard on the bike or start the run too fast.  I knew I had to remain smart out there and I think I did a pretty good job of doing that.  My other worry heading into this race were my injuries I was dealing with.  Nothing too serious but could have played a factor on race day.  I have plantar fasciitis in my left foot and a pulled hamstring/piriformis issue in my right leg.  Going into this I was more worried about my hamstring and piriformis because it hurts immediately when I start running and at times can get so bad that it leaves me limping.  Happy to report that my foot was no issue at all and my hamstring/piriformis did hurt but I managed to ignore it or by that point other body parts and fatigue were setting in so it was not a focus! Haha!

The logistics heading into this race seemed like a bit of a nightmare.  We had to take ferries to and from bike and gear bag drop off, transition in the morning, to the swim start, and then back to transition to pick up our bike and gear.  At the end, everything went very smoothly and I actually enjoyed taking the ferries!  It made this race a unique experience.

Swim:  3.8km, 46:57

The swim almost did not happen.  A sewer line broke a couple of days before the race just upstream of where we were to swim.  The city was doing a controlled dumping of the sewage into the Hudson River but managed to repair the leak in sufficient time for us to get the all clear to swim.  The official word of the swim going on as scheduled happened at about 5:30pm the evening before.  That was close!!!  We had to wake up insanely early in the morning, 2:30am, to catch the 4am ferry to get us across the river to transition.  I had my usual pre race Boost, oatmeal, and coffee for breakfast.  Did everything I needed to do when we got to transition and we eventually got on the last ferry to take us to the barge for the swim start.  I wished the guys luck and pretty much jumped the approx 4ft into the water right away for the time trial start.  This was wetsuit legal for the age groupers and I was content with that due to possible sewage in the water, lol!  I felt awesome in the water and was just flying.  I swam on my own and did not have to deal with any contact whatsoever!  I passed tons of people and the current was definitely in our favour.  I actually misjudged how quickly I was moving when I was approaching the buoys that I actually hit a couple of them head on! Lol!  I just focused on a smooth stroke and not swallowing any water!  Got to the swim exit and the water was soooo dark you saw absolutely nothing but just black.  So I just did a head up crawl until I was close enough and could not swim any further because of the other swimmers.  Stood up into a gross muddy bottom and I was thankfully pulled out by a volunteer onto the steps to get out of there.  I will never replicate this swim time again unless I get another current assisted race!  That was pretty awesome!  Ran through transition, grabbed my bags, got my bike gear on with no assistance, and ran to the sun screeners and out to grab Limey for the bike!

Bike: 180km, 6:26:01

The bike ride started immediately with an 8% grade hill for a few kilometres.  I was in my lowest gear and tried to spin but adrenaline got the best of me and probably went a bit harder then I should have.  No big deal.  Got onto the Palisades Parkway where most of the two loop bike course was being held and just started pedalling trying to remain comfortable.  I wore my heart rate monitor just to make sure I was pushing hard enough and not be too lazy out there.  The course was fair, not too easy or too hard with its fair share of climbs.  I had my watch beep at me every 20min to remind me to eat and I think I did a decent job of keeping my nutrition up.  The first loop of the bike was really congested and became dangerous at times.  I saw a lot of crashes and flats out there.  And then the unbelievable happened to me: I was called for drafting! What?!? Me?!?! I got the red card!  I didn’t even know if I had to stop right there or wait until I got to the penalty tent.  I was in the process of passing two people who were themselves drafting going up a hill.  When I caught up to them, I moved to their left so I can pass.  A motorbike came up behind me as I was passing and I moved a little over to give them room to pass me because that is what I thought they wanted to do.  Since it was an out and back cyclists were coming at both directions so there really was not that much room for the motorbike and the cyclists.  Anyway, I worked at passing these two cyclists and when I passed them I moved to the right and then that was when the motorbike came beside me and flashed the red card!  I was speechless!  Then I was pissed!  So many other people were drafting all around me and they call me as I was going up a hill!  I was not even on someone’s wheel!  So I continued on pretty mad about this and then I saw a really bad crash!  Things then went into perspective for me and I let the red card go.  Soon after I was almost taken out by a guy who while we were going downhill he was about to pass me and I heard a pop.  He flatted and lost control of the bike and was going down.  I hit my brakes as he skidded right in front of me and I just missed him as I manage to get through a narrow opening between the curb and him!  I checked to see if he was ok and he said he was so I continued on but I was shaking at this point!  That was pretty scary!  And then I saw another bad crash right after that with three or four people on the ground and from that point I just wanted to finish the bike ride in one piece!  Got to penalty tent and I was on pace for about a 6hr ride!  I was pretty stoked about that.  Paid my 4min penalty, then straight to special needs to replenish my nutrition, and then off I went for the second loop.  I was a bit more cautious here because I did not want to be called for anything else and I did not want to crash.  Limey is pretty bright and flashy and I am sure they could spot me right away and this was in my mind the whole time.  Well, the wind picked up on the second loop and we had a pretty good head wind.  Any thoughts of riding a 6hr bike ride were gone!  It also down poured for a couple of minutes but no big deal.  I just went into my aerobars and tried to remain strong for the remainder of the ride, maybe even hammered it a little too much! Lol!  The last bit felt like an eternity going down the switchbacks but I was happy to see the end of the bike!

Run: 42.2km, 4:40:30

I got through transition unaided again and onto the run course.  The same hill we had to climb on the bike was the same hill we had to run to get to the first half of the run course which was two loops.  Any gain we had on the swim with the current was negated with this run course.  This was probably one of the toughest runs on the Ironman circuit.  There was no shortage of hills in the Palisades.  To add to this was the heat and humidity.  My plan was to start running at a 6:30min/km pace and try to stay there or pick it up at the end.  Well, I managed to keep this pace but the hills got the best of me and I could no longer maintain that pace.  My hamstring and piriformis were really hurting me too but I just tried to ignore it.  Then I realized something bad, my salt and gels I had put in my jersey pockets fell out!  Oh oh!  I need the salt!  I am a heavy sweater and need the electrolytes to keep me from cramping.  I luckily held onto two of my gels because they did not fit as well as the Redbull shot in my hands.  So I decided to wait until I hit about 11 or 12km before I took the Redbull because it was half way before I hit special needs where I had an emergency stash of salt and gels and another Redbull shot.  So I became very dependent on the aid stations which were luckily providing Gu gels which is what I like!  So I was taking Ironman Perform, water, and I even started with the coke pretty early at every aid station.  I just wanted to make sure I was taking in enough salt!  I even felt hungry so I had a couple of pieces of banana during the first half of the run.  I stayed true to the no walking between the aid stations and actually did not walk at any aid station until I got to special needs.  Grabbed the 4 salt pills I had there, I was hoping I packed more but did not.  I took three of them right away and continued running.  Everyone around me was walking so I felt like I was in pretty good shape as I managed to continue running.  I took my second Redbull shot just before the George Washington Bridge which was just passed the half way point of the marathon.  Got to the GWB and completely forgot about the stairs! Lol!  Crap!  We had to go up and down two flights of stairs to get to the top of the bridge.  Running across it was pretty cool!  The views were spectacular as we were running towards NYC but the wind was brutal.  I had to keep my head down to keep my hat from flying off.  Finally got to the other side and again we had to run up and down two flights of stairs.  I got a welcome to NY cheer and “Empire State of Mind” was playing in my head.  The crowds here were great and it sure picked me up a bit.  But then they were gone and the run got hard again! Haha!   There were some evil steep downhills which destroyed one of my toenails and some good winds as we approach Riverside Park.   I was just so focused here that not much was bothering me.  I was hurting but I just made sure I kept running.  My adductor almost started cramping on me but it let up, thankfully!  I was passing lots of other athletes because they were walking.  I was determined to keep moving but kept myself comfortable until I hit 32km.  I decided that at 32km I was going to push it and give it all I got.  Until then I was to eat, drink, and be merry! ;)  Got to the 32km mark and then I tried to run faster.  I was successful at bringing my pace down to about 6-6:25min/km and I maintained that!  There were more stairs and hills in Riverside Park!  What?! Really?! I forgot about the heads up I was given about the hills here!  Ugh!  But because I was moving I was getting a lot of cheers and that definitely helped!  I was walking at some of the aid stations on the 2^nd half of the run but not all of them.  Then with maybe 3 or 4km left there was one steep hill.  I tried running it but was not moving very fast and I justified to myself that I earned this walk since I did not walk all the aid stations! Lol!  Got to the top and started running again!  There were only about 2-3km left and I was just looking ahead to see if I could see the finish line!  Finally I caught a glimpse of the blue finishing arch and I thought to myself “thank God!”  I was running right behind a couple of guys for a little as I couldn’t pass them because it was pretty congested with spectators and it being an out and back portion.  Once it cleared up a bit, I was content to stay behind them but one of the guys turned around and told me to go!  He had to tell me twice as I was a bit confused and then I went.  I ran the last bit with everything I had left.  I had no idea of my total time and wish I did because maybe I would have pushed earlier a little bit more.  Crossed the line with my arms up and happy with my performance for the day!

Finish: 12:01:22!!!!!

I crossed the line 16^th in my age group, 86th female, and 638^th overall out of 2146 starters!!!!  A new PB!!!!  Woohoo!!!!!  If I knew I was that close to 12hrs I may have pushed earlier but I had no clue.  Actually, I crossed the line, stopped my watch, and I started to cramp big time.  I think it was actually much hotter and humid than I thought as a lot of people were saying it was a very hot and humid day.  My catcher told me he was going to walk with me for a bit but that was short lived as he then had to hold me up as I was going down.  Then a 2^nd catcher was on the other side of me holding me up.  From here things were a blur.  I was told to keep walking but I could not.  They were pretty much carrying me.  A 3^rd catcher was also there directing and making room for me to get to medical.  I somehow got my finishers shirt and hat but not sure how that happened.  I remember a volunteer wanting to take my timing chip but the guys told them pretty sternly not yet!  Someone offered a wheelchair but they told them that they were ok without it.  I got carried into the med tent and they tried to weigh me but I could barely stand up, plus I was wearing soaking wet running shoes and a heavy medal.  They got that I lost three pounds but I am sure it was probably more.  No triage for me, they took me straight in and I remember one of the catchers telling the med staff that I was cramping really bad.  They laid me down on a cot and they were trying to get info from me to make sure I was still with it.   I was able to answer questions for the first bit.  Then I was hyperventilating and everything felt like pins and needles.  They were covering me with baggies of ice while taking off my shoes and hat.   My HR was about 140bpm and my BP was 138/88 which is high for me.   Then I pretty much passed out.  Well, my eyes were closed and I couldn’t respond to them but I was aware sort of as to what was going on.  They were massaging one of my legs that was cramping and putting salt under my tongue.  When my breathing got a little more under control they tried to sit me up and then stand up.  Nope!  I almost passed out on them again and then my right adductor cramped up really bad.  So they laid me back down and called for a PT to massage out the cramp.  The cramp was hurting so bad that I was crying with no tears! Ha!  At the same time they decided to take blood to see if I needed an IV.  I got more salt under my tongue and they were trying to get me to drink more water.   Then both my legs cramped up and I had two people trying to massage out my legs while at the same time they were trying to get an IV.  The blood results came and they started the IV fluid right away.  Then I started shivering as I was feeling really cold and they put a silver blanket on me.  That followed with a big wool blanket and then they picked me up and moved me away from the fans.  My second BP reading was 102/58 or something like that and they started a 2^nd IV fluid bag.  A third BP reading dropped even further to 96/56.  When my BP went to 109/60 they tried to sit me up again but of course I cramped up again.  At least my eyes were open now and I was a little more aware.  So they sat me up in a chair, the PT was massaging out my cramps, and a 3^rd IV bag was started.  After almost three hours in the med tent they let me go.  I saw my friends and when they congratulated me I almost collapsed on them as I started cramping again!  This was the first time I found out my finishing time!  So now my friends were holding me up and volunteers were asking if I needed the med tent.  Our response was that I just got out of there! Lol!  Finally I was slowly getting better and was able to walk a bit more; and then we took the ferry to transition to claim our stuff and to head back home!

  

 

What a day!!!!  I am super happy with my performance but if I did not get that drafting penalty I would have been sub 12hrs for sure!!!!  I have many people to thank including my friends and family!  Special thanks to my parents for everything, my training/tri buddies for the encouragement and company on long rides, to my chiropractor for all the great treatments and getting me relatively pain free to the start line, and to my coach/friend for getting me fit and race ready for this event!

Next goal: Sub 12!  

Ironman #8 12:01:22!!!

Just a quick post to report a new Ironman PB!!!! Woohoo!!!!!!  I will write up a proper race report soon but a brief recap:  swim was insanely fast!  The current in the Hudson made for some fast swim times and I came out of the water in 46:57!  That was fast and I will never replicate that time again!  The bike was challenging and fair.  I, on the other hand, got an unfair drafting penalty!  I am still shocked I got a red card and was not sure what to do.  I was in the process of passing two cyclists who themselves were drafting off of each other up a hill and I guess it took me longer than 30 seconds to pass them both, but I was going up a hill!!!!  So I lost 4+ minutes in the penalty tent for this!  Argh!  Bike time was 6:26:01.  Run was very challenging complete with lots of hills, running up and down stairs, with some heat and humidity.  I gave it my all and ran my fastest marathon in an IM at 4:40:30.  Total time was 12:01:22!!!!  Woohoo!!!!  I wanted sub 12:30 and wanted close to 12hrs as possible, but did not think this was possible yet!  It was a thought I put off to the side.  If I did not get that damn drafting penalty I would have went under 12hrs!  Well, my effort was a little much for my body (and the fact I lost all my salt pills on the run), I pretty much collapsed at the finish line.  My legs started cramping and I was held up by one catcher and soon enough a second catcher was holding me up as I was no longer able to hold myself up and a 3rd volunteer was directing and making way for the catchers to take me to the med tent.  At that point I was pretty much out of it, I heard everything going on but I wasn't responding.  And I couldn't.  More details in my race report but I ended up being in there for almost three hours and getting 3 IV fluid bags for me to start feeling better and become more responsive!  When I was finally let go and I saw my friends I started cramping again and had to be held up by them! Lol! Other volunteers were asking if I needed to go into the med tent and our response was that I just got out from there!  Haha!  Yep, I was in pretty rough shape!  Looks like I came in 16th in my age group and 638th overall!  Not bad at all!  I am enjoying NYC today and overindulging on some treats including cupcakes, gelato, and some cocktails!

The swim is ON! All systems are a GO!

Woohoo!!!!  We will be swimming in the Hudson!  Very happy with this news!  Hope it's not that bad! Lol! In addition, the weather looks promising now!  Yes!

Our bike and gear bags are all checked in!  Just need to do some final prep!  I'm ready to rock this race!  Bring it on!!!!

And in case you were interested, you can track my results live at www.ironman.com

George Washington Bridge on a rainy day - we will be running across this

unloading our bikes to transition

on the ferry to transition

Limey is ready to rock it tomorrow complete with a new wheel disc cover

run bags all checked in

One more sleep!

Tomorrow is the big day!!!  And the closer we get to race time, the more this race becomes less and less appealing! Boo!!!  Besides the crazy logistics of this race, some unexpected incidents came up.

The big news: the swim may be cancelled!!! :(:(:(  I would be sooo disappointed if this were the case.  The swim is my strongest leg of the triathlon and gives me a boost in the standings.  Without the swim, this will suck!  What happened?  A sewer line burst yesterday and they will be doing controlled dumping of sewage into the Hudson.  Here is a link to the incident, swimming in the Hudson may just be that much more interesting:  http://www.lohud.com/article/20120808/NEWS02/120808006/Sewer-line-break-Tarrytown-prompts-advisory-avoid-Hudson-water?nclick_check=1

The second news: Weather!!!  The forecast is calling for thunderstorms and lightening!  So if the sewage doesn't shut down the swim, lightening just may do it! :(  Again, I would be soooo disappointed with no swim!  Right now, we are waiting til they make the official call for the swim at 4pm.  We'll just have to wait and see.

The trip here was pretty good until we got into NYC.  The Garmin took us through a sketchy area of Brooklyn before taking us into Manhattan.  We completed registration and got settled at our friend's place for the night.  Being an urban Ironman, things are a bit different here.  Swim practice yesterday and this morning was not open water, it was in a short indoor pool at a pretty swanky NYC gym.  Here is a pic of the pool we've been swimming at:

I did successfully patch up my wetsuit after trying to borrow a wetsuit failed for the weekend!  I sewed up the gaping hole with some fishing nylon thread and then sealed it with some wetsuit sealant!  It looks pretty good and I think this will last for the rest of the season!

Last night was the carbo load dinner.  The spread was actually pretty good and I ate lots!  I was surprised at how much I ate!  Haha!  Here is a pic of my dinner that I pretty much demolished:

It is currently raining here in NYC and we still need to drop off our bikes and gear bags.  Looks like we will be doing this in the rain as we need to leave shortly to catch a ferry to transition.  At least all my gear bags and nutrition for race day is all done.  I will post later with an update of what happens with the swim.  For now, below is a pic of my gear bags all ready to go:

Getting Excited!!!

Reality is starting to set in...Ironman in 4 days!!!! Eek!!!!!  And I am slowly starting to get excited!!! Woohoo!!!!!

Just got off my last shift this morning and after I wake up I have a little running around to do!  Besides packing and getting Limey all race ready, I have to find a wetsuit to borrow!  Yesterday I did my last long swim and opted to do it in the open water with my wetsuit.  Got the wetsuit on and noticed a large gaping hole in the lower back where the seam and zipper meet!  What?!?!  Are you kidding me?!?! Just days before the ironman and my wetsuit falls apart.  Not exactly the right time to buy a new one and break it in.  Last week my powertap died on me so I could not do my last training rides properly with power.  Now this!?  I think I may have successfully managed to get a hold of one but I will find out later tonight if this is the case.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

On another note, Limey has a new addition!  My rear Zipp wheel now has a special wheel cover and it is converted into a disc!  I was originally going to use the current disc I have but this is a new product that I was lucky enough to have given to me to test it out.  It is lighter than the current traditional disc and it also is suppose to handle better in the wind.  I am excited to try it out and have this help me ride to a new IM bike PB! ;)  I will post a pic of Limey all dressed up as soon as I have that all taken care of.  I still need to clean her, get the cassette on, and change the break pads.

With this excitement I am also getting nervous.  I know I can do this distance, geez, I've done it seven times already.  But I want to do it well and do it faster and that is where the nerves are coming in.  I almost want this soooo bad I have to be very careful with my nutrition and pacing out there.  I have to remain smart!  I was reading some of my race reports from a few years ago and reading it brought back memories of pain and suffering! lol!  (Cozumel 09 and 10 in particular!).  This has not exactly helped my nerves.  I know come race day I will be ok.  I just need to remain mentally strong.  As this distance is more about mental strength then physical strength.

Ok...I should get to bed since when I wake up I have to do a swim, bike, and run, then pack, hopefully get a wetsuit, get Limey ready, hopefully bake, and grab a few important items for the roadtrip (snacks), and the IM i.e redbull, advil! ;)

TAPER!!!

It's that time again...taper time!  I always get mixed feelings about tapering!  I am happy because all the hard work is pretty much done.  The 16-28hrs of training a week, the long 6hr+ rides, long runs, long swims, intervals, etc etc.  Done!  Finito!  Nada Mas!  But during my taper week I usually start to doubt myself and even panic! Ha!  I still find it hard to fit in all my training sessions.  I will go out hoping to knock off an awesome workout only to feel sluggish and slow and struggling to meet pace/goal times.  Then I worry!  Funny thing is that this is usually how I respond to tapering.  And I have finally figured out this trend.  I just have to remind myself that this is how I usually feel.  This year I am only doing a two week taper and I hope it is enough.  I just did my last long workout which was suppose to be a 30km run.  This ended up turning into a 26km run as I was severely struggling out there.  My pace dropped to slower than my hopeful IM race pace and I was just getting slower.  It was hotter and more humid than I expected and I think I just ended up being dehydrated and low on calories.  I may have actually bonked out there!  I was debating whether to keep running or if I would just put myself at more of a deficit and do more harm than good.  I opted to cut the run short since I was also running short on time.  I had to make it to my chiro appointment for my foot and hamstring treatment before going back to work.  Oh, and I also did this run in between night shifts so not optimal.  Got home and was dizzy.  Oh oh!  Tried to consumer electrolytes, calories, and liquids but I still lost about six pounds on this run alone (I think it is all back now!).  Still had a couple of light-headed and dizzy bouts for a couple of more hours but I think I am good now.  Soooo....I am a little bummed about this run!  Disappointed that I did not do the whole 30km and disappointed at how slow I was running out there.  I did do the planned  intervals and I hit those time goals but as I kept running it was just getting ugly.  If I was running like this on race day I may actually cry!  Ok ok....maybe not, but I would be upset.  And that is my thought process during tapering - doubt, disappointment, frustration, the whole gamut   Lol!

9 DAYS LEFT!!!!!!!!