Taper Thoughts: Twelve Days Out

Welcome to my first taper.  Seriously, it's my first.

"But, Lauren, you've run races before?  You've even run a marathon?"

It's true, but alas, this is my first taper. 

"How did that happen!?"

This is my first taper because this is the first race I've made it all the way through training.  Sure, I haven't done every workout, but better than 85% of the workouts are in the books. 

Twelve days to Ironman Augusta.  Peak weeks have come and gone and now I'm in this weird place of reduced training.  Reduced training, but alas, not a reduced appetite.  Those that know me, know that this is dangerous territory for me.

So, I've vowed to be very conscious of what I'm eating over the next two weeks.  Probably more so than I have been in all the months leading up to this race.  No, I'm not trying to lose any weight in the next two weeks - I'm simply trying to not gain any weight in the next two weeks.

This taper thing, though, I've read about it before - any many, many blogs.  I've never connected with how hard it is to stop training.  And when you've been doing the insane amount of training that goes into the longer distances - it feels like stopping, even it you haven't actually stopped.

The nerves are back this week.  This morning, especially.  I'm focusing on breathing and trying not to think about it.  We'll see how that works out for me.