Reflections on the Work. It's time to Taper.

Today I finished up my last official "workout" before Lake Placid. It's time for the taper. Tapering is a strange thing in that it is a much needed recovery and "tuning" time. In a way it is "easy". This contrasts the "work, work, work" attitude that tends to drive athletes. It's hard to sit on your butt and keep the workouts to a minimum. As the body recovers and the energy level fills back up,

Resting up and refueling post long ride.

anxiousness and restlessness can creep in. Thus the taper is a great time to use the new found "extra" time to focus on other tasks that have been neglected during the build phase of training. I will be working to make some extra $ during this time which to fund the infinite list of projects at my new home. Which I should mention has recently been named. Please check out Hill Valley Farm on Facebook.

I set big goals for this race. The big goal is for a Age Group win and thus qualify for the big dance again. In fact Dave Smith and I both want to toe the line in Kona together this October. I've put in some solid work to get there. I'm certainly able to look back and see periods of slacking. But the big picture is that I had a great 70.3 performance in early June and I'm coming into this race healthy, with no nagging injuries. My "test" workouts as of recent: Long rides and runs, 40K TT and 1600 on the track have only added to my confidence that I'm where I need to be to achieve my goals. I started my swim taper a long time ago. Now it just comes down to patience and execution.


On a more personal note I find myself reflecting on the past and the journey that has got me to this point. The time frame can be varied, but for me the past two years are of most significant, mainly stemming from my knee injury and work to get back to Ironman fitness. But the past eight or so months certainly provide interesting reflection for me. In two weeks, when I dive into Mirror Lake, it will be one more stepping stone added to the path of life experiences. Life comes with its turbulent highs and also challenging periods of lows, personally both seem to have strangely coincided with my training for this event. But no matter if you find yourself at that blissful high spot, crashed and burned at that rock bottom low, or somewhere in the middle, the important thing is to keep riding. Eventually we get to the payout.