Finally I have got to the stage in training where I can rest my weary body and recover, it's taper time. Now I know a lot of athletes seem to hate this period, I know I for one love it, but I do ask myself why?
Is it because I am inherently lazy, well I don't think so and I think my coach would seriously disagree at that statement. I do enjoy my rest days as well, they are normally well needed for recovery.
Do I train stupidly hard, well I do train hard and I do put in a lot of hours, but it is only similar to what a lot of others do. You need to train hard at times to get the body to adapt but I certainly don't go overboard with intervals and the like. I must admit I don't do Z1 either which no doubt some do.
Is it my age, I am not getting any younger, and I have noticed that with an increase in running I do take longer to recover than when I was purely cycling. Now this isn't unusual, running obviously places a lot more stress on the body. Anyway other triathletes run as well, and I don't do stupid mileage.
There are probably a thousand other reasons, but the one thing I do know, is that with it being 2 weeks from my first target event of the year it is very welcome indeed. The last 6 weeks have been a very mixed bag training wise, feeling strong one week, feeling like I'm falling to bits the following week. Things weren't helped by family issues, but nothing you can do about them. So these next 2 weeks will be a pleasure for me in that I know that each day I am actually getting stronger and fresher.
Training on the whole has gone very well, 2 overseas training camps have helped massively with fitness, and of course the fatigue that goes with that. Has my power gone up, well that is an unknown, the sheer fatigue has meant some difficult sessions over the last week and a bit. I was hoping to have a gauge with a 25 mile TT last weekend, but with hollow legs it just ended up being a very tough race on tired legs at lower than expected power. Not unexpected really I suppose, but I was hoping for more. It just shows that even if you don't feel outwardly tired, the deep down fatigue it there and this is what the taper is getting rid of.
At least I know I am fitter than I was at any time last year, this can only be a good thing performance wise, as long as I shed the deep down fatigue and get to race day feeling a bit like a coiled spring. Even if my FTP hasn't gone up I know that with me being fitter than last year with my cycling, I can ride the bike leg strongly and still feel fairly fresh when I start the run.
So now it is just a case of keeping everything moving, doing a few sharp short efforts (well and a 3 hour ride when I get to South Africa) and keep shedding the fatigue. I must admit even after 3 days my legs feel a hell of a lot better than they have done in a fair while, so good signs already. Also another good bit about tapering, now I am given the inflammation from training a chance to subside my body weight is getting back to what it should be :)
