10-8 Tapering

I really have no idea how I should taper off . I was full of advice for Reed but now I'm guessing again. The enigma is that I have events starting in November that I shouldn't be tapering for yet but I need to be fresh when the whole thing starts on Friday.

I've definitely cut things down over the last two weeks. On the road my sessions were usually pretty short. Medium climbing, biking and running days. One day I did 1,000 sit-ups to see how it would affect me the next day and I was fine. I did a lot of interval running on trails, hoping to work two events (sprinting and trail running) in one.

Over the last few days it has gotten even easier: 18-hour driving day with no exercise, moving day with no exercise, 2-hour trail running day (okay, this isn't easy but it's a lot easier than the 4-hour days I was doing and it felt damn short), and a 1-hour bike ride today.

The problem is that I don't feel very rested. By the time I got to Austin I was exhausted and it does feel that I'm getting better but I don't feel mean, or like I'm bouncing off the walls even with the tapering--and I want to feel that way by Friday. Maybe with a couple more long nights of sleep I will because I have noticed a difference since I got home and have been sleeping in my own bed. I know, for certain, that my training has been hampered some by sleeping on various floors and couches throughout it but I haven't had any choice so I'm trying to look at it as sleep depravation training, cause I'll need that too.

One of the other tapering considerations is that I will actually have to do more than my challenge while it's happening. I really need to make sure that I get on the bike a lot so I don't completely lose my comfort in the saddle because those 6 to 7 hour days are going to be rough.

So, for the rest of the week I've planned:

Mon: easy sprinting - I still need some speed work. Still don't have spikes.

Tues: bouldering for power. I still need work on the V4's so I will do some of them.

Wed: rest (sort of) because Dolworth and I have to drive to Berkeley and get the last load of my stuff, then drive to Yosemite. I will stretch and eat a lot.

Thur: organize our gear and lay around all day. And eat. Eat a lot.

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