The De-Taper, and more on Peanut Butter and Chocolate

You know all about tapering before a race, so I won't go into the details. You know how to race, so I'll spare you those details as well. But what about after the race?

When you do a race and taper for it, the taper and race are essentials to actually doing the race. That's the whole point!

Its what you do after the race that is optional. There is no necessity to do anything after a race. You can just sit on your butt forever if you want!......and I actually don't mind doing that after the last race of the season.

But! If you are still mid season and there is another important race coming up on the calendar, going all couch-quarterbacking is not an option. So what do you do? How do you go from taper to race to recovery to back to it?

My plan this time is to basically reverse back out the same way I came in on the taper. Aka. The De-Taper. I am just going to do the same workouts, but in the opposite direction to bring me back up to where I was pre-taper. Does that make sense?

I see that on two fronts: Physically and mentally. Of course physically you gotta bring it back up gradually to let your body repair the damage. My body is still a little wrecked, but getting better. But mentally that post race fog still lingers. Even if my body was suddenly cured, I cannot mentally bear going out on a 3+ hour ride this Saturday and down more Gatorade and Chocolate Gu. I need a break! My taste buds need a break! haha! Which I am taking....

So far I have biked an easy easy easy 16 miles on the road bike, hopped into the pool for 30 mins, and ran an easy 5 miler. I even ate McDonalds!

Disclaimer: I actually have nothing against McDonalds. I just don't have one near me or one that is convenient to get to. I loooooooove me a BigMac with a Chocolate Shake. I know, its soooo bad for me, but I haven't eaten (I think) McDonalds in 7 months? So it tasted extra good :) AND! I think I deserved one! hehe

Finally, I want to leave you on a yumminess note. I did a post about my peanut butter chocolate Gu recipe awhile back; it tasted great, but it was a bit unpractical unless you used a Gu flask, which I don't. But! The Peanut Butter & Co now makes these single serve "easy squeeze" peanut butter gels that are just like Gu gels. Both the Gu and Peanut Butter are 32 gram servings of yummy matter.


Me thinks you take a Chocolate Gu and a Peanut Butter Easy Squeeze and eat both @ the same time? Whatcha think? Might be a bit much? 180 calories of Peanut Butter + 100 Calories of Chocolate all @ once? Would just do this on the bike, NOT the run. I think from a pure taste stance, it will be a winner!