Weekend o'anticipation-CRAZYNESS

Do you know what the worst part of a taper is?

The anticipation.

You have done the work, and you just want to get the race over with because you know if you do it NOW that you will nail your goals. But you can't. You have to wait another week. Its like those final ten seconds at the swim start waiting for the horn to blow; your heartrate is spiking 10 beats per minute every second!

I want to refer back to a contest that I held this past spring where I asked you what your definition of going taper crazy was. I got a bunch of great responses, but I picked these two and here they are again.

Jeff @ Dangle the Carrot's was bluntly (pun intended) perfect:
"Do you remember the movie The Untouchables in which Robert DeNiro played Al Capone? Do you remember the scene when all the mobsters were sitting around a table after Elliot Ness had ruffled some feathers and one of them had said something stupid to DeNiro/Capone? DeNiro/Capone was walking around said table holding a Louisville Slugger and we all knew he was going to bash the stupid guy in the head and everyone at the table knew he was going to bash the guy in the head even the stupid guy knew it was coming ... DeNiro/Capone walked and talked very deliberately for what seemed like a long time and the tension just keep building and building and building and building until BAM ... he violently bashed the guy in the head with the bat. Well, that Tension is the same feeling we get from the Taper, like a snake coiled up and ready to strike, and if timed perfectly we will explode on Race Day just like the maple bat exploded the stupid guys head all over the table. BUT if not timed correctly we might explode on the next idiot that asks us what taper crazy means! Capiche?"

Colleen @ IRONDIVA gave a more succinct definition:
"Going Taper Crazy is the time between your hardest training weeks and your race when you totally doubt everything that you've done leading up to the race, you feel fat and lazy, you get bored easily, you eat a lot, you question your reasoning for thinking you can do a race, you feel like you'll have to start all over and that you'll never be able to race. But you do. And you kick ass. And you forget about the taper tantrums until the next race. :)"

I am experiencing all of the above, but because I know that I will experience them, I can deal with it now. I know that in the next 6-7 days that my fitness will not suddenly disappear. My fitness is in the vault! I am planning on taking out a huge withdrawal on Sunday.

So this past weekend was another successful one:

Saturday:
Did my 40 mile ride in under 2 hours. I held my wattage perfectly and this was just another test ride to make sure I am on target for this coming weekend. There were a LOT of cyclists out there! Fortunately they were going the other way.

Then I threw on the shoes and went for a 3 miler.
Mile 1: 7:20 (whoops!)
Mile 2: 6:56 (double whoops!)...i felt like I slowed it down!
Mile 3: 7:50 (CUT the throttle)
22:07 / 7:22 pace

Holy crap where did that run come from! After those first 2 miles I was having a panic attack that I was blowing it all on this run. I felt so good! So after I saw that 6:56 split for mile 2, I swallowed my pride and checked the ego @ the door and sloooooooooowed it way down.

New mantra: "Save it for the race. Save it for next race. Save it for the race."

Sunday:
The fumidity returned on Sunday and it was another run through marshmallow-air. That and my legs were toast from Saturday's efforts. I got the 6 mile run in, but it was fingernails over the chalkboard the entire run. Went the 6 miles in 54 mins on the dot! How 'bout that! ha! Unlike yesterday, my splits today were sloooooow:
9:01
9:04
9:14
9:06
9:00
8:38 (finally my legs "opened up" on the final mile!)

Hoping to get my legs back this week and fully rested by next Sunday. Less than a week!!!!