Thursday, August 31, 2006

Taper at Work

So here we are - 10 days out from Ironman!! And I think my taper is feeling the way it should. I start my workouts feeling leaden, but by halfway I'm starting to wake up. Result? Negative splits all week. Absolutely lovely.

My running continues to feel the very best, which is nice because of my knee worries. Even when I signed up on September 12th, 2005, I remember saying to people that I'd do this thing even if I had to walk the (whole) marathon. I continue to have pain-free knees and the running. feels. great. If I go into my marathon feeling the euphoria of these workout runs... well, I just can't be held responsible for the speed.

School is going well; I have a new job this year as a specialist (half-time) and teacher (other half) and that is going to be interesting. I have three different versions (3 different bosses) of what I should be spending my time on. All 3 hold their own promise. My old worries of what to do post-IM are a thing of the past. I'm actually becoming enticed by the new opportunities this position will afford me. I have a lot of passions!

But, fear not. I know that I will always be an athlete. How could I not be?? Running = breathing. So tri goals post-IM:
  • Get fast again. I'm going to do shorter races that won't challenge my knees. (I won't allow ibuprofen to be a food group after September 10th.)
  • Win first female in a small-town 1/2 marathon that I won 3 years ago.
  • Place in the top three women in an Olympic distance tri that I've been doing for 8 years.
  • Have fun on the track again. I actually (masochistically?) enjoy interval workouts. My favorites: Mile repeats with 800s to recover in between.
Yes, I can picture my future - and it's looking good.

1 comment:

qcmier said...

"Tortoise" my butt. You're fast. Nothing wrong with the track. I missed those speed workouts this year. My favorite workouts are 200s.

No offense, but 800 recovery sounds a bit much for mile repeats. I guess it depends on how fast you run the recovery portion.