More Whining about Tapering

Tapering ruins my temperament. It's hot in New Brunswick, our apartment is a million degrees, and frankly, I'm antsy and irritable and snippy for no reason. I blame tapering.

It's hard going from 3 hrs of fairly intense workouts to doing really relaxed hour and a half- two hour workouts. Yesterday, I ran with Stephanie as she pushed a baby jogger, walked, and biked to the gym to swim for half an hour. Vlad was in the lane next to me, and he's a fast swimmer. But, he was doing a much longer set than me so was swimming a bit slower than normal, so I just focused on swimming 30 minutes and going faster than him, or at least on par. No problem- I had so much pent up energy I was flying through the water for parts of it. I was psyched- the last 200 yards were at 1:05 and 1:10, probably my fastest times ever.

I also felt super awesome when the two older guys in the next lane who often swim the same time as me (they're uber intense crazy fast swimmers) turned when I was getting out and said, "done already?" Ha! I think they were sort of kidding, since I had been going like crazy for half an hour. But I told them I was tapering and we chatted a while. I guess that means I'm officially a pool regular now. Funny how good that made me feel.

Robbie and I decided we wanted to get ice cream after dinner, so we decided to vacate our stuffy apartment and go to Polar Cub near his parent's house and stay there overnight. Since we don't have cable or internet in New Brunswick, it was nice to be able to go watch Top Chef, check email and relax in an air conditioned environment. Also, they have a super comfy guest bedroom!

Today, it was pouring rain when I headed to tutoring on my bike and I was soaked when I got here- really authoritative looking, right? It's Robbie's brother's birthday tonight, so I'm planning on hitting the stationary trainer for an hour after tutoring, but that's it. The race is sneaking up on me now, and I want to be in top shape. While a couple days off might seem like a smart idea, my muscle cramps won't agree- I need some activity or I run an even higher risk for cramps. Fingers crossed it won't be an issue.

Also, regarding my Ironman/next year plans- Dad is 100% on board, so Kentucky 2010 is more than likely happening. He really is awesome- it's over a year away and he's already more excited about it than I am! I don't think Ironman is really ever going to be a good race for me, but I want to do it and do it well. In all honesty, my biggest dream is to race at Kona one day- it may not be a race I'll be great at, but what an amazing thing to be able to do! So, Kona or bust for the next year... I'm hoping to do RI 70.3 and the Kentucky Ironman, since they're both qualifiers. It'll be my last couple years in the 20-24 age bracket, which is the best time to qualify, since after that, the competition gets even more intense.