Making a mix taper

And so, after all these months of early mornings, solid training volume and simple hard work in the build up to Ironman Austria 2012 – my second Ironman – my taper has finally begun.

To the uninitiated wondering what the hell I’m talking about, the ‘taper’ is the period of recovery that comes just before a big race, when you allow yourself to scale back the training, letting the body to recover, so you arrive on the start line feeling healthy, rested and ready to rock.

To those who have done an Ironman before, however, the taper means something different. It’s a time of sluggishness, of last-minute panic that fitness is slowly but steadily seeping out of your body. It’s a period during which every single meal sticks straight to your tummy and your weight increases daily. It’s a time of insecurity, sleeplessness and general hatred for humanity but, more specifically, triathlon.

Triathlon and Ironman in particular create obsessives. We do so much training that we’re addicted to it. Our sense of self-worth and our self-image becomes wrapped up in what time we were doing for those 100m reps in the pool this morning, or how many kilometres we ticked off on the bike at the weekend. When that starts to get scaled down, it’s inevitable the lack of endorphins rushing about the body is going to make us feel a bit, well, erm… what’s the technical word for it again… erm, oh yeah… SHIT!

Then there’s the simple fact that with less time spent exercising, there’s more time to think about what you’re not doing, should have done, everyone else has done etc. It’s not merely proximity to the race that makes me much more nervous during the taper than I’ve been throughout the rest of the process, but having more time to think about it.

Having been through all this once before, I’m finding it easier this time. I know feeling a bit unfit and slow is normal. I know I’ll be fine come the big show. But I also have some idea of what does and doesn’t work.

You see, although you’ll get set training programmes with standard tapers, no two people are the same. For some, the ideal taper is as long as four weeks. For others, it’s two days; although I think the average is around two weeks.

I never enjoyed tapering back in my swimming days as a kid and it’s something that – following a one-size-fits-all plan – I got very wrong last time around before my first Ironman. While a little sluggishness and a bit of weight gain are inevitable, I basically felt like one of those fat American Jerry Springer people who have to be airlifted from the house… sluggish doesn’t get close. The weight gain was probably comparable to those Yankydoodlefatasses as well. To make up for this, I went out for a couple of sessions that were too long and too hard. It was a train crash of a taper.

This is one of the real benefits of having a coach this time around. Having discussed it with coach, I’ve not laid off the training to the same extent – there’s an extra day off this week and the sessions are a little shorter but, at the moment, they are still fairly intense. I think this is something that suits me but, also, as I’ve said before, my training for this Ironman has been more of a slow nine-month build rather than a traditional 12 week peak. Also, the time I spent in the UK last month means I don’t have too much accumulated fatigue in the legs.

After tomorrow morning’s session (the team is down for a 60km, 40km and 20km time trial, although I may only do the 60k and 20k) my foot will come right off the gas but I’ll continue swimming hard and every day right up til Wednesday night, when I travel. This, I think, is the answer for me. Coming to triathlon with a swimming background, I derive a lot of my confidence from how I’m swimming. So, while swimming daily may not actually really improve my Ironman swim time, it will help me go into the race feeling good. Just as importantly, mentally, being able to keep training almost right up to the day stops me from feeling unfit, fat and sluggish while swimming doesn’t take the toll that running or even cycling have on the body and is quick to recover from.

In the meantime, it’s a case of relaxing a bit, working extra hours so I can enjoy the time in Austria doing Ironman, and trying to stop myself from eating every sweet, treat and chocolate bar I see! Otherwise, next season, you’ll be more likely to see me on Jerry Springer than on any podiums.

How do you know when you're ready for Ironman?

There's one question I've been asked by almost everyone I've met for the past three weeks now: 'are you ready?' My standard response - '...as I'll ever be' may end up not being true (should IM Wales not put me off for life, the potential of entering an IM that doesn't require training through a Dubai summer, doesn't boast more altitude than a tough Tour de France stage and simply having the experience of already having done one, will no doubt make me more prepared), but I'm now as ready for this race as I can be, is what I mean to say.

The big problem is that nobody tells you when you're ready. I've done the training and feel relatively confident. But, back when I entered IM Wales, I had the romantic notion that a day would come when everything would click, and I'd just know...like a prize fighter in a Hollywood flick, there'd be that one turning point as I cyclle to the top of a hill that beat me at the beginning of the film or something equally awkwardly contrived. 'I'm ready,' I'd whisper portentiously straight to camera.

But it doesn't work like that. I don't really feel any fitter, stronger or more streamlined than I did six months ago, even though I know I must be. The taper period just muddies these waters even more.

Yesterday, I had a full day off. I took advantage of it to go to the cinema and head to the local outlet mall, where I was chuffed to pick up a pair of Nike Frees for just 30 quid – as I'm sure you'll have noticed, I'm a geek when it comes to tri gear and training types, and I take my running shoes very seriously!

Today, it was a 2 hour bike ride over hilly terrain, followed by a short 25 minute run straight off the bike. The ride felt pretty rubbish – my legs ached, my glutes are in agony and I generally felt fat and unfit...welcome to the taper! Part of me wishes I'd just carried on training super hard right up until this weekend and then rested for a week. But I know that, with thousands of metres of climbs to look forward to in IM Wales, a taper was completely the right call.

The run? Meh...it felt fine, I guess.

I've a similar session tomorrow, but I'm going to keep to the flat and take all intensity completely out of the ride, maybe even stopping for lunch at the halfway point. The next week it's very, very short stuff, tho I'll definitely be heading for a couple of massages before the big day to work out some of these aches and pains. Fingers crossed that works.

Part of me wonders how much of these aches, pains and tiredness in my legs are, if not psychological, then latent worry, stress and nervousness. We'll find out soon enough – in reality, the question 'are you ready?' can only be answered in the sea and on the roads of Pembrokeshire next weekend.

That's right, folks: 8 days and counting!

One man's taper is another man's sprint

Yesterday was a semi-rest day, with just a 45 minute jog on the programme, and one of my top mates Andy came along to join me on the run. It's fair to say that, in the past, both Andy and I have yo-yo'd about a bit in terms of weight and fitness but have both managed to put it all together over the past few years and make it stick. For me, that means triathlon; for him, like most guys with a family, it's a few sessions a week to keep the weight off and the ticker healthy.

We ran a route that we'd run many years ago – maybe four or five years, just at the beginning of this prolonged 'health kick' that has brought me as far as the start line of an Ironman. Back then, Andy powered through and I followed, a sweaty, asthmatic mess. Now, Andy regularly runs a couple of 10kms each week, so he's not exactly flat out of shape but this time it was him who was struggling. And, as he said later, 'you weren't even breaking sweat on that were you?' – although I tried to sugarcoat it a little, the answer was no. It was exactly what I needed – an easy trot to get the legs moving. But certainly no more.

The reason I bring this up – other than to blow loud and proud on my own trumpet! – is to comment how important it is to look back every now and then and see where you've come from. I really want to knock 5 minutes off my 10k run time in an Olympic distance triathlon – that's one of my main goals for after Ironman – but it feels like an enormous task and one that I'm not sure I'm getting any closer to. Until I look back. Maybe to the first time I ran around Arabian Ranches and was happy to complete the 10k in one hour; or to my first ever triathlon when I ran just over 30 minutes for 5k. Then it's clear that I am on the right road and will reach my target if I keep working for it. I think progress is quite hard to spot until it's already been made.

On another note, the taper is going quite well. I've busied myself with seeing family, not to mention a bite to eat and a few beers out in Chester with Andy last night (another significant landmark: my last alcoholic drinks before the big day!). I've ordered a box of my gels of choice (Gu Chocolate Outrage, for anyone interested!) and C02 cartridges which should be delivered in the next day or two – I know both of these will probably be available at the Ironman Expo but, at this point, I'm taking no risks.

Today, it's an 80 minute easy run with a 45 minute masters swim session this evening. Most of the intensity has been dropped from my workouts now, with just a few short sharp efforts in each session to trigger the fast twitch fibres and kickstart glycogen reserves. I'm also running through a few easy stretches a couple of times a day. By and large, I'm feeling good, fit, focused and raring to go...the only downer being the weather forecast for Ironman weekend – cold, very wet and very windy. Well, they don't call it the world's hardest race for nothing...tho Ironman Australia suddenly sounds way more attractive!

10 days and counting...