Proud of myself...

I had one awesomely productive day today. I was on a roll and got my head into some stuff I haven't been able to attack for a couple of weeks.

It's a great feeling being on top of everything. There's nothing better than being organized and in control. Even all of my email boxes are empty.

Training wise, I felt a burnout coming on yesterday and it got worse today. I tried to go out for a 3:30 ride this afternoon and made it 4 minutes before turning around and heading back home.

My legs didn't have any power and I couldn't get my heart rate over 100 bpm. From experience, I knew training today would have been a complete waste of time. In fact, it would have been worse than "garbage miles", it would have been "set-back miles".

Even though I'm on the MAO program, after Ironman China I started to make adjustments during the taper phase. If I find myself burning out or losing power, I rest. Not training today was an easy and guilt free decision. Without question, it was the right thing to do.

When I got home from my 8 minute ride, I still had my heart rate monitor and it read 44 bpm as I sat up from the kitchen table. Sitting completely still, I'm sure it would be in the high 30's. It hasn't been that low in a long time.

For the rest of the afternoon, I felt more burnout coming on and romanticised about sitting on the deck and having a few beers to help reset the mental button.

I emailed Jamie and said I was debating having beers. He emailed back, "you'll regret it". I took that as a sign. I knew he was right and it was the push I needed to abstain. I went to the movie "Inception" instead. I hoped watching a movie would be a helpful distraction.

Had I drank beer, even though I planned on only having a few, past history shows it would have turned into a lot more. Then, for the next few days my resting heart rate would through the roof and I would have sabotaged myself of having the best race I could have at IMLP.

I took the lesser of the two evils and pigged out on movie popcorn instead, which is much easier on the system than beer, with no next morning residual effects. The movie did help me escape my burn out while I watched and I came out of it feeling mentally better than when I went in.

Right now is a critical point in my race preparation. It's important I don't push myself to train unless it feels like the right thing to do. This past week, I've gotten a taste of my old power on the bike and I know I have more of it in me if I play my cards right. If I was a video game with power bars on the screen, I'm down to a 4 on 10 right now.

My number one focus is to get that power bar to 10, or as close as possible by IMLP. In the past, I've forced myself through every taper workout out, which did more harm than good. These next 8 days are going to require a keen sense of intuition. I'm going to monitor my body and adjust accordingly. Clean eating and no drinking is going to be a big part of getting my body fully charged up.

I'm feeling really good right now. Disaster was averted today, with rest and no beer. Thanks Jamie. I also feel much stronger than I was three weeks ago at the Welland Half Ironman. Right now, there's no greater feeling than knowing I can't get any faster by training more. The only thing that will make me faster is training less and healthy eating.

I can feel I'm on the bubble, I still have enough time to do everything right to be fully ready to enjoy the IMLP experience on my terms. I'll be honest though, I'm a little scared about that bike ride. Climbing isn't my strong suit, I'm more of a power cyclist.

I weighed in this morning at 183.4 lbs from 185 lbs yesterday. I know it's not accurate and tomorrow won't be either. With all the salt in me, it's causing water retention and I feel like I have Fred Flintstone feet.

Taper Rest Day