30K - and so begins my taper! Yay!

Can you tell I'm excited about the taper starting? I have worked SO hard this summer. I know my coach has had to reduce a few workouts because of the heat, and I haven't been able to finish all of the interval workouts, but I still feel I've worked very hard and done the best job I could. And after three hard weeks, I'm ready - more than ready - for an easy week. Yeah, my easy week does include the Portland-to-Coast relay, but I'm only doing two legs this time instead of four, so as our team captain Rob said in his e-mail to us, "It's like a 24-hour party with a couple hard workouts thrown in". :)!

But I digress. Back to this morning. It was warm...what else is new? It was pretty dry today, though, which helped. It was 70F (21C) when I started at 5:30 am but only 33% humidity, thankfully. I didn't feel terribly hot until maybe 20-22km into the workout, so that's not too awful. I guess. It was 76F (24.4C) when I finished. Yeah...a bit warm.

Despite how warm it was, I did really well this morning. I thought I might have trouble because my legs felt a bit tired/sore from the week's cumulative workouts. But I was fast...very fast. I got through the first 7.5km (I did four 7.5km loops) in just 45:39, but I wasn't feeling I was pushing very hard, so I just continued and tried to relax and focus on my form. The second 7.5km was a bit harder; felt a little tired in the middle of it, but I told myself I'd get a second wind. I did, and actually it was a tad faster at 45:38. The third one was critical - I was thinking "Don't push it...just maintain...you still have another loop to go" - and I walked a very fast 45:11! Where did that come from? I don't know. The final loop I admit being pretty tired, plus it was warming up, and I did slow down, doing 46:04.

5K splits: 30:30.2, 30:15.7, 30:31.2, 30:18.9, 30:08.9 (wow - that was fast), 30:47.3 (yup, got a bit tired after that fast couple of 5Ks!).

Since I was pretty fast today, part of me wonders if my form was 100% OK (knees, not lifting). I certainly thought about it a lot. I'm pretty sure I was legal; after all, I wasn't going that fast, and in the past I've only had trouble on those fast 800/200 track workouts. I think I'm OK, though I noticed in my shadow (once the sun came up) that I was leaning a bit more from the waist than I'd like, which is usually a possible harbinger of knee problems. I was able to straighten up all right when I was thinking about it, so that makes me feel better. But given that the race is close, of course I'm a bit anxious about facing the judges, which is only natural. I'll just focus on form a lot this week in my shorter workouts and be sure I'm careful, and all should be well. I do know what legal form feels like and I need to rest in that confidence.

One more thing - I had some hip pain from 20K to the end of the workout. It wasn't awful, but it was a sharpish pain every now and then that eased with a little stretching. If I had to guess I'd say IT band, as the pain was in my right hip and the right knee occasionally bothers me on long workouts, but I suppose it could be piriformis. I stopped to stretch it every time I had a drink and that helped me get through; interestingly, from 26K to the finish it seemed slightly better.

Total: 3:02:32 for 6:05/km with ave HR 147.

Garmin data here.

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After my workout I went to Weight Watchers. I have been eating better overall, though still allowing careful indulgences :). I have to say that one of the perks of going long so much is that I get to eat more. I do NOT walk so far just to eat though - that would be scary! I walk far because my coach says I need to in order to do well at the races, and a nice side benefit is that I get to enjoy some treats now and then. Anyway, my weigh-in was one of the lowest of the year, and my home scale said 150.2, which was awesome. I'd like to be about 148 for the race, but that might or might not happen. I just have to watch the food this week as my mileage will be less.

But today, I can enjoy a little treat, right? Loren and I took Michelle to Leatherby's for ice cream. I watch my dairy very carefully before a long walk (to avoid GI distress) but afterwards I like to indulge!

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Oh, and why am I blogging so late? Well, because I'm insane, after I did the 30K I had to go to work briefly. Then we took the kids to Seven Peaks Salt Lake for a bit of waterslide action! We stayed there for about 4-5 hours and then I had to get home to teach a piano lesson. Whew. Then to dinner and Leatherby's for dessert! Busy day...but I feel pretty loose now, thanks to all the exercise at the water park (climbing stairs, swimming, chasing kids!). I think I'll sleep well tonight.