Taper Week - sort of

The last couple of weeks have had lots of intensity and fairly high volume. The first week of March was 13 hours and last week was 14.5 hours, and there were at least four sessions of high intensity, particularly on the treadmill and trainer. I was really looking forward to this week, as it's a taper week with much less volume.

However, it turns out that there isn't that much taper afterall. There is definitely less volume but I still have some pretty big workouts all the way up to the race on Sunday. Given that the Mercer Half is a "C" race for me, I can go in pretty beat up and not have high expectations. That said, I'm still shooting for a 1:23 (or 6:20mm) on a pretty hilly course. My body is feeling really good and there doesn't seem to be any sickness on the horizon, so I should be able to do that...assuming this 'taper' week doesn't get to me first! Here's a breakdown of the week:

Monday:
A typical Monday that involves 1hr spin class at the Pro Club followed by a 30min run with 3x3min intervals at race pace. I've already done these workout (it's Wednesday as of this post) and found it very easy and motivating that 1:23 is definitely in the cards. My HR for a 6:20mm is within Zone 3, so it should more than possible.

Tuesday:
I did a 1900yd swim workout followed by a pyramid intervals on the treadmill. Jill lets me figure out which swim workouts I should do based on schedule, etc. Since I had a tough treadmill workout, I opted for the easiest/shortest swim of the week. The swim felt good and seemed more like a warm-up to the run workout. The run workout was broken up into two paces recovery (7:30mm) and I-pace (5:42mm). After a 10min warmup at 7:30mm, I did a pyramid of 2min/rec, 3min/rec, 4min/rec, 5min/rec, 4min/rec, 3min/rec, 3min and then 5min warm down. The mileage was just of 9m for an hour. Again, this workout felt really good and motivating. Things were in control the entire time and the intervals actually felt easy. It got a little laborious towards the end but still easy enough to do.

Wednesday:
OFF completely.

Thursday:
Swim 2700 at T-pace. Run easy for 45min followed by strides. I'll probably go very slow (8-8:27mm) on the treadmill to give my legs more time to rest from Tuesday. I'll probably do the strides on the treadmill. I run on the treadmill mainly to ensure I stay as slow and calm at possible.

Friday:
3400yds swim followed by a 30min run with strides in the morning. I'll do the run and strides on the treadmill again.

Saturday:
Here's why this week isn't my typical taper week: 2.5hours of endurance ride. I think Jill's plan is to have me learn how to race on relatively tired legs. I should be better off than other weeks, but 2.5hours of endrance riding won't necessarily create fresh legs. But I'm training for IMC (a triathlon), not a local half marathon, right?

Sunday:
Hit 6:20 splits for the first 10miles and then pore it on!