Twinkies

The other day, I'm out on my last 3-hour ride of the season.  I'm cooking along doing a good 16-17mph, on my own, despite traffic stops, and I'm past mile 40, when it occurs to me that I am moving faster at mile 40 than I've ever moved at the Olympic distance.

You read right - I once needed all my marbles to ride 25 miles at >15mph.  Now I can do that for 50.

So I decided, as usual, to be Cap'n Tough Nuts and go for it - the big 5-0.

Except that around mile 49.6 I have to stop and get off the bike because my legs(quads especially) feel like someone put them in a vice grip.

I finished the 50 miles and slapped on my running shoes, but it was more of a waddle than a run.

So I say to Nuk, "does it still count as a brick if you walk 90% of the run?"

To which Nuk replies, "Of course.  A brick is defined as any workout where you do two sports back-to-back that make you crave Twinkies."

Twinkies?

Well, I hate eating until about an hour after a big workout anyway, but I really hate Twinkies.  So, for me, a brick is defined as any workout where you do two sports back-to-back that make you crave cheeseburgers.   (Of course, at my house, cheeseburgers are made with fresh veggies, extra lean beef and low-fat cheese.)

Which brings me to taper week.

I've logged around a 7-hour training week the past two weeks.  My rides have been 2-3 hours.  I'm pretty prepared for this whole taper.  I'm not even antsy about cutting my volume a little - I'm damn ready.

About those cheeseburgers . . .

Generally, I'm good with my diet.  Since my thyroid medication started stabilizing, I've been losing weight slowly but contsistently.  Which is something of a victory for me, because people often think I must be a terrible eater if I work out this much and I'm not thin.  I'm finally looking "normal," again - meaning, not thin, but not bloated and ill.

But I also don't believe in deprivation.  I have a couple days a week where I let myself eat what I want within reason.  Since my training volume will be cut in half, or less, that couple days a week is going to have to drop to a day or less.

That's gonna be tough.

The sugar cookies I baked my coworkers are boxed up.  There is a reason I don't keep those suckers around . . . .

Check out my ACS webpage for marathon updates.

Until then, TAPER TIME!!!!