TAPER TIME

And boy am I happy. I never thought that it would be so welcomed, but I am embracing it with both arms - like you would a long lost relative. I remember back to my younger days feeling much the same when I used to do swim squads. I was always counting down the days to the 2 weeks before a major meet like Metrops, State or Nationals. I loved dropping the intensity of sessions and having them feel more like short sprints instead of cramming in 2 x 6km swim sessions a day. The resiliency of youth is really a remarkable thing.

I have noticed that the fatigue and tiredness is really starting to play with my mind. I am wondering if I can do this. Have I done all that I can to make sure I pull my first 70.3 off without too many things going wrong. I am starting to question my ability to make it through the bike course especially after today's effort riding through Cobbitty. I know this self doubt is normal, but it feels weird as I never experienced this as a kid.

But with 13 days to go there really is nothing more I can do. From this point on it is trying to recover the body and have it feeling as fresh as I can whilst still trying to maintain some certain level of exercise as well.

I am terribly excited about Port but equally, if not more NERVOUS. The anticipation is at times overwhelming and I just want to it here already. I have been thinking alot about how I am going to get these "NERVES" under control and have started to download relaxation apps to my iPhone. I need to focus now on really relaxing the mind as this taper will give me added time to have my mind go into free fall. I need to start visualising what race day is going to be like, the sights, sounds, feelings, emotions. How I am going to feel and how I will cope if things go slightly wrong on the day. i need to feel these emotions and work through them before the day.

I have got my bike checked in for it's pre-race service for the 21st of April and need to get my Garmin checked as well. It is not even charging so thinking maybe the battery is dead. And as of tomorrow I am writing a checklist of the things I will need so I can start packing or atleast organising for the day. I have am also going to see the GP tomorrow as my palpitations are getting worse - I especially noticed it today when I went for my ride.

It starts as a breathlessness and then a tightness around the chest wall and then I can feel my heart literally pounding but missing beats or adding beats. Hard to explain but the feeling is odd. Not sure if it is electrolyte related, fatigue or what but this needs sorting now. It makes me feel breathless and I hate it. I also feel slightly odd in the head, almost as though I am not all there. So I know this needs further investigations as there is a history of heart disease in my family.

We had a huge night last night so not sure if this aggravated the situation - it was my twins 15th birthday, and they really enjoyed themselves but I did not stop at all. There was about 30 teens at home and even though they were all so well behaved I was just trying to make sure they were all well catered for. Here are my babies:

I can't believe I have 15yr olds.

But look how gorgeous they are - I am a lucky mum. What a great but excessively tiring weekend. I also wanted to post a photo of Sarah and I after our cold, wet but fun ride on Saturday. Do we look like hard core cyclists?