I am now in the taper period, since the long run on Monday I have done one 30 minute run and one 2km open water swim. The rest of the week will probably contain 1 swim, 1 short run and 1 short ride.
Hard or long training sessions overload the body. During subsequent rest/recovery periods, the body heals itself which is referred to as adaption - the newly formed or repaired muscle fibres are stronger than the ones they replace.
After a long Ironman buildup, you typically need a 2 week taper for the race to ensure the adaptions get time to complete. Any extra overload in these last 2 weeks will not have time to adapt and will probably interfere with onging adaptions. So any training during the taper is usually short and easy, designed mainly to stop the body from getting stiff and help you maintain good technique.
You would think that althletes would love the taper period - they no longer need to train hard, but are fit and strong as a result of all the previous training. However without the long and hard training sessions, this times feels like it drags on forever. You are focused on the race and just want to get it over and done with.
My knee continues to improve. There are a few small aches and pains throughout my body but I expect they will clear up as we approach closer to the race. Unfortunately my good friend Bill tore a muscle in his groin at a race last weekend. Unlike me, Bill's training had been fantastic, including a 30km run most weeks, but now he is only a 50/50 chance of being right for the Ironman. So I should be grateful that I will probably start the race under-trained but relatively injury free - much better than being well-trained and injured.
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