Taper

Circumstances are perhaps conspiring to help me have a good taper...

Monday-night swimming is canceled tonight (the pool at John Jay is closed), and M. called last night to reschedule our usual 8am appointment. He offered me 6:15 this morning, but I was so tired yesterday evening I couldn't quite face the prospect and suggested 6:15 Wednesday morning instead (clearly irrational, but days-away early-rising always of course seems more tolerable than next-day--also I really did need to sleep 7-8 hours last night).

So here's how the week's looking--sleep is crucial for race preparation, but those early mornings make it difficult:

Today: work-related evening obligation, but will do a quiet technique swim for half an hour if I am done in time

Tuesday: 6am swim workout, run five easy miles pm

Wednesday: 6:15am gym workout with M. (will concentrate on core and upper-body), plus two treadmill miles

Thursday: 6am swim workout, one hour bike trainer ride (really this should be on Wednesday, but I won't have time to fit it in--we're coming into the crazy part of the semester where my evenings are full of workshops & colloquia & lectures...)

Friday: sleep in! Evening: go to CU gym, do 2-3 slow TM miles and half-hour technique swim. OR day off. Not sure yet about this--I do think I'll sleep better that night if I go and have a very relaxed hour of exercise...

Saturday: sleep in! 11am swim lesson. Train to Philadelphia mid-afternoon.

Sunday: Philadelphia half-marathon.

Want to weigh in on whether it would be better just to take Friday off? I do better if I decide in advance, then I do not have so much self-reproach! I find a quiet Friday-evening swim a very good way of winding down from the week, plus if I don't run a bit that day it's kind of a long gap from Wednesday early morning to Sunday. On the other hand, the body responds well to rest...