The similarity of the taper blues, pregnancy, & PMS

My wife & I started talking about the similarity of a taper to pregnancy & PMS.

"when I was pregnant my ankles were swollen," she said.
"My feet don't fit into shoes," I replied (after my 1.5 mile run, 32 mile bike with 7X 1 mile max effort hill climbs, then a 2nd run of 5 miles with 9X quarter mile sprints).
"I wanted to sleep all the time."
"I do too!"
"My back hurt."
"Mine does too!"
"I had weird cravings for Taco Bell Mexican pizzas" she said.
"And Wienerschnitzel Chile cheese hamburgers & Chile cheese french fries!" I threw into the mix as my mouth was watering!
"I was emotional & got hurt feelings, & angry for no reason," she said.
"Yes, yes, me too!"
"You do sound like your pregnant! Or having PMS." she said.....

.....I didn't find her last comment very amusing, true or not. Which of course it is true... but regardless I had no idea how similar the symptoms of triathlon training, pregnancy, &, er, well, PMS were.


So, as you see I'm into my taper. I'm getting the taper blues. As any endurance athlete can tell you tapering causes bi-polar type issues with the body & mind. The harder the training block the athlete endured the harder the taper is to endure-for both the athlete, & the friends & loved ones of the triathlete.

I recently pushed myself harder than I ever have before. In the month of March not only did I set personal run & bike mileage records, I also completed more hill repeats, lactate threshold sets, & speed work than I ever dreamed I would or could. I was focused, dedicated, & pushing myself farther than I had ever imagined. Consequently this taper is feeling particularly difficult. One day I feel like I can bike or run better than any athlete in the world! The next I feel like a 3 toed sloth on a bicycle. One minute I'm setting personal best training days, the next I'm winded & needing to rest after climbing a single story of stairs. I'm starting to feel pains that I freak out on, thinking they are injuries, but disappear in days or in hours:(

I feel constant fatigue, I'm needing more sleep now than I did when I was hammering out the big & fast miles. Like I said earlier in my post, I'm hyper sensitive, grouchy, moody, even angry at times. I'm over reacting to the smallest transgression, sometimes even to imagined slights. I'm having massive food cravings!!! & to think us triathletes do this to ourselves on purpose!!!!

Because of the taper I have been backing off on my workouts. I'm reducing my training 30% during 1st week of the taper, 50% week 2, and 75% week 3 which is race week.

I have always been told to use the above described reduced training plan as a guideline, and to back off more if needed. The number one rule during a taper is to let your body heal, rest, and reboost from all the intense training. I'll let you know how the taper goes, if I can get my lazy butt out of bed to do anything as physically demanding as blogging. Ugh, I'm so tired! & did I mention I'm crazy hungry? I'd kill for some Wienerschnitzel Chile cheese hamburgers & Chile cheese french fries!!! But no! I can't touch 'em, because I'm down to 190 pounds!!! & I need to avoid putting on any weight before my race! April 25th is the date! White Rock is the place! Put The Atomicman duathlon on your calendar peeps because this former Clydesdale is going to rock that course!!!!