Starting the Taper

As I mentioned in a previous post, with my in-laws here it will help me to ease into my taper for Sylvan Lake. And, reluctantly I am having to do just that.
Our trip to pick them up on Wednesday was rather uneventful and we were able to accomplish most of our tasks prior to picking them up at the airport. I didn't get to the tri shop which could be a good thing as I would have found some other goofy gadget to go in the rubber maid container. There is nothing a triathlete loves better than another useless gadget! Gas powered socks, a solar helmet, shoes with no soles, just tell us we will go faster and put some cool colours on it and we will buy it!
We made our obligatory stop at the Italian Centre Shop in Little Italy to stock up for the visit. Angela's parents are Italian so we have to load up with baked bread, Romano cheese, salami, prosciutto, olives,.....all the stuff that makes for good pre-race eating. They also make the most incredible sandwich imaginable which I had to get of course. So by race day I should make weight for the Clydesdale division.
Thursday it was back to work as it is quarter end and a ton of reports have to be done. With our staffing situation I am finding myself back in the nuts and bolts of some of the accounting stuff again. Yuck! Despite the fact that I am an accountant it is the least favourite part of my job. But it has to be done, so done it was.
At lunch time I had another swim not too unlike Monday's version. It was 2,400 metres, but again I really felt unbalanced and fighting the water. My 100 metre splits were still decent (1:45) but no flow at all.
In the evening I managed an hour long run which netted at little over 8 miles. It was a nice evening but I knew everyone was waiting for me to have dinner so I was really just watching the time to make an hour and get home.
Friday the scheduled called for a 50 minute run and an hour long ride, neither of which got done. I got tied up at lunch, when I would have ran and then we had to go to my brother-in-law's for dinner so the ride got scratched. We'll see if we can squeeze the ride in some time today.
It is exactly two weeks until the Sylvan Lake 1/2 Ironman, so I can take advantage of a little rest. However I still don't like to take too long or too much of a taper. The Achilles can definitely do with a bit of a break, but everything else is great. The Achilles are both really tight in the morning and ease up a bit during the day but are still sore to the touch. Note to self, don't touch them!
Have a great weekend!