The taper and the Zoot shoes

I love the taper! Once you convince yourself you're fit, and the taper is not only good, but a MANDATORY part of performing well, you can adjust things and cancel a workout, without worry, stress or guilt.

Last night I did the Aquathlon, 1K open water swim to a 3 mile beach run, at La Jolla Shores. A few few quicker guys showed up, including Fabio Carvahlo, who I beat at IMCDA, but is a great competitor. He had a fellow Brazilian named Paulo with him, who I recognized, but couldn't remember him. Even Normann Stadler showed up to watch and enjoy.

I ended up cruising on the feet of Juliano, the 3rd Brazilian, and letting Fabio and Paulo go off the front. I wanted to practice my Ironman skills and strategy, which is settle in on the swim, and be patient. I came out and nearly ran down the first two guys, running about 16:10 for the 3 miles on the beach.

Given how it was a good effort yesterday, and how hot it was today, I cut out my workouts after the swim this AM. I put in 2500 meters with about 800 of it pretty quick. I came home and took a nap, and decided to rest up and save the bike intervals for tomorrow morning. I don't want to get dehydrated and feeling like I'm digging myself in a hole. I learned that lesson from some of the past weekends of training in the heat. I think it will be the smartest maneuver, or at least the more conservative one, and when you're tapering, conservation is the key!

Speaking of heat, the weather in Madison is actually looking pretty good as of right now. Believe it or not, it will be nicer on race day, according to weather.com, than it is today in San Diego! Weather.com is predicting 74 degrees for the high, with AM clouds and PM sun, and winds at about 8 mph from the S to SW. Humidity will max out at 73%. We'll see how much this forecast changes over the next 8 days.

Training otherwise has consisted of the following in my taper:

Saturday: Swami's ride, 4 hours total, with some surges and efforts, getting after it. (A bad crash in the group, luckily I avoided it!) 30 min run off the bike, with some accelerations and surges.

Sunday - 1:45, with a 4 mile local road race, for a tempo effort. I did 22:00 for the race, which was perfect, comfortable the whole way, and nearly perfectly paced! 5:31, 5:28, 5:32, 5:29.

Monday - A few tweaks on the bike position, testing it out, with some efforts on the bike at race intensity, sometimes a little over. 90 mins.

Tuesday - Swim in the AM, 3K total, with some quick efforts. 1 hour weight session, core focused with my trainer Swain, and then a 40 min run with 5x1 min accelerations.

Wednesday - NOTHING! Actually, I did have a massage, which was perfect!

Thursday - AM was an ART session with the guru, Dan Selstad. PM was the Aquathlon.

So that's the story on training and final preparations for the race. I'm sure there are plenty of you wanting to know about the shoes... I received 2 pairs to test out, which are below, and another pair for race day.

So here are some pictures of the shoes...I will have some write-ups on them shortly. I'll be covering everything about the shoes, with my thoughts and feelings on them. STAY TUNED!