The calm before the storm?

I've noticed on other blogs that some of my fellow first time Etapists are experiencing 'taper madness'. I'm guessing that's a form of acute anxiety brought on by the need to reduce training for optimum performance, while simultaneously feeling that you should be doing more training.

I can completely understand that feeling because it's exactly how I was last week - good to know it's got a name! - but I seem to have tipped the other way in the last few days - towards an acceptance that I've done as much training as I could have done, I'm not going to get any fitter now and whatever will be will be.

A big help in that has been my measured fitness improvements from last week's Sportstest assessment. I'm never going to be very fit, but at least I know that I've done my best to get myself in the best condition I was ever likely to manage, and that's all that can reasonably be expected.

So, I've just been ticking off my taper programme - some threshold intervals on the turbo yesterday, and 90 minutes or so of 'endurance' riding today. Day off tomorrow for some yoga, then some more threshold intervals on Thursday - pack the bike up and off on Saturday.

What's proving slightly tricky is adjusting to my new 'endurance' and 'threshold' zones. As they've gone up by ten bpm, I'm having to work significantly harder to keep in those zones, but

the plus side is that I won't be using too much of my valuable glycogen stores until I get up to that higher zone.

As far as pacing is concerned, I think I'm just going to go with how I feel on the day, and use my heart rate monitor as a backup reference point. Essentially what I want to do is stay below the upper level of my 'endurance' zone as much as possible, and stay out of the 'red zone' completely. I don't think I'll worry too much about staying in my threshold zone on the climbs, because that feels a bit tough at the moment.

Encouragingly, although I wasn't pushing things hard at all today, my average speed was up above 18mph, which backs up how I've been feeling the last couple of weeks and makes me feel slightly more confident about broom-wagon issues.

I kinda needed that extra reassurance, because it does now look like the broom wagon will be starting right behind me. There was a bit of an issue with our race numbers in that it was suggested fairly early on that we might get pretty good start positions, but lots of us have actually ended up with fairly ropey ones - 9453 in my case. As I've said before, that's fine and somebody has to have those numbers, but it would have been nice to have those extra few minutes breathing space. Hopefully though, it shouldn't come down to that.

The good news is that we finally got our race jerseys today. I did attempt to take some photos with mine on, but the combination of self-timer anxiety and mine general discomfort with photos of myself led to several sub-'Kays Catalogue' poses, which are best kept out of the public domain.

Hopefully you can see that the jersey's kinda purty though. The profile of the stage running round the bottom of the jersey looks really good, and makes it appropriately unique to the day.

Interestingly, when it's on, it's those 3 Adidas stripes which give it the real 'British Cycling' vibe and make even me feel almost like a 'pro'.

It's a pretty 'snug' fit, but I guess that's best for moisture transfer etc. It'll definitely be an incentive for me not to put on any of the weight I've lost over the last few months, because even the smallest bulge is painfully obvious!

The only issue which a few people have mentioned is that it's only got a small zip. At the moment it looks like it's gonna be 33 degrees or so on the day, and a full length zip might have given more cooling options. I've actually been trying out a new Craft sleeveless base layer which is specifically designed to keep you cool in particularly hot conditions. So far it seems to work ok, so I'm gonna give it a go on the Etape.

One really good thing about the jersey is that it's got really deep pockets. This is important, because I've got loads of stuff to carry on the ride. If the weather stays like it is, I prob won't bother with arm warmers/gilet/rain jacket etc., but there's still loads of food/electrolytes etc. that I definitely WILL need to take.

As part of my carrying strategy, I tried out my tri-bag this afternoon. Essentially it's a little bag which sits on the top tube of the bike, up near the headset. I squeezed 6 or 7 gels into it, and can prob get a few extra bits and bobs in the side pockets. They're easy to get hold of from out of the bag, and that's a lot of stuff that won't be swinging about in my pockets, which should make me feel less like a pack horse.

I'll be very obvious on the day, because apart from the jersey, people will be able to recognise me by the enormous swathes of tape on my knees. I tried taping both knees today, because my right leg was starting to feel a bit 'flappy' in comparison to the previously problematic left one. Despite looking ridiculous, I think it genuinely helped me, so again I think I'm gonna go with that strategy on Monday.

As you can tell, I've spent this last week or so deciding on final details for the day, and I feel as ready as I'm ever going to be. It's obviously going to be the hardest thing I've ever done, but I'm determined to really enjoy it.

Here are my weights and measures for this week. They're not really going to make a whole bunch of difference now, but as they're my last lot before the Etape, I thought they were worth putting in. Also, you'll note the discrepancy with the kinda 'guessed' measures of the Tanita scales on things like body fat, compared with the measured figures of my Sportstest assessment.

Weight: 10 stone 9lbs - Total weight loss 19lbs

Body Fat: 16.9%

Visceral Fat Rating: 5 (never did get down to 4)

Basal Metabolic Rate: 6820 kJ / 1630 kcal

Muscle Mass: 8 st 6lbs

Water: 57.5%

The only issue of concern here is that my Muscle Mass has been going down over the last few weeks, and it was also something that Garry Palmer noticed last week - that my lean body mass had gone down slightly. Not entirely sure why this is - hopefully it's just a reduction in upper body mass as I haven't really been doing any upper body work at the gym over the last few months - but whatever it is, there's not a lot I can do about it right now. Just something to monitor if I decide to take on any endurance activities for next year.