The "Race Taper" is a mythical place of legs up, hydration at arm's reach, inspirational reading materials, foam rolling, ideal nutrition, and lots of sleep.
The reality is, if we are traveling to an away race, the "Mom Taper" doesn't look at all like that. It might involve things like laundry, grocery shopping, stocking the kitchen with things the kids will make/eat, coordinating schedules, arranging rides for the kids, buying dog food, paying bills, getting caught up on work etc. (read more about my general race prep on the USA Triathlon Championships Blog - Long Preparation for a Short Race.)
Similarly, "Race Recovery" involves many of the same things - laundry, grocery shopping, driving kids, restoring order to the house.
Unrelated, I had my first race-related dream. The bike leg for Chicago was more like cyclocross and in a jungle. It involved a border crossing, biking along tree limbs, and of course...I got lost.
And REALLY unrelated... engineering paper (top graph) is the best.
