You know it's time to taper when:

You know it's time to taper when....

...... You have to stop to catch your breath after walking up a single flight of stairs.  At sea level.  And God forbid you're carrying a laundry basket full of clean clothes.  You might actually have to curl up on the top step for a power nap. 

...... You can fall asleep anywhere, anytime, and in less time than it took to read this line.  The other day I fell asleep finished my Sunday workout (long bike/ transition run), showered and lay down on the bed waiting for my husband to come home from his transition run.  I was in REM sleep before he made it through the door, 10 minutes after I finished my run.

...... You dream about training or racing.  It kinda sucks to wake up already exhausted from the workout you just did in your sleep, only to have to get back on the bike or lace up your running shoes for the real workout. 

...... You stop counting your daily calories after you hit 4,000.  You figure anything after that is probably a little excessive anyway.  Better not to know. 

...... You step on the scale for your weekly weigh-in and you've dropped another pound.  Despite your calorie intake in excess of 4k per day. 

...... You used to be proud of your 8 pm bedtime and 4 am wake-up call.  Now, you lie to people about how late you stay up (Yeah, I watched the football game...) because you're really asleep by 5:30 pm on Sunday night. 

..... You can recite splits from the top 5 people in your age group at your goal race from the last 5 years.  You have visualized your plan so many times that when you get in the car now, instead of turning on the radio, you start "reciting" your race day as you see it.  This can become a little uncomfortable if you actually have someone else in the car with you, though most of the time there's not room for a second person amidst the mesh bag of swim gear, bike helmet, running shoes, sweaty gym towels and the three coolers full of food you require to make it through the day. 

...... You know the calorie content and macronutrient breakdown of every energy bar on the planet and the electrolyte content of all the major salt supplements.  You've tried them all in training and know exactly how many mouthfulls of EFS Liquidshot you have to swallow to make it through 112 miles and still have energy to run a marathon.  All of this being temperature and wind dependent of course. 

....... You can predict wind speed and direction as well as relative humidity and radiant temperature better than any meteorologist.  In fact, you recently turned down a job at the local news station because your knowledgeable daily weather updates on Twitter make their professional forecaster look like a kindergartner. 

....... Not only do you have standing weekly appointments with the physical therapist, chiropractor, and massage therapist, but you've been there so often that they now pay you, assuming you're on staff there. 

...... You can eat an entire large pizza from Papa John's (thin crust, ham, tomato, onion, pineapple, and banana peppers please) and an hour later you ask your spouse, "What's for dinner?"

....... Biking 100 miles and following it with an hour transition run no longer feels like a long workout.

......  No one at work bothers to ask what you did over the weekend anymore.