Taper Time

My second marathon, Surf City is one week away and I'm in serious taper. My plan that I'm following, has me doing a three week taper so my legs are rested and ready to race.

The first week of the taper didn't quite feel like I was resting! I had some good runs, a couple of swims and a bike ride with my Wednesday Women group. The ride was supposed to be flat but we landed up doing some climbing that really took it out of me. I'm usually riding towards the back with this group but I was totally pooped out from running and I had a lot of trouble keeping up. They had to stop quite a few times to wait for me. It was not my best day and was a little disheartening. I'm lucky to be riding with them because it's really makes me push myself but that ride made me feel out of my element! Oh, well....after the marathon, it's back to a little more bike focus.

This past week, my Wednesday bike ride was MUCH better. We took a different route that really wasn't that much less climbing but I was more rested and I felt great after the ride. Yea! Dave and I rode together this morning for the first time in months. It was nice to get back into our weekend rides and after the marathon we can gear up for some of our upcoming rides we've signed up for.

Dave and I also took our first swim lesson this week. Wow! We are really awkward swimmers. It's a wonder we make any forward progress :) Our swim coach packed a lot into 30 min. and gave us a lot of stuff to work on. We're planning on taking a few more lessons with a lot of practice in between and I'm really hoping I can spend less time in the water during races.

Yesterday, I had a short 3 mile run on the calendar. I took my old horse Rio to one of our local parks so we could exercise together. I'm not sure when the last time he trotted for 3 miles without stopping. He was pretty sweaty at the end but I think he had a good time.

Today was my last longish run before the race, 8 miles. I felt great. I've worked out my strategy and I'm hoping for a better marathon then the first one. One week to go and we'll see!

The U.S. Skating Championships were in San Jose this past week and I was able to get some tickets through a friend of mine. We were able to watch the women's, pairs and men's finals. I used to watch ice skating growing up on Wide World of Sports and it was really fun watching in person, especially from a suite!

Skaters warming up.

Michelle Kwan being inducted into the Skating Hall of Fame.

My friend Lee and I.

Kathleen and I.

Louise, Pat and I.

It's been a busy taper filled with pretty good running and lots of other fun things. One more week........

Getting back to it.

I'm having a blog fail month so far. I had the best of intentions and then things got busy!

My goal is to still lose some weight before Ironman training starts in April. I knew it would be hard to lose weight over the holidays and I also knew that I would, more than likely, gain some weight with all the goodies around. Well, I was spot on because I gained 6 pounds. I started logging my food at the beginning of the month and the first week I lost 4.8 pounds. Normal for me. Easy on and easy off as long as I get to it right away. Now I have about 20 pounds I'd still like to lose to make it overall easier on my body to workout. Week 2's weigh in had me at the same weight so now I have to just make the right choices and stay consistent and hopefully I'll be done with this whole losing weight thing soon :)

Running has been going pretty well. When I trained for my first marathon early in 2011, I had quite a few leg issues (tight IT band, etc.) that had me visiting my chiropractor weekly leading up to the race. So far, this time, I haven't had to go at all. I have some soreness but I've been able to relieve it with massage, rolling and my new recovery tights Dave got me for Christmas. I'm hoping I hold up for 3 more weeks and then I'm excited about going back to a more balanced tri training schedule! I've done my 2 longest runs of my training program, both 20 milers. Both times I asked Dave to drop me off in Los Gatos and after running up and down the Los Gatos Creek Trail,  I ran home. It's hard to find a good route for that distance!

Last weekend, I was invited to go to Carmel to celebrate a friends birthday. The original plan was to bike from Scott's Valley to Carmel with someone driving our vehicles and bags down. The large group that was originally going dwindled down to me and 2 other ladies that are super cyclists. I decided since the ride was the day after my 20 mile run that it would be stupid to ride down and hold the other two up since I know they would of been faster than me, so I went to Plan B which was drive down with a couple of other ladies and bike along the 17 Mile Drive. Much better choice! We took the inland loop to Pacific Grove for lunch and came back along the coast. It was only 26 miles round trip but the almost 2000 feet of climbing was enough for my tired legs!

Photo op in Pacific Grove

The birthday girl Arlene on the right and her friend Carol, who flew in from Utah, on the left. 

The Lone Cypress, a Carmel landmark.

We took a hike around town.

The Carmel Mission

Me and Megan on our hike.

You can't beat the weather!

The little bobby things between the rocks are sea otters. There was a huge colony of them out there.

We went tide pooling.

Looking over onto the Carmel Beach.

We've had an unusually warm and dry winter so far this year. Carmel was 70 on Friday and Saturday! That's all about to come to an end with some wet, cold weather coming our way later this week. I'll still run and swim outside but the bike will have to come in onto the trainer. That's ok, then I can catch up on TV!

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012

I took almost all of December off from swimming and biking to focus on my running. I don't think I've ever run over 100 miles in a month and I'm pretty sure I don't want to do it every month!

December
Swim-2500 yards
Bike-98.23 miles
Run-115.31 miles

2011 was the first year I logged all my workouts so I don't have anything to compare my numbers to but I'm pretty happy with myself. They look good to me or at least good enough to of allowed me to race the races I did!

2011 totals
Swim-160,515.8 yards
Bike-2239.01 miles
Run-764.25 miles

2011 was full of many exciting happenings.

I ran my first marathon.

Dave and I took an amazing trip to Australia and I got to hold this really cool koala!

M and I went on some wonderful adventures.

We celebrated Kathleen's graduation from ASU with both sets of grandparents!

I finished my first 1/2 Ironman, Vineman.

My friend Donna and I took the horses on a road trip to visit our friend, Denise on Whidbey Island, Washington. One of the highlights was a trip out on Gene's boat to go crabbing :)

I was able to go with Dave on a business trip to England.

I volunteered at IMAZ and met some wonderful Ironmoms.

I signed up for IMAZ 2012!!!

We celebrated Stephen's graduation from CLU when he walked with his classmates a year ago and re-celebrated in December when he completed his classes. We're really proud of him!

Today was full of sitting around, relaxing and eating. 

Tomorrow it's back to a regular routine. I'm so looking forward to it.