Doing what I like, liking what I do.: 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!