Weeks 39 and 38 Wrap-Up (aka Santa must be a triathlete in his spare time...)

OK--I'm a little behind on my postings, having just taken grief from Vardo for a) not updating my blog in over 10 days and b) deciding to finally post an update on New Year's Eve when she (and Sparkle and Cara) is in a dive bar in Cumming, Iowa while I sit in front of my computer. So, here I am, posting away and hopefully getting to bed at a reasonable hour...and yes, I realize that makes me seem like the world's most pathetic person, but frankly, I'm thrilled with it...and in my defense, I'm drinking some good Champagne while I type (Moet White Star--I'm not completely pathetic, I guess).

Enough ranting, though...the past couple of weeks have been a blur with Christmas travels and the pre- and post-travel preparations/clean-up. Training has been MUCH easier--loving the taper heading into next weekend--but the rest of my life became more chaotic. I spent 5 days in Kansas City with my sister and brother-in-law hosting--my parents were also down for 4 days. Good trip--unseasonably warm most of the time (except for Christmas Eve, when I ran my 12-miler in a very cold rain--ugh). As it turns out, Santa was very good to me and takes direction very well--I now own a wetsuit, an aerobar water bottle, a bento box, some gel flasks for my bike, a tool kit, and a book rack for my trainer to ease the upcoming bike sessions. Plus, the family time was great, too--my brother-in-law and I now have a battle of the washer game to wage over the next several years to claim ownership of a new family treasure...should be interesting to see what transpires.

I got all of my mileage in over Christmas, but missed some cross-training--unless you can count eating toffee or drinking wine as a cross-training opportunity. Overland Park (the KC city where Kristie lives) is actually fairly hilly, so I got some unplanned hill training in as well--my HR stayed fairly reasonable for the runs I did down there, which made me pretty happy with my conditioning so far.

Here are the summaries for the past couple of weeks...the taper has clearly begun in week 38...

Week 39:
Run: 7:00:02 / 43.14 miles
Bike: 0
Swim: 0:40:00 / 1700 m
Strength: 0:15:00 -- all core

Week 38:
Run: 4:54:30 / 31.31 miles
Bike: 0
Swim: 0:31:00 / 1300 m
Strength: 0

I'm joining Sue and Michele for our last "long" training run tomorrow--one more 8-miler for the books and then we really cruise into Disney next weekend. I'm psyched for the race--I'm feeling good and, assuming I can continue to get some decent sleep between now and then, I think I'll be in good shape mentally and physically for the race. Can't wait--can't believe it's almost here, but I'm so excited to cross the finish line I can hardly stand it!!! Bring on the Mickey medal....