Week Thirty-Six

Yesterday marked the end of the 2nd week of taper. The third week of taper, this upcoming week, is practically nothing. A 10 minute swim here, a 20 minute bike ride there. Just enough to keep you from totally freaking out.

I actually don't remember much of last week! It was the last week of school, which was incredibly busy of course. That took a lot of my training time. I know that I altered the training schedule in a few ways, and there were some days that I didn't even train at all.

Thursday was my last bike ride before turning it into the bike shop to get boxed up. It was actually one of my favorite rides of the year! I had just finished the last day of school, the weather was perfect, and I felt pretty good. It was a rolling ride, around some of the roads in Aptos, and I kept an average of over 16 mph. It was a nice way to end that part of my training.

On Friday morning, I learned how to take my bike apart (and essentially put it back together, though I have yet to try). It seems much less intimidating now that Matt at the Bike Station showed me how.

Saturday morning, I joined the Santa Cruz masters for my last open water swim in the cold waters: a swim around the Santa Cruz Wharf. It was a great swim because they provided a lot of lifeguards and junior lifeguards. I was freaking out because we were so close to tons of seals and sea lions, and I really appreciated that a junior lifeguard named Erin paddled alongside me for most of the swim. :-) It definitely wasn't a record swim for me timing was, because it was another swim of "doggie paddling" until I could tolerate the cold water. Luckily, the water in Nice will be in the 70s, so I'm told!

Saturday afternoon, I went over to Stevens Creek Reservoir to join the team in a post-workout BBQ. They swam 2 miles that day and biked 98! Everyone did awesome (and it killed me to not have done it with them!). I'm glad I went - I really like everyone on our team, and it was great to see everybody again and get hugs before I fly out.

Yesterday, I had my last workout on American soil - a 7 mile run. I ran from my house, down to and along West Cliff Drive, and back up Bay. The weather was sunny and beautiful, and I felt really excited that the run for my ironman will also be along the water. West Cliff is, after all, one of my favorite places to run.

So, now I'm at the San Jose Airport, waiting for my first of three flights that will get me to Nice. (Thanks to an awesome mom at the school I work at, I'm waiting in the Admirals Club!) Thanks to Sara and Michael, by the way, for taking me here and watching my little wiggly girl while I'm gone. :-)

I'll probably post a blog every day once I get into France. The pre-race activities are always exciting, and I'll want to document all of it.

Time to board! IMF, here I come!

Body Check: Um, do butterflies in the stomach count? ;-)