More Taper = More Posting

Even a taper week is exhausting, but I'm powering through it and finally catching up with work (of all varieties) and blog stuff. Though I must admit, my actual real writing has gone by the wayside as I take any and all opportunities (~45 min per day) to totally veg and catch up on the mystery novels that I've been missing. The commute to Princeton 3 times a week is killing my free time, since it eats up 1.5 hours so I can't do much else- except talk on my sweet new bluetooth thing, so I can call mommy and daddy when I'm driving home from nanny-ing. Mainly to thank them for putting up with me when I was a kid.

As far as training goes, it's been a casual week- Master Swim yesterday, an hour on the trainer, and of course, the biking to the gym and back, and the lifting and swinging of two small children. I'm totally pooped though. I gotta start getting my boys (Robbie and his brother) to go to sleep earlier. Say, 9PM? They like to stay up to watch TV, and the problem is that since the TV is in our room, I get sucked into watching it! So my plans for an 11 PM bedtime fall by the wayside... Oh well. I just need to make sure I take my vitamins and try to stay healthy, since a new study just came out about how lack of sleep can make people more susceptible to getting colds and other fun stuff. Great...

I can't believe that after this weekend, my tri season will be at an end for a few months. Of course, I'll still be working on swimming with my new Master Swim group- I just ordered a couple new non-ratty and gross suits, a lap timer and counter, and a set of fins so I can work on fixing my slightly off kicking. And I'll have the marathon in November, and of course, cyclocross starts in a couple weeks for me. But still, I'm going to miss tris!

I have mixed feelings though, part of me can't wait to get it over with and finally check off what seemed to be a pretty successful season, especially now that Fall is really beginning. But the other part of me is still really psyched about this race, just as a fun gauge of where I am, so I can get an idea of what I need to focus on in the coming year if I'm going to do an Ironman, and do it well. So it's exciting in that aspect. What's annoying is that I think this is the first year they're hosting it, so there are no old times to compare myself to, so I have no idea if I'm doing well on the bike or not. We'll find out Sunday though!

Plus, unless some last minute entries come in, I'll destroy my age group... being as there aren't any other women in it. Gotta love small local races and being a strange age for long courses! Honestly, I'm sort of bummed- I have serious doubts that I have a shot at doing well enough to be in the top 3 overall women, but I figured I'd have a shot at age group in a mid-size field. So now I may do ok, but winning a non-existent age group is sort of a hollow victory. On the bright side, now I almost have to look at it as all or nothing- top three or there isn't a win- like if I was racing as an elite! (Someday...)

In the meantime, I'm going to take it super easy at cross practice later, and hopefully fix my freaking cleat. Weather dependent, maybe a short run afterwards, but if it's crappy, Iron Yoga time! Then, tutoring, followed by a pit stop at the greasetrucks for falafel and fries- yum! Hopefully I can hit a bunch of key stuff tomorrow, like my swim and another weight set and run, so Friday will be a bit more relaxed and I can just chill out... to some extent anyway!

Too much work, not enough play lately- hopefully next weekend I'll be able to have a little more fun time added into the schedule. But for now, back to work!