December Recap

December and 2018 are in the books! Bring on 2019!

I turned 38 at the beginning of December and my body treated me to an awful sore throat which turned into pretty bad congestion for a week or so – boo! Luckily, we got out on my birthday eve and had one of my favorite meals in Minneapolis – paella @ Sonora Grill and I felt okay during my birth day to enjoy an hour long massage (although we skipped getting all dressed up and going out for my birth evening).

We enjoyed a weekend of Christmas celebrations mid-month at my parents, a friends evening out in Excelsior, and brunch and football with Alex’s family. We decided 4 years ago after out furnace went out on Christmas Eve that we’d travel on the holiday; we don’t exchange gifts so a trip over Christmas is the perfect treat to each other! We’ve been to Winter Park, Las Vegas, Costa Rica, and this year took us to Tucson!

We accidentally stumbled on Tucson; I meant to look up the city above Sedona and thought it was Tucson (turns out it was Flagstaff) and noticed they had 130 miles of separated, paved bike trails. Sold! We were interested in biking during the trip and after reading this, we booked our trip! We rented bikes from Tucson Bike and Rental and biked around the city, Mount Lemmon, and Saguaro National Park for 4 consecutive days. We had two warm days and two colder days but the sun was shining 90% of the time and that is what matters most to me! I love the sunshine! Check out my full post here for all of the trip details.

Given that I was going on a cycling vacation, it was time to get on the trainer! I did my two week free trial of Zwift but didn’t love it right away and, honestly, like listening to my podcasts more. Ironically, I purchase a three month membership when I bought my trainer so I’ll give it another shot at some point. I got on the trainer 7 times before leaving for our trip – not as much as I would have liked but I did get in some longer rides on Saturdays to prep me for riding for four days in Tucson. I continued to swim twice a week, go to Solidcoremsp four times a week and walk/jog a few times a week.

I still haven’t decided on any races for 2019 yet so I’m feeling a little anxious and un-decided in that arena. I hope to have a rough race schedule outline early in January so I can figure out how I’m going to train for triathlons and L’Etape in 2019! These races and a few other things will help shape my 19 for 2019 #19for2019!