December wrapped in a bow

The end of 2015… I don’t feel quite ready to wrap up the year when I’m still thinking of only this past month. December has been an interesting month. Both good and bad mixed together, a little hectic at times as you would expect the holiday season to be.

I co-hosted another successful annual murder mystery party with Ashlee. This year a masquerade theme.

I went a whole 9 days without eating desserts which was probably a record for the whole year. I lost 2lbs. Then I finally broke down under the pressure of my coworkers and gave into the holiday sweets being brought in daily and a plate of cookies dropped off at my house. And whenever I break on eating, I don’t just trip and fall off the cliff into a plate of cookies. I run full sprint off the cliff and cannonball into a sea of cookies. And cake. And brownies. And cupcakes. And melted chocolate chips with peanut butter (seriously need to kick that habit). All this combined with a steady stream of eating all day for the 6 days up north for the holidays equaled a 7lb gain.

We went up to Virginia to spend Christmas with my family. On the way up with were rear ended and pushed into the car in front of us. That was a wonderful way to kick off the holidays. Still dealing with a tiny bit of pain from that. Today we bought a new car to replace the wrecked one. Going home was good but it certainly had its sad moments. It was my first time being back in the house since my mom passed away. But we kept the Christmas spirit as alive as possible including us sisters and kids eating Christmas Eve dinner wearing Alaska pajamas. We know how to be fancy! Stretchy pants are a must for that much eating. Got several great triathlon related Christmas presents because I’m a nerd and that’s pretty much all I asked for. Spent Christmas morning running with my family until my husband wanted to stop 20 minutes in a tried to blame it on Nikita being tired. Finished the run by myself wearing shorts and a sports bra which is certainly a new Christmas experience for me all around.

Training has gone pretty darn well this month. I’m still dealing with various injury issues but I’ve been making progress and it hasn’t held me back too much in training. This is the first time I’ve had a consistent block of training since working with Katie without interruptions from traveling, tapering, racing, recovering, injury and whatever else life has put me through this year. The results are exciting. Suddenly one week I magically started doing my easy runs at about a minute faster pace. Now my legs have some catching up to do with my lower heartrate. I did another FTP test (why so many of these? so painful!) using my new power meter and had awesome power gains from my last test. I’ve been doing more strength training since it’s the off season and I’m getting stronger and bigger… in a muscle way, not just fat way. Today I wrapped up the year with a 5K swim which is by far the longest I’ve ever swam and it felt good (minus my shoulder pains which have crept back).

My December goals were to look at my strengths and weaknesses and develop plans to fix my weaknesses. I’ve done some digging into what I do well and what I need to improve on. Looking at my list I realized… and as Katie pointed out…. most of them are things I control and can easily fix. Trying to make a lot of changes at once can be a bit overwhelming so I’ve been trying to work on a few things here or there. Like better sleeping habits. Walking with my feet pointed forward and less duck like in hopes that makes my running form better. Mobility every day. These are small changes but important. I know I still have a ton of simple changes to make that mostly require a mental change (for heaven sakes breathe on your left side!). Overall looking at weaknesses and improving them is an ongoing process and I realize that. It’s a matter of looking at the work that needs to be done, the changes that need to be made and committing to it. There will be plenty of that going on next year. Until next year (aka a few hours from now), it’s time to fill that space with a few more happy memories to end the year on a good note with family and friends. Goodbye 2015. I’m not sad to see you go.