June Thoughts

I'm reviewing my numbers from June, and like usual with me, there's good, bad, positives, negatives, lessons learned, and ultimately, progress that was made.  

Let's go over the bad first.

The Bad:
My running numbers were dismal.  At a time where I need to be stepping up and running big, my numbers were horrible.  I can blame some of it on the weather, which was ridiculous in Colorado.  90+ temperatures nearly every day, and a stretch of 100+ days for nearly a week.  It's no secret that it's not safe to run in that temperature, and being that I don't have anything specific that I'm training for (no A race) I'm not pressing myself.  Combine that with a sort of "peak" if you will (PRing in 3 running races) and I was bound to have a downswing in my running.  Bad timing though.  Real bad timing.

Also, my strength training suffered a bit.  Sometime in the early month, we made the decision to abandon the Mark Allen lifting plan and just lift.  That immediately caused me to put strength training on the back-burner, which ultimately isn't a good thing.  

The Good:
My cycling continues to improve.  I averaged 18.6 in my tri.  My average speed seems to go up every single ride we do.  I'm forcing myself to dig deep during long stretches, and I'm watching my speed shoot up considerably.  I'm still somewhat of a weak climber, but even that continues to improve.   

My swimming is great.  I saw big improvement in the first tri compared to last year and I continue to see pivotal gains.  

I am now 4/4 in race PR's, thanks to my tri in the middle of the month.  I may have only beaten it by 1:57, but a PR is a PR.    

Negative:
I have been doing great mentally for most of the year, able to fight through adversity and pushing myself.  That fell a bit this month.  I started coming up with excuses, which needs to stop in July.

Positive:
I was getting ready to swim last week and looked at myself in the mirror and didn't recognize the body.  There was clear cut muscle definition in places I've never seen it before.  For the first time in a long time, I have some body confidence.  

In retrospect, June was not a bad month.  Lacking in numbers, possibly.  But I feel numbers don't always tell the complete story.  I can hold my head up high and be proud of myself, and that's the important thing.

And on this 4th of July, I'm yet again grateful to be an American and proud of my country.  Even though Colorado is in a severe drought and firework shows are being banned around the state, I am still happy and thankful for everything I have.