August Round Up

August was actually kind of ... good. Not anywhere close to perfect, but definitely decent.

Swimming: 10100m (6.28mi)
Cycling: 105.71 mi
Running: 44.16 mi
Lifting: six sessions (2:10)
Other: one hike (:45), five walks (3:46:04), one session yoga (:25)

I finally got over 10k in the pool again AND over 100 miles on the bike. Which means I basically did a third of my currently yearly totals in each sport in one month. Oops ...? One of the rides ended up being 25 miles (not planned), which was perhaps a tad ambitious given my lack of riding this year, but I managed it. 

Despite the slip up at the end of July, my running is back on track in terms of the every-other-day thing and I got up to 6 miles again, which is also nice. Maybe not specifically necessary for sprint tri training, but eh. Garmin badges can lure me in.

I did end up having two complete off days (oh 40, is this you?). Lifting ... was a disaster. I need to lift and lift a lot more. I legitimately feel the weakest I maybe have ever been. Or at least the weakest in over half my life. Which SUCKS. The other also needs to be more - walking is good - I actually walked a lot more than that - but the yoga, the mobility, the HIKING, playing with my inlines ... it all has to happen.

But first, a sprint tri.

July Round Up

Oh, July. You were terrible. I did end up signing up for the local sprint tri, but have I really started training for it? Not really.

Turned 40 at the beginning of the month and had a trip for that. Then the exhaustion of that week caught up with me the next and it was 50/50 good. Then we went to Slovenia for a little over a week (which was AWESOME). And then I got sick. Which leaves us to our fairly crap numbers ...

Swimming: 2200m (1.37 mi)
Cycling: 15.76 mi
Running: 32.19 mi
Lifting: nine sessions (2:57)
Other: four hikes (6:40), one session erg (rowing machine)(:10), one session stepmill (:05), five walks (3:20), one session yoga (:10)

Oh swimming. I don't even know there.

... I don't know what it is about the bike, but I need to re-fall in love with it. Badly.

Running appears to be the bright spot, but I actually lost my run "streak" in Slovenia (having kept up with running every other day since the end of March). I thankfully have restarted it, though.

Lifting was kind of unacceptable, as was the amount of yoga/stretching I did (not) do. Hiking was good - we did a lot of that in Slovenia and I have missed it.

I need to be on top of my shit in August if I want to be able to do the sprint at Brineman with any sort of respectability, and my almost eight-year-old Garmin crapping out on me at the end of July does not really help with that. I do have a new one on the way, though, and I'm managing with B's and my old-ass Timex in the meantime. 

June Round Up

Well, we had some improvements, but also some not. As usual.

Swimming: 6500m (4.04 mi)
Cycling: 47.94 mi
Running: 42 mi
Lifting: 18 sessions (8:07)
Other: one session plyometrics (:21), three walks (1:08), one session yoga (:10)

The swim was a great improvement ... even with me not really swimming the last two weeks of the month. Obviously if I work on getting in the water a little it happens well. But when it falls off ...

The bike ... I just don't know what's going on with that. The trainer sucks and I don't know what's with the bike anxiety I seem to have. Not fun. Something I really definitively need to figure out. Maybe I just need to find people to ride with, but I'm not all that good and I know like everyone always has specific training rides and metrics so it's awkward to try to think of even how to ask/approach it. So I don't.

Running has stayed consistent now for three months. Some runs still make me want to die (most), but there have also been a few glimpses of maybe. Mileage is starting to creep up, and now maybe I can try thinking about tossing in a bit of speed. Maybe.

Strength has been a nice surprise. I did a specific strong at home program for the last two weeks of the month that had me lifting heavier which was actually really nice. Definitely things I need to keep up with.

The other hasn't been a lot. The good news is I think I only logged a walk as the daily workout once; the other two were part of coffee runs/walks back home, so that's nice. Definitely need more yoga (as always) and why haven't I hiked yet this summer?

Still deciding on whether to race a tri in September. I need to just decide ...

May Round Up

... I really wish these monthly recaps didn't all feel like a broken record. But they do. Hopefully that's changing though ...

Swimming: 1700m (1.06 mi)
Cycling: 48.71 mi
Running: 31.78 mi
Lifting: eight sessions (3:15)
Other: one hike (1:00), one session plyos (:10), one session erg/rowing machine (:10:06), one session stationary bike (:10), three walks (1:20), four sessions yoga (1:00)

I got back in the pool a bit in the early part of the month, but haven't in a little while, unfortunately.

The bike is fine if I can get outside - the trainer is still an immense struggle. I do need to get a bit better on mileage, but I am starting to get out there.

Running - while not high mileage - has continued to be consistent. Another month where I did not skip a run, so I'm immensely grateful for that.

Not lifting as much as I'd like - or need - but I have officially lifted as many times as I hoped for the entire year (which means I set that goal too low, but hey - I'll take my wins where I can get them). 

Happy about a decent amount of other ... except the walks. I'm currently walking with B every day that he's home, but I only count the walks in my workout log if it's the only thing I manage to do that day. So having that be my only workout for three days? Not good for me.

I say this with eternal optimism every month, but here's hoping June is better - it should be.

April Round Up

... oh April. Full of ups and downs once again.

Swimming: 0m (0mi)
Cycling: 18.87 mi
Running: 27.57 mi
Lifting: nine sessions (3:30)
Other: one day skiing (1:30), one session stationary bike (:30), two walks (:50), twelve sessions yoga (5:45)

Swimming was a whole lot of nothing because, as I mentioned last month, my doctor didn't officially want me swimming with the thumb, so I didn't in order to let it properly heal. Which it is, so I'll accept that loss.

Cycling ... well, all those rides were outside on my gravel bike. The trainer sounds so horribly unappealing so I just haven't forced myself to get on it. The perk is that the weather is FINALLY getting better so hopefully a lot more outside rides can become a thing.

Running wasn't all that much, but I did not skip a single run day this month, so I'm really happy with that win. Along those lines, I actually didn't miss a single day in April, so another win there.

I did a mindfulness challenge in the MF app and while I technically completed it the first day of May due to schedule problems, I did complete it. It meant a lot of yoga, but I probably needed it.

I still don't have a lot of goals on the horizon - not doing that half in May I tossed around doing - glad I didn't sign up for it - but I did give myself a bit more structure in May. I've already gotten back in the pool once, so baby steps.

Race #1 of the Season: Salt Lake City 5K

... or maybe it's the Salt Lake City Marathon 5K. Not exactly sure. 

Regardless, I was supposed to run the half. Some Skirt sisters from out of town were coming in to run it and I thought it would be fun and a way to check out the local race scene ... and then I bruised my tailbone two weeks into training. And then messed up my thumb. And I didn't really run.

So, down to the 5K it was, and B decided to run it with me.

I found out the day before that Jessi and Kim also dropped down to the 10K from the half (and that they didn't realize I had actually signed up - oops), due to training fiascos of their own - I think time with Kim and an Achilles or calf flare with Jessi. In any case, we all decided we'd try to meet up beforehand for a photo (along with Anastasia, another Skirt sister who actually lives south of SLC).

Race morning comes and B and I drive down to the city. Since we were doing the 5K and not the half, we had a loop course as opposed to a point-to-point, so that made our lives easier. And we were thinking no gear check, but thankfully Anastasia cleared that up for us (which is good, because sweatshirts were very nice to put back on post-race).

We all figured out where we were and then met up for a photo.

From left: Kim, Jessi, me, Anastasia. Yes I'm tall.

After the photo, we split up since I needed to go to the bathroom and hit up gear check, but we got back in time for the start of the 10K (we went off 10 minutes later).

B and I decided we'd run together. He was maybe thinking sub-:10 per mile which I was realistically thinking was NOT going to happen (and it didn't). But still, we kept the walk breaks to a minimum and ran as best as we could.

A little over a mile in, we ran past Jessi and Kim who were walking the 10K (due to the aforementioned leg thing for Jessi) - I came up behind and hugged them and then ran off ... and Jessi got a picture in the process.

Oh B and his calves ...

A little after this point, the two race courses diverged and we did a little lollipop loop around a park before heading back from whence we came. We were getting passed by people who did the bike tour (cold morning for that), but it was going pretty well otherwise. I had to do one last walk break right before the finish, but I was also able to kick better than B at the end, beating him by a whole three seconds.

Final Stats:

Time: 32:28

11/40 AG (F35-39)

57/425 gender

202/749 overall

Not our best race, definitely not our worst ... and a fun way to spend the morning. 

Clearly after we got our sweats back.

March Round Up

... so I thought I was maybe starting to figure my shit out. HA.

Swimming: 600m (.37 mi)
Cycling: 43.36 mi
Running: 22.34 mi
Lifting: five sessions (1:20)
Other: two hikes (:55), three days skiing (8:00), three walks (1:23), two sessions yoga (:20)

The tailbone did derail me for a few weeks ... and is the reason why the half I signed up for is now going to be a 5K I'm going to run with B.

What I also did was hurt a thumb (thought a strain; doc thinks a partial ligament tear) while skiing. Oops. So I've been doing basically shit lately.

I did get to Tucson early in March to go look at the superbloom and I got a few good gravel rides as well as a few hikes. But otherwise ... 

I swam once. I'm also officially in theory not supposed to swim with the hand unless I wear a brace, but eh.

I'm trying to get on the bike, I really am. But ugh.

And running ... well ...

Let's just say I'm pretty sure I'm in the worst shape of my life. Which sucks. Hard. I am doing a mindfulness challenge in the MadFit app for April which will be nice, and I'm maybe hoping to shift to a mid-May half (Dino Half has an ankylosaurus medal - mace tail! my second favorite dinosaur!), so I'm trying to keep with the running. I was considering a late May tri, but the way things are going, I'm not signing up until a week before if I think I'm trained enough. We'll see.