april: the month of a sore crotch
April was a fantastic month. Maybe not on paper, but living it, it was great.
April Goals
Put 400 miles on my quads bike. Done, and then some!
Don't stop doing the PT core work just because the pain goes away. Still religiously doing all of it.
Do not buy a major piece of furniture. This did not happen in the month of April.
Learn how to snot-rocket someone with precision from the bike. My snot-rocketing skills have significantly improved.
Go back to yoga. Not yet, but soon.
SPAGHETTI SQUASH! Goddammit.
I decided that the best way to get my cycling fitness back was face-first into the road, and joined the "30 days of biking" madness that was going on all over the country for the month of April. I discovered pretty quickly that taking one month off and three months easy is not the way to retain cycling fitness. I spent a good part of the month being frustrated by the numbers on my bike computer and my serious lack of strength, but I don't think it could realistically be coming back any more quickly than it is, so that's all I can do about that. I rode 500 miles exactly in the month of April. That's more than any month in the history of Katie ever, including the month of the Reston Century. I rode in the cold, the rain, the motherfucking wind, the heat, the sun, and the suffocating pollen. I did pace workouts and hill workouts and short rides and commuting rides and recovery rides and some awesome long burrito rides. I got my ass handed to me more than once at the Monday evening hill ride, but had some confidence-building pace workouts. And I photographed it all.
With cycling on the main stage, it would be easy to ignore the fact that running has quietly crept back into my life. But it has, and I am so thankful. Right now I'm running every other day, easy runs only, and I'm up to 5 miles. More importantly, every run has had less and less pain, and I think my body is starting to work more like it should. I'm still not sure what's going to happen in the last 13.1 of my 70.3 next week, but every run I have leaves me feeling more confident that I'll be able to finish. And my swim workouts have been unremarkable but solid. I feel ready, maybe not as ready as I'd hoped I would be when I signed up in January, but as ready as I can be based on the events of the last 6 weeks. There is nothing more I could have done to prepare for this race, and as long as a fish doesn't swim up my nose and scare the poop out of me, I should have a decent day.
Other than the race, May will also bring my MBA graduation and our honeymoon. I'm pretty pumped about both of these things, and will hopefully party just as hard as I race. I've got a lot to celebrate, and I'm more thankful for that than anything.
April
Miles run: 31 (maybe 12 of those in the pool)
Miles cycled: 500
Fabulous girl's weekends: 1
Pounds lost due to high volume training: 6
Pounds gained back due to cupcakes in the past two days: 4
Amount of time spent actually caring about my weight: one minute.
Number of bugs blown out of my sinus cavity post-ride: at least 10.
Number of rides in which I forgot the ride glide: 3 (ouch)
May Goals
Finish the 70.3 (more on this later).
Don't buy any more furniture.
Spend lots of recovery time eating, drinking, swimming with the pups and relaxing.