july: in which we are all very hot
As one of my very good friends taught me to say: well, that happened.
July Goals
Sleep as much as you can. Half IM training is coming. A lot of sleep but somehow I woke up exhausted this morning.
Try and get rid of the triathlete tan. I think this is a lost cause.
Hill workouts. Stop whining. Enough said. Big bombastic CHECK!
Get a freaking hair cut! Total fail. I'd rather register for races.
Dead lift 100lbs (more than one set of two reps). On several occasions, 2x5 and even 1x5 of 110lbs. My ass is a beast.
Yoga and swimming are good recovery activities. More of this. Lots of swimming, anyway...
I'm going to round up and call July a great month. When June ended, I was feeling wiped out from lots of running and racing in the heat. I took quite a few rest days in a row and eased back into training. I started off the month trying to inch up my long run, but after irritating my shin, backed off quite a bit. All the running I've done over the past two weeks has been off the bike, and I'm surprised how good these 15- and 20-minute runs feel on my legs. I'm going to spend the next week or so continuing to run easy, just trying to get my long run back up where it needs to be for Philly and Poconos. In my mind, I'm just using Philly as a training run for Poconos, but based on what happened in March, I am hoping to PR by a pretty significant amount. But we'll see what August brings. I do think that running well off the bike is a more important workout to tackle right now than the long run.
I had tons of quality time on the bike, finishing the month at only 361 miles, but in those 361 miles I climbed for 18392 feet - which might not seem like a lot, but subtract the once-a-week-flat-ride (roughly 100 miles over the month), and that's a ton of cussing and burning quads. I made a point of doing all my long rides on hilly terrain, and while I still don't feel necessarily ready for the angry hill monster I'm tackling in a few weeks, I don't think I could have done even one more climb this month. I got back in the pool and was pretty surprised to discover that I'm loving it, especially the speed work I am starting to add in. So on day 1 of my half IM training cycle, I'm feeling great. I'm in fantastic base shape right now, and I feel positive and excited about having two months to build from here. I hate that running is my weakest of the three legs, especially since I spent 10 years being a runner before I stuck a toe in the water or learned where the brakes were, but I'm being smart about my training, and I can only get stronger and faster as quickly as my body will allow.
I know that August is going to bring a tough century as well as my first peak week of this cycle. I know there are going to be times that I'm headed into workouts feeling tired and zapped by the heat, and I'm trying to mentally prepare for that now. I also know that the weather will get cooler as I work through this cycle, and toughing through these hot, hard workouts is going to pay dividends when I show up on race day and it's 55º out. I can hardly wait.
July
Miles run: 47
Beers consumed: I'm going to round down to 90
Flat tires: 5
Times I saw spots in PT: 3
New bicycle/puppy/people carriers: 1
Making a public spectacle over signing up for a race: 1
Times I set the alarm for 4:30am to go ride my bicycle: 4
Times I cussed out the alarm for disturbing my sleep (RUDE): 2387
New saddle sores: 1
New saddle sores: 1
Visits to the bike store: 12
Visits to the bike store where I didn't spend any money: 5
August Goals
Keep riding those ridiculous hills.
Don't panic about running. Easy and long is better than speed work.
Maybe do some actual reading about HR training instead of just making it up along the way.
A haircut would be nice.
Figure out race day clothes and actually train in them before race day.
DO NOT BUY A NEW BIKE. No matter how shiny.
What are your goals for August?