the weeks are just marching along
It's monthly recap time! And yes, you can boo and throw tomatoes at my March pun.
March Goals
When the alarm goes off, do not check email/read twitter/read blogs for 45 minutes before getting out of bed. Total and complete fail. I think this might be a lost cause.
Stop apologizing about the bikini wax/leg hair situation to Dr. Paul (and maybe do something about it?). Did something about it!
Buy a real desk chair. I've only had it for a few days and I'm wondering why I didn't do it three years ago.
Get off the elliptical and back on the road completely. The elliptical is a distant memory.
Learn how to cook dinner that does not involve cheese. Some progress here.
Stop stalking other people's training while in a funk. It never helps. Very little progress here.
Paint the upstairs bedroom. Check!
Ask the poet to come and videotape my swim stroke. Nope, but our trip to CO is negating the main reason why I wanted to tape it.
A lot of March was spent in rest or recovery. It started with a peak week, followed by a recovery week sans-taper, and then two pretty mellow weeks post-half marathon. I finally sloshed over a few swimming goals that have been hanging over my head, but for the most part, swimming doesn't change for me. Once the pollen comes out, I look forward to getting in the pool even more than usual because it's the only place where I get a good strong eyeball-washing, but otherwise it was generally unremarkable. Spending a week on my road bike this month was enough to make me realize how comfortable I've become on the QR, and I almost - dare I say it - prefer it to the roadie right now. I still need to get my saddle and crank situation straightened out, but for the most part, I'm feeling okay on the bike. Not strong, not powerful, though not like I'm far behind, and I know that I'll be spending the better part of the next two months on the bike so I don't feel concerned. And I'm so pleased to look back and see that this month had over 70 miles of running and two races, when it could have gone so differently - has gone so differently, in my injury-riddled past.
A month filled with rest and recovery also brings the opportunity to check some items off of my non-triathlon-related to-do list. We're about halfway done with the total transformation of the upstairs level of our house. I also got to spend several days - and hundreds of dollars - in the vet's office this month, with ear infections and skin infections and kennel cough galore. Here's hoping that April brings a healthier month for our family.
Moving into April, I'm looking at my last big build block before my 70.3. I'm already mentally preparing myself for a race that is going to be hilly and hot and not necessarily a PR in any leg. While I'd certainly like to suffer for less time than any of my previous attempts at this distance, time on the clock is not always the focus of the day. I talked a few weeks ago about how much I've struggled with race-day execution across many distances, and I'm hoping that this race bring me an opportunity to face those angry demons head-on.
My view of fitness and development has started to change recently, prompted by quite a few elements in my life but certainly encouraged by some of the reading that I've been gobbling up. It's a bit of a stupid realization, but I'm realizing that I'm not on a downhill slide to CdA. I'm starting to see that this race - while my A race of the year, something I've been preparing for one way or another for months - is not a means to an end, but instead is merely the beginning of the beginning. Training for this race has made me realize how much I really do love triathlon. I'm not planning on finishing the race to check a life-goal box, but instead to really enter this endurance world for the first time. More importantly, for whatever reason I had it in my head that my build to CdA would bring me to the best shape of my life. While that still may be true, I think my awakening has been that it might be the best shape of my life to date, but my life certainly isn't over yet. I was worried that I'd be ready for a break post-Ironman - and I still may be - but as of right now, I'm not feeling burned out by this sport. Instead, I'm feeling energized and motivated to keep working on my fitness through this race and to continue beyond. It's a little difficult to explain how my outlook has changed in a way that makes sense, but it's more important for me to be able to recognize that it has than it is to be able to explain it. Right now I'm really enjoying my training, and I'm quite pleased to be racing very little. I raced twice in March, and it's easy to see how at least one race created a disruption in the ebbs and flows of my schedule. I am very curious about what my rested fitness looks like, but I enjoy the solid and uninterrupted blocks of training quite a bit more than I enjoy racing. Due to all of this, race days are starting to look in my head like a place to test out my current fitness and nothing more. Absorb the results, compute into training, let go and move forward. I've been having a hard time lately with a lot of things, but definitely some related to training for this race, and I'm hoping that this mentality will help me to focus on what is really important and discard all the extra noise that keeps turning my head.
March
Miles run: 71.8
Rest days: more than 1
Beautiful new bike shoes: 1
Days it took to eat an entire package of Oreos post-half-marathon: 5
Times that we decided to eat in instead of out due to grocery tracking: 3
Times that we decided to eat out anyway: 2
Swims completed with goggles full of water: 5
Swims completed with my swim cap falling off my head: 2
Swims completed with poor-rear-coverage suit: at least a dozen
April Goals
Open and attempt to cook the quinoa that's been in the cupboard for a month.
Teach Sofie how to swim.
Go back to crazy hill ride. Winter is officially over.
Update the frame wall.
Get back on the asleep-by-8:30pm sleep schedule.
Keep making the effort to run and ride in new places. It's worth it.
What are your goals for April? Did you miss half of them in March like I did?
March Goals
When the alarm goes off, do not check email/read twitter/read blogs for 45 minutes before getting out of bed. Total and complete fail. I think this might be a lost cause.
Stop apologizing about the bikini wax/leg hair situation to Dr. Paul (and maybe do something about it?). Did something about it!
Buy a real desk chair. I've only had it for a few days and I'm wondering why I didn't do it three years ago.
Get off the elliptical and back on the road completely. The elliptical is a distant memory.
Learn how to cook dinner that does not involve cheese. Some progress here.
Stop stalking other people's training while in a funk. It never helps. Very little progress here.
Paint the upstairs bedroom. Check!
Ask the poet to come and videotape my swim stroke. Nope, but our trip to CO is negating the main reason why I wanted to tape it.
A lot of March was spent in rest or recovery. It started with a peak week, followed by a recovery week sans-taper, and then two pretty mellow weeks post-half marathon. I finally sloshed over a few swimming goals that have been hanging over my head, but for the most part, swimming doesn't change for me. Once the pollen comes out, I look forward to getting in the pool even more than usual because it's the only place where I get a good strong eyeball-washing, but otherwise it was generally unremarkable. Spending a week on my road bike this month was enough to make me realize how comfortable I've become on the QR, and I almost - dare I say it - prefer it to the roadie right now. I still need to get my saddle and crank situation straightened out, but for the most part, I'm feeling okay on the bike. Not strong, not powerful, though not like I'm far behind, and I know that I'll be spending the better part of the next two months on the bike so I don't feel concerned. And I'm so pleased to look back and see that this month had over 70 miles of running and two races, when it could have gone so differently - has gone so differently, in my injury-riddled past.
A month filled with rest and recovery also brings the opportunity to check some items off of my non-triathlon-related to-do list. We're about halfway done with the total transformation of the upstairs level of our house. I also got to spend several days - and hundreds of dollars - in the vet's office this month, with ear infections and skin infections and kennel cough galore. Here's hoping that April brings a healthier month for our family.
Moving into April, I'm looking at my last big build block before my 70.3. I'm already mentally preparing myself for a race that is going to be hilly and hot and not necessarily a PR in any leg. While I'd certainly like to suffer for less time than any of my previous attempts at this distance, time on the clock is not always the focus of the day. I talked a few weeks ago about how much I've struggled with race-day execution across many distances, and I'm hoping that this race bring me an opportunity to face those angry demons head-on.
My view of fitness and development has started to change recently, prompted by quite a few elements in my life but certainly encouraged by some of the reading that I've been gobbling up. It's a bit of a stupid realization, but I'm realizing that I'm not on a downhill slide to CdA. I'm starting to see that this race - while my A race of the year, something I've been preparing for one way or another for months - is not a means to an end, but instead is merely the beginning of the beginning. Training for this race has made me realize how much I really do love triathlon. I'm not planning on finishing the race to check a life-goal box, but instead to really enter this endurance world for the first time. More importantly, for whatever reason I had it in my head that my build to CdA would bring me to the best shape of my life. While that still may be true, I think my awakening has been that it might be the best shape of my life to date, but my life certainly isn't over yet. I was worried that I'd be ready for a break post-Ironman - and I still may be - but as of right now, I'm not feeling burned out by this sport. Instead, I'm feeling energized and motivated to keep working on my fitness through this race and to continue beyond. It's a little difficult to explain how my outlook has changed in a way that makes sense, but it's more important for me to be able to recognize that it has than it is to be able to explain it. Right now I'm really enjoying my training, and I'm quite pleased to be racing very little. I raced twice in March, and it's easy to see how at least one race created a disruption in the ebbs and flows of my schedule. I am very curious about what my rested fitness looks like, but I enjoy the solid and uninterrupted blocks of training quite a bit more than I enjoy racing. Due to all of this, race days are starting to look in my head like a place to test out my current fitness and nothing more. Absorb the results, compute into training, let go and move forward. I've been having a hard time lately with a lot of things, but definitely some related to training for this race, and I'm hoping that this mentality will help me to focus on what is really important and discard all the extra noise that keeps turning my head.
March
Miles run: 71.8
Rest days: more than 1
Beautiful new bike shoes: 1
Days it took to eat an entire package of Oreos post-half-marathon: 5
Times that we decided to eat in instead of out due to grocery tracking: 3
Times that we decided to eat out anyway: 2
Swims completed with goggles full of water: 5
Swims completed with my swim cap falling off my head: 2
Swims completed with poor-rear-coverage suit: at least a dozen
April Goals
Open and attempt to cook the quinoa that's been in the cupboard for a month.
Teach Sofie how to swim.
Go back to crazy hill ride. Winter is officially over.
Update the frame wall.
Get back on the asleep-by-8:30pm sleep schedule.
Keep making the effort to run and ride in new places. It's worth it.
What are your goals for April? Did you miss half of them in March like I did?