Monday, May 02, 2011

April 2011 totals

Another good solid month of training.  The only bummer is that the weather has been CRAPPY all month.... snow and wind have made cycling outside challenging. :(
  • Bike: 35h 04m 02s - 505.06 Mi  (40 miles and 3 hours less than March - guess that means I'm getting faster?  Bike amount is also slightly down because I flew to Houston for a HIM)
  • Run: 16h 05m 41s - 82.66 Mi  (UP by 20 miles)
  • Swim: 14h 20m 24s - 38312 Yd  (UP by 6,000 yards)
  • Core Training: 30m

At first, I was bummed that my numbers weren't even higher, but after looking at the numbers AND the calendar, I've changed my mind. Overall, I'd say this is REALLY solid, considering I had 2 travel days and a 5-day recovery period thrown in there.

Evaluation of April's goals:
  • Ride the IMTX course on April 8th to refresh my memory on the course, and hopefully give myself a confidence boost. HUGE confidence boost, and the hills were EASY.  Really, in the 3.5 hours I was out (and on the hilliest section) there were maybe 3 hills that got my attention.  I was crusing and it felt awesome.  That is, until the heat got to me and I got really stupid.  Very good lesson on how to handle the heat - increased my sodium from 400 mg/hr to 1,000 mg/hr during Lonestar, and that really did the trick.  Glad I figured this out before IMTX.
  • Use Lonestar as a training race, not a race-race. Really try to run the whole run, even though it will be warm. Still, I'm curious to see how I do on the race overall compared to last year, since my fitness is so much better. As reported here I CRUSHED my previous time by 28 minutes and came in at 6:58.  Most surprising was that I PR'd the run, even with walking 1/3 of it and taking a bathroom break.  My previous HIM PR was in Boise where I ran the whole thing.  This definitely says a lot about my running speed and how its improved.
  • Get all my IMTX kinks worked out, specifically nutrition, clothes. I switched to non-protein Infinit last week and I got a new Pearl Izumi Race kit for the IM. Going to use Lonestar to test out both of these. I think I've got 90% of the kinks worked out.  Its not completely final, since its so cold here.  Pretty hard to test out 95 degree weather gear when its 40 degrees out.  However, the new Infinit mix is working well, and I like the PI top I got.  I'll probably add a set of DeSoto Cool Wings to my gear list, to try and prevent severe sunburn.
  • Stay healthy.  Good part: I haven't been sick!  Not so good part: my nagging left calf and right thigh issues are back, but intermittently.  I've been getting weekly massages, which include REALLY painful myofacial release of my shins and calves, which I think are helping.  Listening to my body is REALLY important now, as I don't want any last minute problems cropping up.

Goals for May
wooo boy, goals for the BIG month.
  • STAY HEALTHY - this is priority #1.  This means listening to my body, even if it means not completing my workout. 
  • Finalize IMTX clothing and logistics
  • Respect the taper.
  • We close on our house on May 5th, so I also have to get that worked out.  We may be moving at the end of the month, not sure yet.
  • and the most important goal for May..... HAVE FUN AT IMTX

No comments: