Monthly Summary - August

It's been a while, but since I have a good result to announce I figure I should do a monthly summary. This was a good month in terms of overall hours at least, and also good in terms of racing and general good times!

It was nice to see that I got over 30 hours for the month! This is composed mostly by over 20 hours of strength training! The rest is racing at Winding Trails, a bunch of mountain bike rides and my restart of running.

I almost forgot how motivating it was to see the numbers pile up in terms of hours that I've completed. I'm hopeful that September will be almost as big.

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Monthly Summary - January 2008

Good solid month, lots of swimming and biking. Pretty weak on the running, my challenge didn't inspire anyone else, and it didn't work on me either. I also had 8 hours worth of aerobic exercise tracked this month, primarily Volleyball. I think that has helped my conditioning overall, and gotten me to the gym consistently.

Swim 12,600 yd - 6 1/2 hours
Bike 137 mi - 8 hours (MTB primarily)
Run 12 mi - 2 1/2 hours
Other - 11 1/2 hours

Total - 26 1/2 hours

The swimming was all at Suffield with the Master's group which unfortunately is going to end this week. I'm hoping he starts up another session again soon, as I probably won't swim much more unless I get in the pool at the gym. The gym pool is way too small to really swim effectively in though, so I will probably only jump in occasionally to try and keep my feel for the water. On the plus side, I should be able to ramp up my morning spin sessions again now that I won't be headed to the pool.

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Monthly Summary June

A bit late... but here are the numbers:

Swim - 18k yards, 7 1/2 hrs
Bike - 479 miles, 30 hrs
Run - 30 miles, 6 hrs

Yeah, the run is light... I have the foot injury excuse :)

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May Monthly Summary... just a bit late

Well, I decided I should still post a summary for May even though it's a bit late. I got busy at the beginning of June as you can tell and so I didn't publish my numbers for May. Overall, pretty good month.

Swim - 22,000 yds - 11 hrs - Finally! I actually swam this month
Bike - 323 mi - 21 hrs - This needs to get ramped up in June as my final month before LP.
Run - 40 mi - 7+ hrs - One sport had to go down :(

Total with Other - 47 hrs.

Happy to have the swim time get up where it needs to be. June will focus on biking mostly, and more running while getting some consistent swims in.

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Monthly Summary - Excuse time

Well... I've delayed posting partially because it wasn't a great month. It was a big bike month, but the other sports were pretty week

Swim - 1 hr 3k yards - Ouch again, but swimming has now ramped up as you can tell from my posts
Bike - 463 miles, 27 hrs - Started commuting to work, and been consistently riding on the weekends.
Run - 40 miles, 9 hrs - Way down from last month, I think the push for 100 burned me out a bit.

Overall, it was decent with the increase in bike. I want to make that a primary focus for the rest of my training towards Lake Placid along with consistent swim workouts. As I've mentioned in the past, I've done some long runs already and I have no illusions of being able to run the marathon fast anyway. Biking should build my endurance, and then I can muddle through the run.

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101 - Monthly Summary

With a bit of stumbling around on Saturday, I did it! Hit 101 miles for the month, just barely on Saturday, and man my legs are sore. I had to run 36 miles in 7 days in order to reach my goal, but it's pretty cool to be able to say it. It was pretty good to have a stretch goal, it really kept me pushing forward to get some more runs in. Here's the numbers:

Swim - 2 hrs - Ouch! I should be able to get into the lake in April, so this will ramp up
Bike - 19 hrs, 332 miles - Respectable for the month
Run - 17 hrs, 101 miles - Woohoo
Other - 9 hrs

Another big month overall, I hit 47 hours total for the month. The push to get runs in really help me get some time in, and as result I seem to have pushed through my plateau of 220 pounds. I'm going to set another stretch goal for this month, focused on the bike but I haven't figured out what it should be yet. I'm going away for a week where I wont' be able to get on the bike, so I can't go too crazy with the mileage, but I'm going to start commuting to work hopefully this week so that will help get in some miles. I should also be able to get off the trainer and get outside, so that should help as well. My biggest bike month so far is 378 miles, so I'm thinking of trying to hit 500. That may not be realistic with a whole week off, but I'm going to try and lay out the month and see.

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February Summary

February was a good month... I got some solid training in and even got to run in a race!

Summary
Swim - 8,500 yards - 3 hours
Bike - 289 miles - 15 1/2 hours
Run - 38 miles - 6 1/2 hours
Other (Yoga) - 10 1/2 hours

My overall volume is down for biking and running, and swimming is up just a bit. Still not enough swimming, but I can't really add too much without getting into a different pool. The chances of that seem to decline every day, so at this point I'm just hoping to "tread water" until I can get out in the lake in the spring :)

Biking is still solid overall, the snow has hurt the amount of time I can spend outside and thus it's down a bit from last month, I need to bump up my long rides on the trainer a bit more in March in order to have the endurance base in April to put in the really long rides outside. Overall, I feel like I'm in a pretty good place on the bike.

Running is increasingly in my comfort zone... down a bit this month in terms of volume, but this is again due to crummy weather outside. I was pleased that the 1/2 marathon that I did showed a respectable time for the course given I hadn't specifically trained. From my perspective this means I'm gaining the fitness to go out and run 13 miles whenever I feel like it, a far cry from where my running was a year ago!

The big addition this month was the Yoga, a program of 3 classes during the week, and some additional time on my own. I think this is making a big difference for me in both core strength and flexibility. It's also helping my body composition as I'm losing weight and building more muscle. Overall, my body just feels better! I would definitely recommend Yoga to anyone that asks as a good way to feel better, and add both strength and flexibility. One recommendation is http://www.yogatoday.com, this site offers a free download of a 1 hour yoga program every day. Very cool and useful for trying Yoga on your own at home. I use it occasionally for my home practice, and my wife uses it a few times a week.

Goals for March are increased run frequency and building my bike to 3 1/2 hours.

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January... or how I overcame cabin fever

January was a very good month training wise, I came very close to 40 hours total. Here's the numbers:

Summary
7,000 yds swimming - 2 1/2 hours - Ouch... still not very good
378 miles biking - 21 hours, much of this is MTB, and the miles are converted to effort
75 miles running - 7 1/2 hours.

Obviously, a focus on the bike which has been real helpful in building my base endurance. Additionally, it's helping me lose some weight and round into better shape. I have another 15 pounds or so to go before I hit my planned race weight. As I've mentioned, lots of time on the mountain bike, and its been a lot of fun. I can feel the mountain biking do a lot for my cardiovascular system, although it definitely still feels different when I get on the triathlon bike.

Swimming is going to be an issue pretty soon, although I'm reasonably confident that I can stretch it out once I can get outdoors to swim. I'm trying to maintain my feel for the water, and then I'll just have to ramp up the endurance later when I get a chance. Still waiting to hear back from the swim coach.

Running is progressing well, I think it will be more of a focus for February and I've been considering a 1/2 marathon at the end of the month. That would be a pretty solid test for me to ensure I'm in at least as good a shape as I was for Hartford this past summer. We'll see, this may get added to the schedule.

Looking forward to a good February!

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