A new month begins and that means it’s time to check in with last month’s goals:
Resist racing the La Habra 10K. I resisted and I’m glad I did. I ended up having a cold and ran a lackluster, slow 13 miles for training that day. It’s better for me to focus on my training plan and not get distracted by racing. Racing is fun but it comes with some stress, even if it is good stress.
Heal my darn adductor magnus/groin strain once and for all. Yes! The right-butt-crease-groin-strain is gone after about four months of babying it with massage and hot baths and also strengthening the muscles with weight training. Now I’ve got some nagging hip flexor / inner groin issue going on with the left leg but the nice thing about that little nuisance is that it feels better the longer I run! I don’t feel it during a run and I feel better after a long run, not worse. It’s aggravated by speed workouts though, so I’ve got to be careful during those.
Do two 20-mile long runs, two 18-milers, and one 13-miler. No (April) foolin’ — I did complete all five of the long runs on the calendar for March. I couldn’t do them all at the prescribed pace, but gosh darn it I put in all those miles and didn’t bonk.
March Miles
Swim: 0 miles. I blame the limited open swim hours at the gym. Since I’m not currently training for a triathlon, I’m not willing to go at the crack of dawn or after 8 p.m. in the evening.
Bike: 97.94 miles in 5.57 hours in 7 workouts.
Run: 140.25 miles in 23.53 hours in 14 workouts. *Head slap.* Duh. This is why I’m feeling a little tired and creaky in my joints. That 140.25 miles is about 30 miles more than I’ve ever run in a single month. I’ve only ever run more than 100 miles in a month three times, counting this March. And how incredible that out of the 31 days in March, I spent nearly ONE WHOLE DAY, A WHOLE 24 HOURS running. My training plan is no joke. If I can get through the remaining eight weeks before the marathon, I’ll be in serious shape to run 26.2 miles on race day.
Strength training: 3.17 hours in 10 workouts. I enjoy doing sit-ups, push-ups, and weight machines that work the adductor, abductor and biceps muscles. I think the time I’ve spent on strength training over the past couple of months has made a huge difference in how I feel and it has definitely changed my body shape (even though my weight remains the same).
Random Photo for March
Since my husband’s iPhone is holding my Easter egg dyeing photos hostage, I’m going to share a new billboard campaign I absolutely love:
Metro is running a bicycle traffic safety campaign in anticipation of Bike to Work Week May 13-17, 2013. Under California state law, cyclists have the same rights and responsibilities on the road as car drivers, and that means that they may use any lane and might need use of the full lane to navigate the road conditions safely. Share the road everyone!
Goals for April
Book the hotel for race weekend. Why have I not done this before? Did I have some mental block? Did I not think I’d remain healthy and ready to race? Or do I just hate calling people on the telephone to try to negotiate a discount rate (I do not wish to stay in the host hotel)? The race is Memorial Day weekend. I’ve got to get on it. Put it another way. This is April. The race is NEXT MONTH. It’s getting real, people.
Focus on meal planning. I eat relatively well but could stand to focus more on nutrition. Turning the month’s focus to planning meals will help me improve my diet and make full use of the CSA boxes of farm produce I get each week.
Run two 20-milers and two 15-milers. I just need to keep putting the miles in even if I cannot hit the pace target. Perhaps my pace will improve as I recover from last month and completely get over the cold I had.
What are your goals for April? Do you have any races on the calendar? No races for me this month. My eye is on the big race on May 26th.
Remarkable goals for March and remarkable accomplishments. When you calculate how many miles you “run” car pooling children to school, lessons and to the grocery store, you must be close to 1,000 miles! Good luck on your April training.
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My big race is May 19th. And my big is a half marathon. I need to stick with my training group and do at least one double digit run. (Our plan alls for one 10M and one 11.5M run in training.)
Then in early June I have a short sprint triathlon (with super short 1/4 mile swim), so I’m forced to cross train. And I noticed this morning that I’m horribly out of shape on the bike….
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That is pretty amazing to think that you spent almost an entire day running!!
Way to go on the miles! Good luck in April – still a lot of miles to log – you got this!
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What a great March and so nice to see the niggles working themselves out! I love your goal for meal planning this month – good luck and maybe share some of your favourite menus? 🙂
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My first big race of the year – a half marathon – was yesterday. Next big race in my sights: a sprint duathlon in early June. On the rest days this week, I’ll start to create a training plan to follow to prepare for that. I’ll run a local 5k in a couple weeks, drop my runs down to distances I find far more comfortable – 4-6 miles – increase cycling workouts and start to introduce some bricks. Well, the bricks may wait til May…
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Go Holly go! It was great to hear about your success in the half marathon and it will be fun to follow you through your next races! Good luck!
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[…] Time to check in with my April Goals: […]
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