May Training

Today is the first day of June and I'm getting ready to start week 11 of the 1/2 IM training program. I've been training diligently for 14 weeks now and am starting to see the payoffs. I liked looking back over my month of April so much, that I decided to do the same thing for May, so here goes...

Total Training Time = 29 h. 7 m. 40 s.
# of Training Days = 22
# of Planned Workouts = 39
# of Skipped Workouts = 11 (1 swim, 3 bike, 6 run, 1 brick)

Improvements

- Swim - My swim is continuing to improve. I feel like the drills that I've been doing are working and that my speed is coming along with that. I also think that I'm becoming more and more comfortable and confident in the water.

- Bike - I think that my bike has improved as well. I was a bit surprised by my ability to carry an 18.1 mph pace during my first triathlon of the season, so apparently all of the saddle time I've been putting in is paying off.

- Run - I did manage to get some of my speed workouts in this month, which I'm hoping will pay off long term.

- Race - I won my age group in my first triathlon of the season! I think that's a huge improvement!

Things to Work On

- Run - I missed alot of run workouts this month and while running is something I don't typically worry about, I think that if I don't get these workouts in that I'll definitely find myself lacking on race day. My run times are not where I would like them to be, so I will definitely have to keep that in mind and continue to work on that.

- Bike - I need to get outside and ride more, especially on the days that my dad and I can ride together. My dad is a stronger cyclist than I am and I think that riding with him will help me push through some of the limits that I have on the bike.

- Swim - I want to continue to work on my speed. I don't think that I've tapped out on that yet, so it will be interesting to see how all of the lactate, threshold, and sprint intervals help me to improve. I hate them when I'm doing them, but I think that they will help me to get faster.

- Bricks - I need to make sure that I'm working on the transition from cycling to running with minimal cramping and slowing. I want to be able to get off the bike not feeling so wobbly and get into my running groove sooner than the 1 mile mark.

- Core strength and flexibility - I want to keep working on that and get that in place because I know it will help my overall performance in my triathlons.

Achieved Goals for May

- Speed workouts - I did get all of my speed workouts done on the run this past month, so I
managed to achieve this goal.

- Ride outside - I did not achieve this goal, sometimes due to weather, but sometimes due to my fear of riding alone outside. I think that my dad and I can ride together outside at least twice a week, and I'm hoping to force myself to head outside once a week on my own. I've been scoping out some routes and I'm feeling much more comfortable in my pedals, so I'll definitely need to keep working on this.

- Bilateral breathing - I have not been doing this since I've been in UT, so I need to start back into that. I think that part of that may be the altitude, but it's also a little bit of staying in my comfort zone as well.

- Flexibility/Core work - I think I've done 2 flexibility and core workouts in May, so I guess that's better than none. However, I need to hit those at least once a week. My mom has mentioned that she'd like to try yoga, so maybe I can start doing that to fit these workouts in.

- Lose 5 lbs. - Well, I don't remember what I weighed on May 1, but I think I've lost 3-4 lbs. Part of that is just being on my feet more with my job, but I've also been eating out ALOT less and eating much more nutritious food. I'll take the loss and I hope to continue to see the scale drop.

Goals for June

- Finish the BAM triathlon feeling strong and good. - I'm a little worried about this course because it's at a higher altitude, the water will be cold, there will be hills on both the bike and run courses, etc. It's also my first olympic distance tri, so I'm a little uncertain about how it will go.

- Continue to lose some weight. I guess I should go get on the scale this morning to see where I am, so that I can get a better handle on how that's going.

- Skip less run workouts.

- Work on my cycling, especially on maintaining speed over varying terrain.

- Miss less than 10 planned workouts this month.

I think that will work for this month. It was interesting to note that I missed the same number of workouts in May as I did in April, so I'll have to work on that. However, I will be traveling in June for a week, so I'll have to keep that in mind. I'm off to get some breakfast and start getting ready for the day.