June Training

Today is July 1 and I knew that I needed to sit down and work on this entry; however, I really didn't want to. My June training was an absolute disaster and I'm completely embarassed to note my lack of training, but I knew that I needed to do it because...well, I can't really think of a good reason other then to be accountable to myself and to you all. So, here goes...

Total Training Time - 13 hours 16 minutes
# of Training Days - 11
# of Planned Workouts - 35
# of Skipped Workouts - 24 (7 Run, 8 Bike, 8 Swim, 1 Brick)

Wow...That looks so awful when it's written down like that. I really have no good excuses for having such a terrible training month. I think I trained less than 3 hours a week and I maybe completed 3 workouts a week. I didn't include my unplanned workouts like running or hiking, so I wasn't completely inactive, just lazy trainingwise.

Improvements

Run - I finally had a good run time this year. I ran the 5k at the Cache Valley Classic Tri in the same time as last year, which made me feel like I may be coming back into my running.

Racing - I took 9 minutes off of my Cache Valley Classic Tri time. I also completed the BAM triathlon, eventhough I wanted to quit through the entire swim and the entire run.

Bike - I had a great ride at the BAM tri and have finally started to enjoy riding.

Swim - I smiled during the swim during the Cache Valley Classic tri.

Things to Work On

- Staying motivated with my training. Looking back at my training logs and the month of June, I realized that I was struggling with some burnout and fatigue, that was somewhat out of my control. I raced 4 weekends in a row, which is hard on the body. I'm not sure that I would go back and change my race schedule, because I truly love to race, but I am hoping that as my fitness continues to develop, that I'll be able to maintain the race schedule that I love, and not have the fatigue.

- Getting enough sleep. I need to find some sort of balance in going to bed early enough so that waking up at 4:35am is not so tough. It's tricky with the summer schedule and such, but I need to just go to bed, regardless of what else is going on.

- Dial in my nutrition for the 1/2 IM. I'm so not good with nutrition and I really struggle with figuring out what works for me. I have determined that the poptart is a good pre-race meal, but I need to start taking in more calories during the race so that I don't bonk. I'm not sure if nutrition was an issue during BAM, but the more I think about it, the more that I think it might have been. This is something that I can definitely work on, so I just need to make sure and plan so that I can see how it all works.

Achieved Goals for June

- Well, I only achieved one of my goals for June which was to finish BAM feeling good and strong. I did do this, even with an incredibly awful run time/experience. I do not plan on doing that race again because I truly hated the run course. I will definitely be doing more long course events and I LOVED the bike course/ride during that race, so I'm looking forward to having more experiences like that.

- I forgot to weigh myself this morning, but I did think about it and then promptly forgot to actually do it. I'm not sure if I've gained or lost, and I've already eaten breakfast and drank some water, so I don't think my weight would be accurate.

Goals for July

- Complete my training for the month. I'll be going to Hawaii for 10 days, so this will be tricky, but I do want to make sure and make the most of my training because my 1/2 IM is only 38 days away.

- Journal my food. I do better on managing/losing my weight when I'm journaling, so I need to get back in the habit of doing this.

- Nail down a nutrition plan for the 1/2 IM. I need to practice taking in calories during training to see how they workout so that I can plan appropriately for races. I have a 3 1/2 hr. ride this week and I've got my nutrition planned (300 calories per hour) to see how that goes.

- Race well in the Cache Valley Super Sprint Triathlon. This tri has a pool swim, a 12.4 mile bike, and a 5k. I would like to see if I can drop some time on my bike (especially after the Cache Valley Classic. I would also like to push myself on the run a bit more. The swim is a pool swim, so I'm not worried about that at all.

I think that's enough for now. Like I said earlier, this was a tough post to commit to words and I'm bummed that I had such a bad training month, especially when things had been going so well. I guess I need to just chalk it up to experience and take note so that I can continue to learn and improve in my training and knowledge.