Sunday, January 31, 2010

A month down already

One month down already?

My goals for the year are to really up my consistency and mileage both running and on the bike. So far, at least one of the goals is going well. The main focus of the first half or so of the year is running so I'm not too upset with that.

This month I really worked on being consistent on my runs as I built my mileage for the February 14th marathon and the Bull Run Run in April. I think it paid off, for the most part. I kept the number of runs per week around 4 or 5 on average and built from my usual 20 mile week the first week up to a 40 mile week, which included a 21 miler in the 4th week of the year (Monday through Sunday and including the last couple days of '09 as week 1, though my monthly total includes strictly January miles).

I felt good overall and once my legs got used to the consistency they started to settle in well and feel less fatigue on subsequent days. My only issue was a sore ankle which I think was caused by some heavy ankle kicking during a run with cass where she kept tripping me up. Not a major issue but it was lingering a little bit.

Then, this final week of January I came down with a devil of a stomach bug and said goodbye to my month long consistency. It may have been a blessing in disguise as it really gave the nagging ankle soreness the time to properly heal, which I of course wouldn't have given into otherwise. Still, seems like a slap in the face after starting off the year so well and then logging the 14 mile week on 2 easy runs. Still, the monthly running mileage was a major step up from last year and if I can even match half of it for each month for the remainder of the year I'll be well on my way to my annual goal.

January Running Mileage: 127
Road: 87
Trail: 40
Treadmill: 0 (and thats where I plan to keep it for the year...)

The cycling started to get moving with some general miles as I picked up some higher volume kevlar tires and managed to motivate to commute a few days in the warmer cold days but the return of sub-twenty degree days and wind put a quick stop to that. Did get a trainer from the folks for Christmas and managed to throw a leg over it for a solid session and unfortunately that'll likely be the bulk of my saddle time for the coming weeks as the trails stay wet from snow melt and a continuing wet winter.

January Cycling Mileage: 95
Road: 80
Mountain: 15
Trainer: 1 hr 15 mins

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