I'll Call January a Success!

Well thank goodness we are through January - that puts us another month closer to Summer!  I can't wait for warmer weather when I can go outside and run with just shorts and a tank.  Not to mention bike and swim outside!

January was mostly good.  I definitely feel like a triathlete again.  I'm still not swimming as much as I need to, but getting in the pool at all in January is a step in the right direction.  It's starting to feel much better.  Those first few swims were just miserable with arms and lungs burning, but I'm starting to find my rhythm again.  Which is awesome!  My first outdoor tri is in early May and I'm already a little concerned with the how cold the swim is going to be.  I think we are in for a COLD one unless we get a warm-up soon!  I'm hoping to do an indoor tri this year as a "warm-up" race to really see where I'm at.

Anyway, back to January.  So here are the totals for January.  Not bad for a re-building month

Swim: 1.79 Miles (4 Swims) 2 hours 1 Minute
Bike:  172.63 Miles (11 Bikes) 12 Hours 3 Minutes
Run:  67.76 Miles (15 Runs) 14 Hours and 4 Minutes
Bricks: 3 Total (1 Bike/Run Only; 2 Swim/Bike/Runs)

I wasn't really good about tracking my strength training/core work, but I've been doing this a minimum of 2 days a weeks!  So all in all a great month of training.  I still need to be doing a lot more, but I'm getting there.

I also had a really encouraging 10 mile run on Sunday (technically Feb).  The roads were totally ice covered, so my options were to go run on an indoor track or treadmill it.  I decided on the lesser of two evils - the indoor track.  Luckily the track wasn't too busy.  It is totally mind numbing to run around and around in a circle on a 1/14 mile track.  You feel like you are never getting anywhere - 14 laps to a mile = ugh.  Luckily I have a Garmin footpod to help track my mileage instead of trying to keep up with all those laps.  I'm not sure I could accurately track 140 laps...no way. 

Anyway, while I realize the terrain is a little easier since it's totally flat I was really happy with my overall pace and stamina.  I would run a mile and then walk one lap, so it helped break the run up a little bit. I was able to maintain my pace pretty well the entire 10 miles which was really encouraging.  My last few long runs I've completely run about of steam after about 7 or 8 miles and finished the last few miles way slower than I started, but not Sunday!  My last two miles were actually faster than the most of my miles for the run.  Winning!

I have a half marathon coming up in just under three weeks and I was starting to get a little worried, so this was a nice confidence builder.  It seems like FOREVER since I did a race.  I'm really looking forward to it, and hoping we'll have nice weather.  It's been a truly miserable winter.

So how is your training going?  How are you dealing with this Winter weather (if you have it)?

I'll leave you with a hysterical video if you haven't seen it.  If you have ever ran a marathon, you will totally be able to relate to this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ItnxJLAOeY

And here we go with those "almost" numbers again.  I'm at 98 FB "Likes"...98!  Let's make it 100 please :)  So if you haven't already will you please "like" my page?

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Slowly-Tri-ing/1406349506248119