April (is for Fools)

It's a new month so I guess that means it's time for my monthly post. Oops again.

April was a good training month. Felt like I had a breakthrough in the pool and became more efficient with my stroke; finally was able to get the bike outside a couple of times, but not nearly enough (thanks Ma Nature); and my running has gotten, dare I say it, speedy (for my standards anyway).

April #s: 497.6 miles
Swim: 30,750 yds, 17.5 miles
Bike: 395.5 miles, 22 hrs 40 minutes
Run: 84.6 miles, 13 hrs

Cumulative #s thru April: 1,757.7 miles (yikes!)
Swim: 109,175 yds, 62 miles
Bike: 1,397.5 miles, 78 hrs 20 minutes
Run: 298.2 miles, 45 hrs 25 minutes

Opened my "racing" season yesterday with the Lake Minnetonka 1/2 marathon. This was my first time doing this race, and despite it's main sponsor (Wells Fargo), it fit good into my schedule and a good chance to gauge how my training has been. After looking at the course profile I knew it wasn't going to be the flattest course, but it wasn't killer hilly either, just a lot of rolling type hills. I went into the race with somewhat high expectations. A lot of my training runs leading up to this event were feeling pretty good and at a pretty decent pace, 8:00-8:30/mile. My PR for this distance was 1:51 (8:30 pace) set 4 years ago and I was hoping to PR this time around. Race morning brought with it chilly temps in the 30s and 20+ mph headwinds so there was actually a windchill factor too (did I fail to mention this was MAY?!)!!

I started out with CC, who had already done 4 miles previously so she could get in her 17 total needed. The first mile was on the slower side @ 11:00, but most of that was due to normal race congestion and bottlenecks at many of the corners. After that it was my plan to speed up and race the event and shoot for a 1:45-1:50 finish so I started increase my SPMs (strides per minute) and weaved through the crowds. I settled into a comfortable pace and just ran my race.

At mile 5, after taking out that first mile anomaly, I figured out I was running 8 minute miles. Mile 8 came along and was still holding steady right at 8s, mile 10 same thing and I knew I was going to do it. If I had know the course a little better I may have kicked it in a little more, but I was pretty happy I was able to maintain a comfortable, consistent speed. The final 3 miles breezed by and I hit my time goal, crossing in 1:48, a new PR for 13.1 miles!!

This race, but more importantly the results, have proven the training is working. Who knows, maybe some more PRs will fall yet this year! Now, I just need to make sure I keep at it and don't stagnate. My running is getting there, swimming feels better, biking though...rethinking my first 4 months of this discipline. That'll be tomorrow night's subject (yes, I'll blog 2 days in a row!).