Monthly Summary - May 2011

Monthly Summary – May 2011

Here’s May 2011:

Swim: 13,600 meters
Cycling (outdoors): 264.9 miles
Cycling (indoors): 0:30 (hours)
Run: 98.0 miles
Strength Training/Yoga: 6 sessions

Approximate monthly total training/racing time: 40.5 hours

Weight: ?

And with that, May is over. There was Wildflower and then it was May and now it’s June. I’m not entirely sure where it went. It was an “off” month. And I mean that in a bunch of different ways. I came out of Wildflower, needed time (more than expected) to recover, then ran the Pasadena Half Marathon, needed time (more than expected) to recover and then the month was over. I never got into a training rhythm. And I’ve been feeling particularly unsettled. I’m feeling “unsettled” for a bunch of reasons – in life primarily because we found out a few weeks ago we have to move, which is a daunting, massive pain in the ass and because I feel like there are some other life changes coming soon (exciting, I hope, but still making it hard to feel that the ground is stable beneath my feet). “Unsettled” with training because for first time in five years, summer is here and I’m not in the middle of training for a big “A” race. I really need to fix that. May was a nice break, but I’d like to focus. As I mentioned earlier this month, I won’t be adding a long race to my schedule, but I need something on the calendar to keep me motivated and alert.

The training highlight of the month was my PR at the Pasadena Half Marathon. But I bet I remember this photo a lot longer than I remember the PR:

The “life” highlight of May was a quick trip Elizabeth, the dogs and I took to Joshua Tree for Memorial Day weekend with our friends Ze and Jody. We spent two nights at the Rattler Ranch Cabins. I’d highly recommend a visit. Rattler Ranch is two cabins a few miles from the entrance to Joshua Tree – they both have a kitchen and are simple and comfortable. Going with another couple was great – we cooked, played games, read and relaxed. We went on a couple hikes – a short one with the boys and a longer one without them. We went out one night to the Joshua Tree Saloon for dinner, pool and darts.

Last year, I went for a long-ish solo run in Joshua Tree National Park. That was a great way to see a fair amount of the Park. This year, we hiked five or six miles but spent a bunch of time playing on the rock formations.

A few photos from our hike with the dogs: