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Monthly Summary – January 2010

Here’s January:

Swim: 19,467 yards
Cycling (outdoors): 264.2 miles
Cycling (indoors): 5:50 (hours)
Run: 33.90 miles
Strength Training/Yoga: 9 sessions

Approximate monthly total training/racing time: 42.25 hours

Weight: No scale still, but I’m pretty sure it hasn’t changed much

January got off to a rough start, and while it didn’t turn out the way I thought it would, it still ended up being a pretty decent month. Obviously, I would have liked to have run more – a lot more. But sh*t happens. And I did what I was able to do. During the first half of the month when I wasn’t running at all, I spent some extra time in the pool and got in a fair amount of good miles on the bike. I’ve also been very good about keeping up with the strength training and, thanks to free yoga in the office every Thursday, adding that back into the mix after a couple years off. I know that the strength training and yoga will help with my training for the rest of the year, but if not for my forced lay-off from running, I doubt I would have dedicated the time to it. I’ve also enjoyed my Saturday morning group rides, which I’ll probably struggle to incorporate into my weekly training once the running mileage picks up.

I’m also feeling pretty good about the running right now. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I’m constantly at least a little nervous that “this” run will be my last run for a while. But so far, so good. I’m gonna stick with my two-on-one-off plan for time being and slowly increase my daily and weekly mileage. I’m hoping to start running with some of the local trail running groups this week. Slowly, slowly at first.

In response to my “What I Want” Sports Watch post last week, Cat asked how much I would be willing to pay for such a watch. It’s a good question and one I should have answered in the original post. For the “right” watch (not even the absolutely perfect watch), I’d definitely pay $250-300. I’d go higher the closer it got to that “perfect” watch. The press release for the Timex watch anticipated that it would be in that range. The Garmin Forerunner 310XT is a little more expensive. The Polar RS800CX is closer to $500, which is a little rich for my blood. The Polar is a better looking watch than the Garmin, but I don’t know why the Polar is so expensive, especially since you have to wear a GPS pod on your arm.

In celebrity-to-me sighting news, I saw Jorge Pacheco at Griffith Park yesterday morning. I went for a hike with Aaron, Dad, Charlie (dog), Charlie (future brother-in-law) and Birdie and near the start Jorge and a woman I recognize from Badwater (but can’t name) ran past us. In 2008, Pacheco won Badwater and was named Ultrarunner of the Year. I saw him at Badwater last summer, where he finished in 6th, about 80 minutes ahead of Blake. I was pretty excited to see him and get this photo – I was a little slow getting the camera out, but I swear he’s the runner in about the middle of this picture!

I also, of course, got photos of Charlie and Birdie. I haven’t posted any Charlie pictures in a while, so here you go:

Run – Jan 29
Distance: 5 miles
Time: 35 min.
Course: West Hollywood/Beverly Hills
Conditions: Sunny, 50, breezy

Swim – Jan 29
Distance: 2,734 yards (2,500 meters)
Time: 51 min.

Bike – Jan 30
Distance: 32 miles
Time: 2:24 (2:07 ride time)
Course: Marina loop, Mandeville climb
Conditions: Mostly sunny, cool (high 40’s) at start, warmed into 50’s

Run – Jan 30
Distance: 5.2 miles
Time: 36 min.
Course: Santa Monica – San Vicente and Ocean Ave
Conditions: Sunny, mid/high 50’s

Strength – Jan 31