Monthly Summary – July 2009
Here’s July:
Swim: 26,442 yards
Cycling (outdoors): 643.9 miles
Cycling (indoors): 2:45 (hours)
Run: 158.95 miles (includes ~45 miles at Badwater)
Strength Training/Yoga: 0 session
Approximate monthly total training/racing time: 73 hours
Weight: 162.5
This was a gigantic month for me. I think it was my biggest ever in terms of total training time, amount of outside riding and maybe even running, if I include the Badwater miles (which I should).
The highlight of the month was definitely Badwater. In case you missed it and have a few spare hours to spend reading, my three part race report can be found here, here and here. I had a friggin’ blast crewing for Blake. It was a super intense experience during which I tested myself a little, made some new friends and got to see what real, serious endurance racing is all about. It fired me up for a future that will hopefully have some of my own crazy racing.
The month wasn’t all roses as I did have two pretty stupid accidents that briefly interrupted my training. Stubbing my stupid toe was dumb enough, but riding my bike on the bike path in Venice was absolutely moronic. Falling taught me a lesson that maybe I needed to learn the hard way. DON’T RIDE ON THE FRIGGIN’ BIKE PATH! So far at least, none of those injuries have materially affected my training. I missed a run or two because of my toe and one swim because of my fall. Assuming there’s no other fall-out from either injury (knock on wood!), I’ll feel like I dodged a bullet. Or two of them, actually.
The countdown timer on my watch says 30 days until the race. That feels like the right amount of time – enough time for me to get in a few more long training days and then taper my way to August 30. My body has held up well so far. I’m pretty tired right now, but given the last month, I shouldn’t be surprised. Onward!
Run – July 27
Distance: 6 miles
Time: 45 minutes
Average heart rate: 140
Course: West Hollywood/Beverly Hills
Conditions: Sunny and warm (mid 60s)
LA Tri Club Griffith Park Brick – July 28
Total Time: 2:21
Bike:
Distance: 21.3 miles
Time: 1:18
Average heart rate: 122
Transition Time: 7:00
Run:
Distance: 7.1 miles
Time: 56:11
Average heart rate: 145
Conditions: Hot and sunny at start, cooled down a bit towards end
Bike – July 29
Distance: 58.6 miles
Time: 3:19
Average heart rate: 115
Course: Culver City, Ballona Creek, Palos Verde loop
Conditions: Overcast, mid-60’s
Run – July 30
Distance: 13.5 miles
Time: 1:45
Average heart rate: 145
Course: Hollywood/Beverly Hills
Conditions: Overcast start to sunny and warm (70s)
Ocean Swim – July 31
Distance: ~3,100 yards
Time: 1:30
Workout: 10 min. warm-up run, 10 min. warm-up swim, 1x 1,200, 2x 600
Run – July 31
Distance: 7.9 miles
Time: 1:01
Average heart rate: 141
Course: Santa Monica
Conditions: Overcast, low 60’s