Welcome to February

It's supposed to hit 70 degrees in Raleigh today.  I don't know what this is but I kind of like it.  Actually I'm hoping for a good hard freeze this month so it will kill off all of the insect larvae before they can hatch and we get overrun by mosquitos this summer.  And if it's 70* today, it's going to get up to about 170* in August.  So, pleasant as it may be, it could be more destructive long term.

That doesn't mean I won't put the top down when I drive out to lunch with some friends today.

So what happened in January?  Well, there was a marathon and lots of yoga.

Swim: 10,400 yards, 4 swims
Bike: 82 miles, 4 rides
Run: 61.8 miles, 9 rides, 2 races
Strength: 5 workouts
Yoga: 26 sessions

Yes, I'm well on my way to the 300 yoga sessions on the year.  I've really gotten the beginning Ashtanga poses down and can see some real progress in my flexibility, comfort and strength for those particular poses.  That's really cool.  The Charleston Marathon was great overall, but it should have been called the "North Charleston Marathon" because the majority of the course was outside of Charleston on rough unkempt roads that destroyed many body parts of the runners.  It was great having that much time with our friends Joe and Gina, and we loved getting to hang out with my brother Michael and Summer, but I came home with a torn up foot, Gina tore up a foot too, and Kelley's knee is still trashed.  Not Cool.

My other race was the Run for Young 5k that was also kind of a disaster, but still fun.  The hills got me, and I missed the sub-20 goal by a long shot.

Overall I have to be pleased with the mileage for last month.  It's not huge, but I don't need to put up 100+ mile months of running during the off season.  February marks the time to start training for the spring tri's, so it's time to make some decisions, pay some entrance fees, and get back to work. Lots of short, fast runs, and getting back on the bike.  Februaray's targets need to be 15,000 yards in the pool, 200+ miles of biking, and 80+ miles of running.  And I still have to work the Myrtle Beach marathon in there and recover from it.

I'm starting to think that sub-20 5k and 3:30 marathon may not happen.  I ran 5 miles on sunday in just under 41 minutes, and it felt ok.  It had been 10 days since my last run.  The foot was fine during the run, then started the inflammation again about an hour after I finished.  My legs hit muscle fatigue really early, and my breathing was more labored than it has been at that pace in a long time.  When you do marathons and ironman your overall muscular and aerobic capacity builds like you are climbing to the top of a mountain, and now it feels like I'm coming down the other side and losing all of that speed again.  And that feels like a good thing.  You take the time off to heal and recover, then come back and start climbing that hill again.  Like you have to get slow to get faster.  So if getting slow now means no sub-20 5k or 3:30 marathon (at least for the spring), then I'm ok with that.  I have to be.

It should also mean a fast triathlon season in the summer.  Maybe I'll crush some run splits there.  The swimming is starting to feel really comfortable and fast this year.  I'm still mentally having trouble getting back on the bike, but I'm sure that will pass in this warm weather.  And I'm pretty sure this foot thing will heal up ok too in short order.  Here's hoping that your January was that good!  Now get on the mat!

p.s.  I forgot to mention the new header image.  Evil Genius came up to me while I was working the other day and showed me an MDot that she made out of play-doh.  She was very proud that she made it, and I didn't prompt her for the idea or anything.  It was so sweet I took a picture of it and turned that pic into an awkward blog header image.  I wish I had zoomed out more, and made the image shorter and wider.  Alas, my photoshop skills are not that good.