Ciao May Fun

April turned out to be completely insane. We had this work on the bathroom remodel going all. month. long. It had the entire house turned upside down, and Kelley got super stressed about it. Also her mother made the move up to NC, finally. She closed on a condo about 4 miles from us so we spent a lot of our weekends getting her setup over there. I am so glad she's in town now! But I'm also glad that April is behind me.

Neena getting settled in

Swim: 4800 yards, 2 swims
Bike: 10 miles, 1 ride
Run: 97 miles, 4 runs, 1 race
Strength: 9 times
Yoga: 4 times

Obviously clearing 75 miles in the Umstead 100 was the athletic highlight for the month of April. It was also my primary goal for the year. The most shocking thing was that I ran 3 other times on the month. The recovery time was exaggerated by a sinus flare-up which has finally started to die down but is still sometimes problematic, even in early May. 13 days after the race I did some bodyweight strength stuff, then on the 16th got on the bike to spin my legs out. My feet took a for the swelling to go down, but using those muscles again really took a while.

My next goal is to get my bench press up to 225 lbs. That's two 45 lb plates on each side of the bar. I'll call it a win when I just get it up once, but I've got a way to go. The plan I'm using for this started on 4/18 in earnest. I'm trying to focus on chest days on Mondays and Thursdays, but supposed to be lifting 5 days a week. So far it's going really well. My initial test for my 1 rep max came in at 185 lbs, that's a 45 and a 25 lb plate per side. So I've got 40 lbs to go.

I'm also starting to get ready for triathlon season, trying to swim/bike/run twice per sport per week. So far, I've only been able to hit the Tuesday evening swim practice. Turns out North Carolina's most idiotic regulation ever (HB2 or the Bathroom Bill) is keeping jobs away and existing hiring managers are going dark. That means I'm still driving to Durham every day and unable to make my favorite noon swim practices. That stupid, discriminatory law is really messing me up - it's not who we are in NC and it is costing us big time.

4/4 was a beautiful day

4/15 hey it was cooler but I had to help my MIL get moved in

I got a few good chances for driving with the top down. That bottom pic I had to haul a ladder over to MIL's new condo - not an easy feat in a 2 seater. You'll also notice the beard is gone, it didn't last long after the Umstead.

Also obvious after seeing those pictures, Ciao May Fun is a reference to my favorite chinese food Chow Mei Fun. Recovery eating has led straight into weightlifting bulk eating and it has not been kind to my waistline. Usually this time of year I'm either going through a weight loss phase or base building into a training plan for something big, not chugging my way into the offseason. About time to get beach ready?

Ciao May Fun is also a clever way to say hello to a new month where it's not summertime hot yet, but there is a pending return to normal life. The bathroom remodel is wrapping up, Neena is getting settled in, and my first open water swim race of the summer is coming up this Sunday. Can't ask for much more!