February in review: Build, build, build

A solid February.

February was a solid month. My theme was "build," and I feel I nailed all of my goals for swimming, biking and running in addition to creating an even better base from January.

My actual goals for the month were:

I'm going to try adding a few more days of swimming and biking. Success! I added an additional bike and an additional swim day every other week. It's still much less volume than what "real" triathletes do, but it felt manageable to only worry about one extra session per week. And I've noticed my swim times are improving. Coincidence? I think not.

I want to hit 100 miles for running again. Success! And I didn't even have to sneakily do my long run on Saturday the 28th, either. I logged 115 running miles this month -- wowee!

I want to stay on my schedule of yoga, weights and pre-hab, seriously with the pre-hab this time. I actually met my goal of 6 weight-lifting sessions, and was pretty close with 5 plyo sessions, but I only logged 3 yoga sessions and 2 pre-hab sessions this month. I'm going to keep this one on my goal list until I actually do it.

And I want to lose those three damn pounds! Kind of -- I'm down two as of yesterday. I'm going in the right direction, at least.

I've also been keeping track of my swim and run meterage/mileage the past few years, with the loose goal of doing more than I did last year:

In February 2012, I swam just fewer than 22,000 meters in 11 swims (including my first indoor triathlon!). In February 2013, I swam 16,000 meters in 8 swims. And in February 2014, I swam 17,400 meters in 8 swims. 

This February 2015, I swam 10 times for 26,800 meters, which is my best February since I started keeping track. Success!

In February 2012 I was still building back from a tibial stress fracture, so I wasn't doing much running at all. In February 2013, I ran 114 miles while training for a spring marathon. In February 2014 I ran 45.5 miles.

But this February 2015, I logged a total of 115 running miles -- my best February since I started keeping track and one more than the last time I did a spring marathon! Once again, wowee!

Overall, I'm very happy with how the month shook out -- and a short month, at that.

March is going to be a weird month, as the family is going down to Florida for my sister's wedding. As a result, I'm not going to make any real goals beyond "keep doing what you're doing" -- alternate 2 and 3 swims per week, alternate 3 and 4 bike rides per week, run 100 miles, keep up with the "other" workouts, and lose a couple pounds. I plan on taking my swimsuits and running shoes with me, but training will not be the priority that week, and I'm OK with that.

If February's goal was "build," March's goal will be "build some more" -- and have a strong base come race season.