July in review: Solid quarantraining and some decent wins

Hey guys. I've been trying to keep busy for my own sanity, and my life lately has pretty much been dog walks, work, dog walks, work, train, dinner, bed. I find this helps me focus on what I can control and not ruminate on all the disaster happening in the world.

I was pleasantly surprised when I added up my July totals, which is always a good thing for me. It wasn't my best recent month, but I feel like it was moderately accomplished. I went for two long outdoor bike rides, I was consistent with the easy runs as whatever is going on with my hip started feeling better, I consistently lifted weights twice a week, and I got back in the pool.

I am bummed I didn't do more yoga and PT; I only did yoga once per week and averaged twice per week for PT. But, getting to the pool and going out to the park for a long ride is a lot more difficult logistically than doing resistance band dryland moves for 15 minutes or an extra yoga session, so I'm OK with a little bit of sacrifice for swims and outdoor rides.

My last few runs, I have been really focusing on high knees and good form, and it seems to be helping, so I'm hopeful that I can start to build my run mileage back up again soon.

Not a shabby month at all.

Anyway, for July, I logged:

Bike: 13 rides, two outside for 73.5 road miles and 11 times inside for 205.5 fake trainer miles, for just less than 19 hours. This is a great month for me.

Hey, my best biking month by volume for the past year! Hooray!

Run: 14 times, all on the road, for 77 miles in about 13 hours, 17 minutes. Not a bad month, considering these were all easy runs of about 5 miles so I wouldn't aggravate my hip any more.

All easy mileage for July as my hip is feeling a lot better.

Weights: 8 times; including 3 videos, 3 online barre sessions, and 2 times doing my heavy/body routine; for about 8 hours, 40 minutes. This is a really good month for me. I also added on a few sets of chinups and pushups to my barre and videos for a little something extra.

Pre-hab: 10 times for about 6 hours. Not great, but it was still at least twice per week.

Swim: Hooray! Swimming! I got to the pool 6 times for 9600 meters in about 4.5 hours. This was twice per week for three weeks, taking one week off for a perfect storm of exhaustion and a power outage.

Yoga: Just four times for a bit more than an hour. I'd like to bump this up to twice per week, but I'm having trouble making room for that extra session.

Total: 55 sessions in about 52.5 hours. Still a helluva month.

I was patting myself on the back pretty hard until I flipped back to the last few months and saw that this still didn't come close to May, when I logged 64 sessions in 58 hours. What the heck was I doing in May??? Like I mentioned before, dryland and indoor training is a lot easier logistically, and I didn't go to the pool or ride outside at all in May. So, there ya go. But, this isn't a numbers competition. I'd much rather ride and swim outside even if it results in fewer training sessions overall.

I ended the month healthy, sane, and still married, so I consider it a success. I am hopeful this base will keep me in good shape physically and mentally for whatever is yet to come.

Stay safe out there!