A little bit of everything in July

Approximate hours trained this month.

I did a wide range of activities in July. It wasn't quite as big a month as June, but I still felt good at the end of the month. I didn't do as much running or biking as last month, but I did make it to the pool twice and went to barre once a week after buying a 10-class package.

Like every month, I wish I had more time to do more stuff, but I think I did OK overall:

Run: 11 times, 10 on the road and once on the treadmill, for just more than 40 miles in about 9:21. I'm still doing a walk/run rotation, and I was able to bump up the running portions from 4 minutes to 5 minutes (still using the 2-minute walk recovery). I was able to add something that resembles speed to one or two runs. My knee had a bit of discomfort here and there but I could never not run, and it was never actual pain.

Bike: 9 times, 7 on the trainer for about 62 fake miles, and twice on the road (one long and one short ride) for 37 real miles. This worked out to just less than 9 hours in the saddle. Again, this was another case of building up a bit more strength on the bike. I usually ride for 45 minutes and then round up to the next quarter mile, and I was adding an extra gear and riding an extra mile or two within that same 45-ish minutes by the end of the month.

I only got to go on one long Saturday ride but I did sneak away on my day off Monday and get in 11 miles before it started raining. Nothing spectacular, but the fresh air did me good.

Weights: 8 sessions for just longer than 8 hours. Like I mentioned, I bought a 10-class barre package that I have two months to use up, so I was sure to go once per week for 5 total times during the month. I also squeezed in a video twice on busy days, and did one heavy/body session that included what may have been my first unassisted hanging pull-up ever.

PT: 11 homework sessions for about 6:15. Yes, this should have been more. I should be doing something at least every other day. I prioritized family and friends a lot this month over PT. My knee is feeling OK, but I need to do at least this much next month.

Swim: Hey, I made it to the pool not once, but twice! I have been doing slow drills to get my feel for the water again, so this was 3200 total meters in a slow almost 2 hours. I'm totally OK with this, as I re-start wherever I'm at, and I have been doing pretty well with avoiding the anxiety I was getting.

Yoga: Hey, I made it to my yoga mat! I only did 3 solo sessions for about an hour total, but at least it was something.

Total: 44 sessions in about 35.5 hours. Not bad!

I also like to look back at the casual goals I made for myself at the beginning of the year: 

Work through my health issues and re-start a training schedule that gets me back to racing. I feel like I'm getting there. I did a fun 5K in July and am adding more running time to my run/walks. I changed around my thyroid medication and am feeling better. This is a work in progress.

Run some cool places, maybe another marathon. I didn't really do this for July. I ran a lot of laps around my neighborhood.

Work on whole-body health, incorporating things like yoga and pre-hab. Not as much as I would have liked, but yes.

Keep a healthy work-life-training-family-friends-other balance. I hung out with family and friends quite a bit, and took a couple days off for myself.

Have fun. Barbecues with friends, family parties, a wedding, hanging out at the pool -- all fun.

I don't want to set any mileage goals or anything because I don't know if my knee will behave, but I hope August brings me more healthy running, more outdoor rides, some swimming, and other fun stuff.