August in review: More running! More biking!

I had to do this in minutes because there was so little yoga. Ha!

I knew I was on track to hit 50 running miles for the month, but I hadn't bothered to add up anything else as the 31st drew near. So I was pleasantly surprised to see that August wasn't half-bad, overall.

I did a good amount of biking and running, a satisfactory amount of weights and PT, not enough yoga, and zero swimming. I didn't do anything else, fitness-wise. August was pretty boring overall: I didn't take any trips longer than a day, I had to work a bunch of nights, etc. I did spend a bit of time with friends and work in the garden a bunch, so I did get to enjoy my summer a bit.

I mean, I would have loved to win the lottery and fart around at the pool, or on my bike, or on the running trail all day, but what I DID get done wasn't terrible:

Bike: 12 times, 11 trainer rides of 112.75 fake trainer miles total and 1 road ride of 35 miles, for a total time of about 12 hours, 13 minutes. Not bad! This is up a bit from last month. My knee felt stronger and I went longer and a bit harder on the trainer, although I do wish I could have ridden outside more than once this month.

Run: 13 times, all on the road, for 50.1 miles in about 10 hours, 15 minutes. This is longer, more frequent, AND faster overall from July. I've had the odd knee twinge but I have been careful not to push so much that I get actual pain. By building slowly and carefully, I was able to reduce my walking intervals and run a bit faster here and there.

Pre-hab/PT: 10 times, all at home, for about 6:45. This should have been double or triple, but after a long day at work I usually have time for ONE thing and that ONE thing is usually a run or a trainer ride. I need to continue to work on carving out the time and building this.

Weights: 6 times, 4 barre classes and 2 at-home heavy/body weight sessions, for about 6:30. My 10-class barre pass has kept me honest, for sure. This was down a bit from last month but there were a few Saturdays where plans with friends took priority. I need to enjoy these summer nights outside with loved ones while I still can.

Yoga: I only did one 20-minute session. Better than nothing, but I just find this hard to squeeze in among everything else.

Total: 42 sessions in just longer than 36 hours. This still works out to more than a session a day for more than an hour a day, so I really can't complain.

At the beginning of each month, I have been looking 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 do feel like I'm getting there. I have been doing actual speedy runs from time to time and have been biking on the trainer a bit more like regular training.

Run some cool places, maybe another marathon. This didn't happen this month.

Work on whole-body health, incorporating things like yoga and pre-hab. Working on this.

Keep a healthy work-life-training-family-friends-other balance. I did have a good month for hanging out with friends, celebrated my parents' 43rd wedding anniversary, and spent a day with my grandmother and aunts. All good for the soul.

Have fun. I mean, I didn't take any exotic vacations, but I did squeeze in some of this, too.

It doesn't always have to be exciting. Sometimes it's just boring ol' consistency. I hope this consistency pays off as I continue to build back my fitness.