January in review: Cold, a cold, and biking and running too

I finally have a very quick minute to breathe, now that January has wrapped up but before I head out of state for a wedding. The first few days of February were filled with high-society activities like getting a haircut, passing out on the couch at 10 p.m., and a Super Bowl party. I don’t know how I do it.

Overall, I’m happy with how January shook out. I got off to a slow start after I returned to work in the new year, and then caught a cold. Other than that, I was pretty consistent with a bit of training after work and some longer sessions on the weekends. The cold weather kept me inside for most of the month, but I did some solid indoor workouts.

This time of year, it’s easy to become a hermit, but I successfully went out with friends and family a few times. It wasn’t completely work, train, cook, sleep, repeat. Another fun thing I did in January was re-watch almost all of Game of Thrones in preparation of the final season in a couple months; it’s been my husband’s and my fun little tradition to watch it from the beginning before every new season. That has been something to look forward to most evenings as we eat dinner.

But back to training. January consisted of:

Biking mileage over the past 13 months.

Running over the past 9 months.

Bike: 11 times, all on the trainer, for 180.25 fake trainer miles in about 13 hours, 40 minutes. This was an excellent month for me volume-wise, although the number of sessions could have been a bit higher. But I am putting in some solid Trainer Road sessions and did bump up my FTP a bit.

Run: 9 times, once on the road and 8 on the treadmill, for 65 miles in about 11 hours, 55 minutes. This is a solid month for me, not my best since I started rebuilding, but within a good range. Most importantly to me is that I’m rebuilding slowly and smartly, and increasing that weekend long run for a potential spring half marathon.

PT: 7 times for about 4:30. I need to get this up to 3-4 times per week, so I could definitely improve here. I heard the phrase “target-rich environment” at work a few weeks ago and I think this is a perfect use for it.

Weights: 4 sessions that include 2 barre classes, 1 video and 1 heavy/body session in a bit longer than 4 hours. Eh, it’s still an average of once per week, so I’ll take it.

Yoga: 4 sessions for just over an hour total. Again, I’ll take a once-per-week average (although in reality it was twice per week to start the month and then nothing), working toward twice.

Total: 35 sessions in about 35 hours, 15 minutes. Not quite as monster of a month as both November and December were, but pretty solid.

I didn’t make it to the pool at all last month. I just couldn’t summon the motivation to go out in the cold and drive to a place where I would get wet.

I also set some casual goals and picked a phrase for the year, so let’s look at those:

- Continue to rebuild running, SMARTLY: So far, so good. On the right path.

- Make my PT as much of a priority as running. Room for improvement.

- Keep cycling on the trainer until it's nice enough to cycle outside. Test my FTP regularly and get better. Yes and yes. I successfully increased my power a few weeks ago toward my goal. On the right path.

- Figure out a pool schedule that works and get over my swimming anxiety. No progress this month.

- Stick with my weights routine/rotation. On the right path. I did successfully find new squat/lunge moves that don’t aggravate my knee.

- Get into a good yoga groove. On the right path.

And my phrase of the year: ARRIVE, DRIVE, STRIVE, THRIVE, ALIVE. I’ve been working on 1 and 2 and maybe a little of 3; I am showing up, even when I don’t want to (most of the time). I’m doing the workouts, and working toward improving. “Thrive” and “Alive” are still works in progress.

I designate January “so far, so good.” Some solid progress, some room for improvement, a bit of hard work, and a bit of fun. Hopefully this sets a good tone for the rest of 2019.