March was something between a lion and a lamb

Minutes trained in March.

Considering I was out of the country for the first third of March, I’m pretty happy with how the month shook out. Add in that I only ran three times before my hamstring pain got to be too much, and my totals make much more sense.

My training was nothing to write home about but I was relatively consistent. Bike trainer-ing was on point. Weights weren’t too shabby. I made it to the pool. And I dusted off my boxing bag to replace some of the running.

We had another spell of cold weather and that, combined with me only running a few times, means I didn’t get outside at all after my vacation. Sad face. However, it’s looking like the weather forecast for the next week or so includes temperatures in the 50s and 60s, and I am hopeful that my hamstring will have calmed down enough to do a test run before too long.

March worked out to be:

Bike: Nine times, all on the trainer, for 149.75 (so close!) fake trainer miles in just less than 11 hours. I’m pretty proud of this: The three weeks I was in the country, I logged solid, consistent rides. Go, me! I know I need to re-test my FTP soon but man, I don’t want to. Some days I feel I am barely holding my target watts in the warmup! I’m going to give it another week or two and suck it up.

PT: Five times for about 4.5 hours. Eh, not terrible, not great either. I had a couple weeks of nothing and a couple weeks of multiple times per week. It’s so hard for me to find the time during the work week. I really do the best I can but there are only so many hours in a day.

Weights: Four times – two heavy/body sessions, one barre class, and one video – for about 4.5 hours. I’ll take a 1-2 times per week average as a success.

Run: Sigh. Only three times, twice on the road while in Buenos Aires and once on the treadmill after I got back, for 12.5 miles in about 2.5 hours. The BA runs hurt and the treadmill run when I got back hurt more, so I’m taking a break while I go back to PT and figure out how I can course correct. Blech.

Swim: Another minor victory for March was that I made it back to the pool for the first time in months. I just did kickboard and pull buoy drills, as I’m still trying to get my sense of the water back. I meant to swim a mile so I did 1600 yards… forgetting that when it’s a yard pool I usually do 1750 yards. Oops. Well, I’ll do an extra three laps next time.

Other: Because I’m not running, there were two sessions where I needed to warm up before I did PT or a weights workout, so I dusted off my boxing gloves and bag and did 20 minutes of combinations from my cardio kickbox days each time. It was fun to shake it up a bit.

Total: 24 sessions in about 23.75 hours. Not shabby at all.

I did completely neglect any yoga, which I’m not happy about, looking back. Boo.

I made a few loose goals at the beginning of the year:

- Continue to rebuild running, SMARTLY. I thought I was being smart, but apparently not smart enough. My run is now officially in the shop.

- Make my PT as much of a priority as running. Well, now I’m back in actual PT instead of just doing my homework, so this became true by necessity.

- Keep cycling on the trainer until it's nice enough to cycle outside. OK! This one I’ve done.

- Figure out a pool schedule that works and get over my swimming anxiety. I made baby step progress this month but baby step progress is still progress.

- Stick with my casual lifting rotation of videos, barre class, and a heavy/body routine. Success!

- Get into a good yoga groove. I was unsuccessful this month.

- I would also like to do a sprint triathlon again this year. The jury is still out on this one. Right now I would be happy with any kind of running race this year.

And my phrase of the year: ARRIVE, DRIVE, STRIVE, THRIVE, ALIVE.

Arrive: I have been showing up.

Drive: I have been putting my head down and doing the work in some aspects. I’m working on the others.

Strive: Working to improve is a work in progress.

Thrive: I am still enjoying my training. I love the work, the challenge, and the reward.

Alive: I’ve done both training and non-training stuff that have made me feel alive: traveling, hanging out with family, sleeping in, going to brunch. And punching a boxing bag, working toward multiple actual hanging pullups in a row, etc.

I have lots of work to do in April but I think I can do it. And if I can’t, I want to have fun trying.