Monthly Summary - November 2010

Here's November 2010:

Swim: 8,925 yards
Cycling (outdoors): 44.5 miles
Cycling (indoors): 1:10 (hours)
Run: 121.3 miles
Strength Training/Yoga: 6 sessions

Approximate monthly total training/racing time: 37:05

Weight: No idea. The scale at home said 153 this morning, which I think is just as wrong as the 173 it showed 10 days ago. Whatever.

During November my goal was to go from active recovery to just plain active. I met that goal fairly well, particularly when it comes to running. During the first ten days of the month, I ran 30 miles, with a long run of 8 miles. During the second 10 days of the month, I ran 34 miles, with a long run of 10 miles. During the last 10 days, I ran 57 miles with a long run of 14 miles. The "bump" at the end of the month might look like I'm setting myself up for injury by increasing the mileage too much too quickly. Sure, I might be - and in fact, my left hip started bothering me a little the other day. I skipped my scheduled run today and am hoping it's nothing.

I swam and rode the bike more this month, though "more" is truly a relative term. My 8,925 yards is more than I've swam in a month since March, but a far far cry from the amount of swimming I was regularly doing each month in 2009. And my 44 miles on the bike is a joke - it was two rides in the same week. I do hope to get more swimming and cycling into my weekly routine for the next few months. The struggle is how to do that and still get in the running I want to do. For the rest of winter and spring, I'd like to get on the bike and in the pool at least once each week. The pool should be easy. Incorporating the bike back into training will be harder.

A brief health update: I had a follow-up with the neurosurgeon the other week and everything is looking good. Even he agrees that I don't need to limit my activity in any way. On Friday, I'm headed back to UCLA for a CT simulation in the radiation oncology department. That appointment is to set me up for radiation treatment, which should start next week or so. The bad news is that they'll be shooting me with radiation every weekday for 28 days. The good news is that it shouldn't have any substantial side effects. According to the doctors, I'll go in every morning, get set up in the machine, get zapped for a minute or two, then leave. No special diet, no other meds. They don't expect that I'll have any side effects and it shouldn't affect my life or my training. I've written "should" a few times in there. That's because I won't really know until I try it. But I trust the docs and will keep my fingers tightly crossed!

Getting back into it and making race plans!

Yes, that is actually me on a bike! For the first time in months and months and months, I met up with the Saturday PCH ride group and went for a group ride. Wow. It was a blast! I cut the ride a little short and just did a relatively chill 29 mile out and back - I did do the Pepperdine climb, but definitely did not even think about tackling any of the canyon climbs. It was fun to be on the bike and fun to hang with the group.

Part of the inspiration to get out and ride was that our new kits came in last week. You can sorta see it above, but trust me, they're friggin' hot!

I've been running about every other day. I'm still keeping it really flat and still run/walking, but today I did over 8 miles at 9 minutes running and 1 minute walking. I'll be running without the walk breaks soon enough!

I'm also starting to put together my 2011 race schedule. The first race I've signed up for is Survival of the Shawangunks, also know as "SOS", a race that I did in 2008 (my race report is here) and still ranks in my top-3 races I've done. It's September 11, 2011 in New Paltz, NY. SOS is a crazy race that is only loosely a "triathlon" - 8 stages: 35 mile bike, then 4.5 mile run, 1.1 mile swim, 5.5 mile run, 0.5 mile swim, 8 mile run, 0.5 mile swim, 0.7 mile run. There is only one transition area, right after the bike. At that point, you put on your run shoes and grab your goggles and swim cap. You have to run carrying your swim stuff and swim carrying your run shoes. The running is on trails and the swimming is in three lakes. It's a small race (250 participants) and it sold out online in about 12 minutes. I'm super psyched that Cat and Jeff both signed up as well.

I'm still working on the rest of my 2011 schedule... will keep you posted!