Steve in a Speedo?! Gross!: February 2019

Thursday, February 28, 2019

A Non-Snowy Bike Memory

Two years ago, I was setting Garmin records. OUTSIDE.

I left my first comment on this as well because you see I was noting how I rode the same segment TWO WEEKS PRIOR. Ugh. And here we are with 3 feet of snow on the ground. The snowiest February on record, and the 4th snowiest month on record. Two years ago, I logged 141 miles outside on my bike in February. I may not be outside on my tri bike until April this year.

But also, that explains why I was so good at the multisport races in 2017. I need to remember that and keep hitting the trainer hard.

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Semi-Wordless Wednesday: TV on the Treadmill

Last week, I ran a long run, then an interval run, and finally I ended the week with an easy run. During that final easy run, I watched a New Orleans-based cooking show:

Torture. Sweet, delicious torture.

Monday, February 25, 2019

Consistent Running!!

I showed a graph at the end of last December showing that I had run 20+ miles/week 11 out of 16 weeks leading up to that. Here's the updated graph for the last 25 weeks, dating back to the first full week of September (showing 19 out of 25 weeks of 20+ miles):

The last half of Dec. through the Indoor Tri in Feb, I had 7 straight weeks of 20+ miles!

I've ran 514.61 miles over these last 25 weeks, or an average of 20.58 miles/week. By the end of this week, I'll have 26 weeks, or approximately 6 months of solid running weeks. I would expect to be around 535 miles after this week. Back in 2012 (my highest milage running year EVER with colicky baby Henry in the stroller), I ran 537 miles over the last 6 months of the year, to end with 1,027 total. So after this week (GOD WILLING), I expect to be around 2 mile shy of one of my best 6 month running streaks ever!

Another thing that makes this stretch so nice is how consistent I've been. In 2012, I would run a lot more sporadically. I know I logged over 70 miles over 2 weeks once, but then the month or 2 before that had only 63 miles TOTAL (over 4+ weeks).

In all of 2012, I had 5 consecutive weeks of 20+ miles around April, and 4 to start the year in Jan, but otherwise there were only 2 or 3 week stretches of 20+ miles/week.

In the last 25 weeks (as the graph at the top shows), I had 7 consecutive weeks of 20+ miles. And another 6 consecutive just before that (with a week of less miles between those 2 stretches because of some knee pain).

Here's what all of 2012 looks like on a WEEKLY graph, compared to the last 52 weeks of 2018-2019:

Weekly swim, bike, and run totals in 2012 (my biggest running year ever).

Weekly swim, bike, and run totals over the last 52 weeks.

Slightly more even right now. (With a LOT more swimming! It was hard to get to the pool with a little one.) Those graphs are also on different scales, so if I were to smush the 2012 graph to be on the same scale as the 2018/19 graph, they would read like this:

The volume difference isn't surprising based on the fact
that now we don't have a crabby baby at home 24/7.

And 1 final note about my recent nearly half-year of running: I had NO skipped runs! I did 3 runs every week except for 3 times: the week after "One Last Tri," the week after the "TC 10 Mile," and the week of some knee pain in December. All of those times were times I knew I needed to rest a bit. When we went to Mexico, I got in all my runs. This HORRIBLY snowy February, I got in all my runs. (It's officially the snowiest February on record, and we're now in the top-10 of snowiest months EVER on record.) With all of Henry's and Charlie's missed school days because of the cold and/or snow, I got in all my runs.

I'm hoping this leads to a fast/healthy racing season!!

Saturday, February 23, 2019

Quick Running Update

No time for a big post right now. (Hopefully more on Monday.) My parents were up yesterday and I took my Mom (who's been teaching piano for 40+ years) out for a fun meal at Zelo, and then to the MN Orchestra for the FIRST time! I posted these 4 pics on Instagram:

At Zelo.

I had some tasty duck!

At our seats at the MN Orchestra. Some of the best seats in the house!

Five minutes before it started.

Anyway, on to a quick running update...

I had a pretty solid week! I hit 22 miles of running for the week, which is about the farthest I've ran over these last few months. I had a long run (on the treadmill) on Tuesday of 10.75 miles! I hope to go more than 11 this next Tuesday (as I have time between class and a faculty meeting).

Wednesday was a decently hard trainer ride.

Thursday was more 1 mile intervals like I did 3 weeks ago and posted about a few days ago. Three weeks ago, I averaged 5:32/mile pace for 3x1 mile intervals. Two days ago, I averaged under 5:29/mile. Moving in the right direction!

Today, I just ran easy (on the treadmill again, because we got more snow last night - my wife turned around a mile into her run this morning).

Tomorrow, I plan on just spinning for 60-80 minutes without much effort. It's been a solid week, and I don't want to hurt myself. Next week, I'd like to do another long run on Tuesday as I mentioned, and then maybe hit the bike hard a few times. Maybe it can be a "focus on the bike" week.

Back with more soon!