April in Review

I'm definitely a few days late with this post, but oh well, better late than never, right?

Here are the stats:

Swim total: 2,000 meters

Bike: 4.5 hours/43.66 miles

Run total: 56.7 miles

Strength: Didn't keep track this month, but if I had to guess I'd say approx. 2 hours

Race: 5 miler, 35:55, 7:11 per mile average pace

I very obviously slacked way off on the swimming. My regular pool was still closed for renovations the entire month (but it supposedly opens tomorrow), and I only managed to sneak into the local college pool free of charge twice. I swam 1,000 meters each time, hence the 2,000 meter total. I did, however, discover the benefits of evening swimming. Easier to sneak in, hardly anyone else in the pool, and extremely relaxing before bed. Hopefully I'll put it into practice a bit more often this month!

I'm feeling pretty good about my biking for the month of April. I did an hour and 25 minutes more than I did in March, and since I was able to take the bike off the trainer and get outside, I got to track my mileage. I still definitely need to work on the biking, my quad muscles are just not all there yet for the sport. I need to do some 20+ mile rides, and work on my technique on the hills. I better hit the bike path this month!

I was really worried about my running in April, after suffering from some pretty bad shin splints. I took a couple of stretches of 3-5 days of off running completely. But I'm surprisngly happy with my total mileage, after all. I'm less than a mile off of what I ran in March. I attribute that to less "junk miles." Yeah, I took some extra days off, but I only skipped shorter runs, and I made up for it by running longer on other days. My long runs are all on track for my half marathon in June! 

I totally stopped keeping track of my strength training because I was less structured about it in April. Normally it's at least 45 minutes per week in a class at my gym, but I think I only made it to the class once, possibly twice, and the rest of the time I just did some strength and core work at home whenever I had the time/motivation. 

The one race I ran at the beginning of April was a 5-miler, and I "bandited" it. That means I didn't register, or pay, and I ran without a bib. I just veered off the course right before the finish line. The time is what I registered on my Garmin (and yes it did tell me I had gone the full 5 miles when I stopped my watch). If you're wondering why I decided to bandit, there are a few reasons, not the least of which is that I'm cheap frugal. I was iffy about the whole thing because of the shin splints, and I thought it'd be a waste to pay the registration fee only to have to drop out halfway through because I was in pain. Luckily adrenaline kicked in and I was totally fine, and didn't injure myself further. Also, the race was sponsored by (and I think benefited) my company's competitor, but really, that had nothing to do with me not paying the fee...really...honest...

So that's April. Once again, I find myself needing to create more balance. I'm always much further ahead in one aspect than another, and I just need to be more consistent across the board!

Luckily I started May off with a bang...well, with a triathlon, actually. Stay tuned for a race report!