May - By the Numbers

I think I'm officially a multi-sport athlete after this month. I also think that my mileage may be unnecessary for an Oly distance tri in July. Would it be terrible if I confessed to fantasizing about a HIM in September???


Swim 32,200 yards, 10 hours
Bike 29 hours 8 minutes - all indoors
Run  93.5 miles, 13 hours 45 minutes
Other - 4 hours, miscellaneous elliptical, weights, core, walking

I'm quite pleased with both my swimming and cycling totals for this month. If I am able to continue with this amount of both, I'd be thrilled. In the coming month, after moving to Boston at the end of the week, I hope to take my cycling "to the streets" and start logging a lot of those hours outdoors. Then I'll have distances not just durations for my rides. I'm eager to see where I'm at in terms of speed given that I had done so much indoor riding over the past few months but have only been out on a real bike one time. I'm also pleased with my swimming. I think after the last few swims I have finally come around to wanting to get some pointers from a swim coach. I had been telling myself that I'm a natural swimmer; it comes easily to me; I can go for a long time without fatigue; I'm confident that my form is actually good; and my pace seems on par with the beginner triathletes' blogs I read...but after a few swims when I've watched "real" swimmers swim, its clear to me that there is a whole other speed at which swimming can happen and I'm not there. I'd like to see what I can do. I'm not a huge fan (or a fan at all) of drills (or strokes other than freestyle) but think I'd be willing to give it a few months to see if I have any untapped potential in the water. What do you think -- should I do this now or wait until the "off-season" to try to work on my speed/power.

My running has actually been relatively good this month. Was hoping to cross that 100 mile mark for the first time but I missed 2 runs which made it impossible. 93 miles is a new high for me anyway, so I'll take it. My posterior tibialis has been grumpy but no big problems (knock on wood). I had a distance PR this month of 14 miles and another solid 10.5 mile run this past weekend (both faster than my HM PR pace). I've had three days of swim-bike-run (one was swim-bike-hike, but I think that counts) and each one was more awesome than the last.

Overall, I'm really digging this HARDCORE. Cannot wait to race this July and make an honest triathlete out of myself.