July 2017 Training Recap

So I’m going to try something new. I rarely talk about my training, just about the end result – races. It’s time to talk about the hard work that pays off in the end. Here’s my first monthly training recap!

• Total Running Miles: 70.38 (last year 52.08)
• Total Miles: 121 (includes swimming & biking)

What was I training for? Mostly my first triathlon with a little marathon training mixed in there.

What races did I run? I did a “fun run” 5k on July 1st (34:01 – after swimming a few hundred yards and biking 6 miles!), Volsklaufe 5k on July 4th (32:46), Elsie Dairy Dash 5k on July 15th (29:33, woo hoo Sub 30 Club!), and ended the month with my first triathlon, Sanford & Sun, on my 30th birthday (1:54:07).

Best performances: Obviously getting my first sub 30 5k was a HUGE accomplishment! I also did my first “Magic Mile” and got a PR of 9:05, which has helped me to figure out the best run/walk intervals to use for my longer training runs. And of course completing my first triathlon still has me feeling like, “Did I really do that?”

Opportunities for improvement: I need to get back into strength training. Now that I am done with multi-sport for a little while, I’m really excited to just focus on running. I will of course be doing some cross training – planning on yoga, Zumba, and biking – but I need to build my strength. I truly believe that a lot of the improvements I have seen this year (personal bests in several distances) have been a result of doing the T25 workouts I started back in February/March with my hubby. In August my goal is to not only crush my marathon training plan (the running part) but to ensure that I incorporate more strength training to keep pushing those PRs and to prevent injury.

What’s ahead: My favorite thing about August is The Crim! I am so excited to run the 10 mile race for the third year in a row and to see a ton of my Michigan Runners friends as well as meet some new ones. The Crim will also be my 50th race EVER! Look forward to a post soon about ALL 50 races that I have done, I may even try to rank them!