End of the month, excitement builds

Dang, the month of April has flown by. My training is almost at it's peak. Another strong two weeks and then the short taper. My morning running has been enjoyable with the cooler weather. The motivation to get up in the morning and get my first workout, normally my run, is getting easier. This weekend I hope to meet up with a new group of riders and do a group ride. My riding in the past three months has been normally done alone. I feel I should be able to keep up with the group, we will she how it goes. I am almost to my ideal racing weight, which is.....(?) now, now, I won't go telling what I weigh. I am looking forward to race day about two weeks from now. I end this blog post with a good saying I found a while back online and have been living by it.

You heard about the butterfly that struggled out of the cocoon right? A man saw the butterflies struggle and helped clear away the cocoon. Because the butterfly wasn't able to develop his wings through the struggle, it was never able to fly. Struggle is always part of the journey.

About a month away to race day

My first race of the season is just about a month away. My training sessions are becoming both morning and night for the next few weeks to prepare for this. With being under the weather longer than expected, I feel I am little behind on my workouts. My workouts have become very focused not wanting to waste time. In my mind I am starting to go over the course and my plan in my head. I have been on this course before so I feel just doing that has me prepared, as well as knowing what my nutrition should be. Hard to tell what the weather will be like being a month out, but I am planing on it getting a little warmer here. Just staying injury free and keep plugging away at the training.

Training is going smooth.

I have had some great quality workouts in the past week. I think my allergies have gone away for now. The routes I have ridden have focused on hills, only to get my heart rate up. My next race, a little over a month from now is an all flat bike course. While out riding on Saturday, one of the two bottles I have mounted on my seat carrier just broke off. The welds just gave way. With the hot temperatures I was forced to turn around an retrieve the bottle knowing I would need it for later. I have started just using plain water in my bottles and using the gels every half hour.

Back at it

Early last week I was had to put a hold on the training. A stomach bug hit me for three days followed by my allergies flared up for the last 4 days making breathing very difficult. Tonight I returned to a light weight workout with some core training too. I have a tough few weeks ahead of me training wise, but it should be fun. The weather outlook for the next week has the temps creeping into the mid 90's.

Great weekend training

I had a great weekend training. Weather is perfect outside. I'm stepping up my training this week with just under 2 months to my next race. Heart rate monitor training with my Mio Quest is right on track. With my late afternoon rides lately coming close to dusk I'm going to have to start the waking up early before work schedule to get my training in and scale the evening workout to running.

Warmer weather is here to stay

Today's high hit around 92 degrees, with summer just around the corner. This means earlier workouts are in the plans. Trying to avoid the heat by having to get out and ride or run before the blistering sun rises. Today I got a 15 mile ride in just before the sun went down.
My next race is two months away from today. I am feeling halfway prepared with a lot of work to be done in the pool and around the track. I was excited last weekend I was able to run my first negative split mile, with 20 seconds to spare. Feeling my running is on the right path.

Working on my run

I have never been a strong runner and I am not afraid to admit it. For the past two years I have worked on my running here a there and feel I have become stronger at it, but it could still get better. My run distance has increased in the past few weeks with the training I am doing for sprint race in May. I have found some drills to work with and look to see if this will help my times any in the weeks to come.