Running
I had high hopes for lots of running while we were in Nicaragua, but the tropical heat and humidity did me in. I felt lethargic the whole time we were there and I only got out a few times. With little running in the first half of the month I really piled on the miles in the second half, even running a few half marathon length training runs on weekdays (which is rare). It took a while to get back into the swing of things, but by the end of the month I was feeling fit and ready for my next tough race, the Black Squirrel Half Marathon on September 6.
| Month | Workouts | Total Dist | Avg Dist | Total Ascent | Avg Ascent |
| January | 19 | 192.03 miles | 10.11 miles | 9620. feet | 506.32 feet |
| February | 19 | 227.4 miles | 11.97 miles | 12301. feet | 647.42 feet |
| March | 17 | 192.96 miles | 11.35 miles | 10819. feet | 636.41 feet |
| April | 15 | 155.2 miles | 10.35 miles | 10947. feet | 729.8 feet |
| May | 24 | 252.5 miles | 10.52 miles | 20364. feet | 848.5 feet |
| June | 21 | 224.51 miles | 10.69 miles | 33782. feet | 1608.67 feet |
| July | 18 | 201.09 miles | 11.17 miles | 33696. feet | 1872. feet |
| August | 19 | 212.37 miles | 11.18 miles | 28465. feet | 1498.16 feet |
| Total | 152 | 1658.06 miles | 10.91 miles | 159994. feet | 1052.59 feet |
Cycling
Surprise! After months of gradual decline in my cycling August came out of nowhere to become my highest mileage month of the year (so far). And that all happened in the second half of the month. So, what happened? A few things.
We bought a Surly “Big Dummy” cargo bike for riding around town and running errands, hauling Will and other stuff. Sure, we had lots of bikes already, but all of my bikes are for racing, and they’re not particularly well suited for much else. It seems strange, but just having a bike with wide tires, fenders, built-in storage space, platform pedals, etc. was enough to get me riding just a little bit each day… and that was enough to get me out on longer rides. The more longer rides I did the better I felt, both about cycling, but also about running. I’d forgotten how good the cross training was for my running, and how much better my legs felt after a couple hours of low impact spinning.
Fall is rapidly approaching and I’ve been itching to spend time on my cyclocross bike. Mountain biking is huge around here, and it is so with good reason. There are many great trail networks, many of which are quite ridable on my CX bike and I can ride to them from my house on that bike.
| Month | Workouts | Total Dist | Avg Dist | Total Ascent | Avg Ascent |
| January | 4 | 64.74 miles | 16.19 miles | 1114. feet | 278.5 feet |
| February | 1 | 15.9 miles | 15.9 miles | 0. feet | 0. feet |
| March | 2 | 51.18 miles | 25.59 miles | 2115. feet | 1057.5 feet |
| April | 6 | 148.91 miles | 24.82 miles | 6250. feet | 1041.67 feet |
| May | 4 | 73.05 miles | 18.26 miles | 2810. feet | 702.5 feet |
| June | 4 | 70.06 miles | 17.52 miles | 4901. feet | 1225.25 feet |
| July | 4 | 62.47 miles | 15.62 miles | 2986. feet | 746.5 feet |
| August | 9 | 151.9 miles | 16.88 miles | 6942. feet | 771.33 feet |
| Total | 34 | 638.21 miles | 18.77 miles | 27118. feet | 797.59 feet |
