3 Months .... Almost Halfway Home

So March has come and gone ... seemingly as fast as I've typed this first sentence. As expected, it was a hell of a month too. It started off with regular weeks (about the same number of hours as Jan and Feb) and I got to run the 2 races which i've already written about. Then the real fun began and I was introduced to my first "building phase." Pretty self-explanatory stuff, we added more volume and more hours; added in longer rides, a couple extra runs and swims and next thing you know, I'm entering very unfamiliar territory. The two build weeks went really well. I was tired (as to be expected) but I made it through all my workouts and hit some new milestones. Besides the marathon and half mary that I raced, the rest of my weekend long runs were all 13.5 miles or longer. For some reason I found it cool that I ran a half mary every weekend in March.

The coolest part was the Saturday team rides that started up. I still don't know how I'm going to get an aerial photo of this, but riding 2x2 in a row with 20 or so riders all in FeXY gear is an awesome sight. On back to back weekends I hit my "longest" rides of 75 and then 96 miles. The latter came with a nice little climb up Mt. Weather and a total of 4,000 ft of climbing. This ride really wore me down and I need to take in more nutrition on these rides. Overall these rides were great and a huge learning experience. Since they are supposed to be done at an easy level of effort there is lots of time to carry on conversation and I've picked up so much useful info along the way.

This month wasn't all fun and games though. These two build weeks really did a number on me. I've never put my body through that kind of effort and really felt terrible for the next few days. This wasn't just feeling bad as in sore muscles, but mentally. I don't know how to explain other than I was in a funk. Luckily enough it only lasted a few days before I snapped out of it and finally had my first recovery week.

Overall great month ......

Finally, no its not actually the half way point to IMLP but it is half way to the FeXY Lake Placid Training Camp which will be my highest volume and most intense week(end) of training. After that I'll have a few more solid weeks but overall will start coming down for final approach to race day.

Next month I finally get to start racing and put all of this training to use.

"I AM AN ATHLETE because I value and respect my body. It will whisper to me when I've done too much. And if I choose to listen to that whisper, my body won't have to scream in pain later on."