August 2010 in review

So, August is over. Most of the super hot days are behind us here in the South so training outside will be a little more tolerable for the new few weeks. I am getting into the meat of my training now as I have four races coming in the next few months, 2 runs and 2 triathlons. I am exited because 2 of the races will be my first races at the given distances and another, as I have mentioned previously, is the first race that I ever did, and it my first triathlon.

Here are the numbers...

August's totals:
Bike:	14h 22m 01s - 238.28 Mi
Run:	13h 21m 32s - 73.62 Mi
Swim:	4h 26m 51s - 9250 M
Strength:	1h 21m
Weight change:	-4 lbs (241lbs to 237lbs)

I ran less in August than I did in July, 73.6 miles in August versus 116.1 in July, but the paces for the runs in August were considerably faster. Most of July was running longer miles in the 11-12 minute per mile range. Where as in August I adopted the training plan for the Spinx Runfest half marathon and it is actually less miles per week than I ran before, but more structured and actually includes speed work.

I biked more in August than I did in July, 238.3 miles in August versus 133.8 in July. This is due to more consistent training in August than in July.

The same holds true for the swim, I swam more in August, though still not much overall, than in July with 9250 meters in August versus 1000 meters in July.

So the overall triathlon sport numbers definitely improved from July to August even though I took the first 4 days of August completely off. Besides those first four days of the month though, I only have three other days in the whole month that I did not do any triathlon training. Like I said August was much more consistent that July. In September I should see an improvement in performance compared to any other month this year as I am heading into the build portion of my triathlon season which has higher intensity training. This also means that I have a better chance of weight loss this month as I have also started tracking my caloric intake again meaning that I end up taking in fewer calories.

Well, we will see how September plays out, and soon I will write a post about my upcoming races and my goals for each race. So stay tuned...

Weekly Weigh-in and Report

Week of August 22nd - August 28th
It has been an eventful week. I decided to add a couple of races to my end of the year schedule. I hit all of my new higher running targets and made a new milestone distance on the bike. However, my swim slacking continues.

The Numbers:
Average Weight: 238.97 lbs (down 0.2 lbs)
Swimming: 1 hour 2 minutes 23 seconds for 2250 meters
Biking: 5 hours 14 minutes 42 seconds for 89.52 miles
Running: 2 hours 7 minutes 41 seconds for 13.01 miles
Strength: 2 core workouts 10 and 15 minutes
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Total: about 8 and 1/2 hours

This is not a stellar week according to the numbers. My hope is that by tracking my progress, my overall effort level will increase and my gains will improve. I plan to track weekly and monthly, in an attempt to quantify improvements.