Race? What Race?

The evidence.  Shhh.

About Time

It feels like only yesterday, or maybe more like this morning, that I was writing a recap of April and then May.  I guess that's what happens when life gets in the way and I wait until 6 days into my vacation from work to get around to updating the blog (and my training log) for the last 3 months.  Oops.  Tomorrow?  That's when I file away all of the tax documents that have been sitting on my floor since we filed months ago.  After that, I'll hide the evidence from the stress eating I've been doing during very intense days at work.  Now, back to our originally scheduled programming...

What Happened?

June vs May ðŸ˜¢

  • Amount of time training is up 25% (8:51 to 11:06 per week)
    • Training volume is still way too low, but at least it is heading in the right direction
  • Average weekly run mileage has regressed from 16 to 20 miles 🚨
    • I doubled the number of 10 mile runs to 4
    • The glute/hip is starting to come around
  • Body Weight?  Who knows, but my belt is one loop smaller than last month.  #win
    • Who loses weight on vacation?  I guess I do.  lol.

Eagleman 70.3 (and Musselman Sprint + 70.3)

I finally had to admit the obvious.  I'm not interested in the distraction of racing right now.  

I was supposed to go to Eagleman 70.3 in June with a couple of friends.  I'd planned to go and was actually amused by the idea that after not having swam in almost 2 years that I could use Eagleman as a chance to see what my race pace is like if I don't actually do any swim training at all.  I didn't care about my time and was looking forward to the experience in a macabre sort of way, but I also found myself stressed about the idea of taking a day off of work for the trip.  A race email that included an option to defer to 2022 was all of the excuse that I needed.  Trigger pulled, Eagleman would happen without me.  I was relieved.  There is no intensity to my training right now and I'm learning to like it that way.  My body is still healing and after taking Eagleman (and later Musselman * 2) off of my calendar I now only have US Triathlon Age Group Nationals in Milwaukee on the calendar before the Chicago2Boston attempt in October.  Last year the lack of races left my heart with a hole in it.  This year?  Relief.

Speaking Of Relief

I'm starting to get more aggressive with my sore glute.  I should have gone to the doc months ago, and still haven't, but I've started getting deep tissue work done by a massage therapist every couple of weeks and I've borrowed a pair of Normatec boots from my neighbor John.  The boots don't cover the hip, but hey, why not give them a try?  They do make my legs feel better in general and seem that they *may* have stopped leg twitches from happening while I sleep.  There might be a pair of these, including the hip/shorts option in my future.  

I've also skipped deadlifts/squats for the last two weeks, but I'm doubling down with the upper body stuff.  My bigger shoulders, chest and arms probably make me slower but guess what?  When your wife of 27 years tells you that you look better now than when you got married then there's plenty of motivation to keep doing more of those bench presses!

I don't know which of the above strategies is helping my glute feel better but at the moment this is the most capable I've felt running since September 2020.  The last couple of 10 mile runs I did were ended because I didn't have time to continue and not out of a feeling of things being off.  This weekend will be a big test.  I'm planning to do a 4+ hour bike ride on Saturday and would like to attempt at least 12 miles running on Sunday.  If things seem to hold together, I'll start inching the long bike/run distances up a little on the weekend following a typical marathon build pattern of 2 weeks of increases, 1 week of lower "step back" miles.  🤞

Other Good News

Warning: I'm going to tangent and there is almost nothing of any value for training to follow but hey, you made it this far why not go all of the way?

Butterflies in the 'hood

Our nest is no longer empty as Nathan
has now returned home for the summer. 
He looks a lot different than he did in
the post last month!
The best man from our wedding stopped by
for a visit and it was awesome seeing him!



And then there was an actual real live
monarch that stopped by to visit the 
milkweed Amanda has been cultivating
for them the last few years.  It is awesome
to see her persistence pay off!


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