I will take another direction and review my fitness activities during the month of August.
To give some background, I started training for triathlon back in 2014 and finished two Ironman 70.3 events in 2015 and 2016 respectively. In short, you need to swim 1.9km, bike 90km and run 21km in such an event. I skipped training for triathlon this year mainly due to the fact that I was preparing for my wedding which required quite a lot of time and money. Or at least that’s my excuse for skipping those training sessions 😀 Anyway, I am planning to get back to it next year and register for some Ironman 70.3 event somewhere in Europe.
Let’s see how my August went. This is a short summary of statistics:
I am pretty happy with my activity level this month – I spent almost an hour a day in average doing sports.
During the month of August I focused on running as I am preparing for a marathon on the 10th of September. I think I covered the longest distance (223 km) over a single month since I started running a few years ago. I also ran the longest distance in one go – 32km. I will need to add only 10km during the race in a week’s time! 😀
Of course, something had to give so I almost didn’t do other activities that I’m used to. I went to the gym only twice this month 🙁 I am planning to start some new training program after the marathon and get back those muscles 😀
Cycling during this month was only occasional (cycling to my running sessions and going to a lake with my wife).
I also went to 3 running classes with my runners’ club where we focused on physical aspects of running (exercise drills with barriers, sprints etc).
In general, I am feeling really well. I was a little worried when I increased the mileage every week during the last 2 months quite significantly but it looks like I managed to stay out of trouble. I don’t feel any pain in my joints and I managed to not over-train. However, my training for this marathon was far from ideal. I had to start serious training back in May but couldn’t stick to the schedule. After honey moon in June, I actually thought that I will postpone the plan to run a marathon for next year but my good friend encouraged me that I can do it so I changed my mind. I hope I won’t regret it 😀
The marathon next week is going to be a huge challenge and I know it is going to be really hard but I think I will manage to complete it. My goal is to finish it in 4 hours. In order to do that, I would need to run at a pace of 5:40min/km (9:07min/mile). I have never managed to keep this pace for a longer run than 21km (half-marathon) so it is an unexplored territory. I am hoping for the best so let’s see how it goes next weekend!
Do you do any sports? Do you set yourself some targets to stay motivated? What are your biggest achievements? Feel free to leave a comment below.
Thanks for reading!
BI, good luck on the marathon next week. I’m so jealous of you right now. I had fitness goals back in August to hit the gym. After one week, I had a minor accident and I haven’t been back since. During my recovery period, I lost the motivation to go. The gym is a 5-minute walk from where I live. I wish I had half the effort as you to fulfill my fitness goals.
Seriously though, good luck next week.
Hi DP.
Thanks for your kind words!
And trust me, I know what it feels to lose motivation. It’s enough to skip a few training sessions and it’s hard to get back on schedule.
-BI
What do you use to track your workouts?
I really need to get my butt in gear and start working out daily as I spend entirely too much timing sitting around and doing nothing after work.
I am using my Suunto sports watch (Suunto Spartan Sport Wrist HR) for logging my workouts (it’s my second Suunto watch). I’ve been tracking it using Suunto for a few years already.
When I was just starting out I used to do sports with my cellphone and track workouts in Endomondo app. When it got more serious, I invested to a sports watch and no longer need to carry a phone while running and can even track my swim workouts.
I would really encourage you to start working out. It helps to relax after a stressful day in the office and it keeps you in shape at the same time 🙂
What helps me is finding some program (for running, triathlon, bodybuilding etc) in internet and following it through to stay motivated. I need to have some goal and schedule to keep myself accountable.
Good luck!