March Goals Accomplished

I'm about a week late in writing this post, but wanted to share the success that I had in the month of March. After the Time to Paddy 5k at the beginning of the month, I dove right into my 10k training program in preparation for the Drake Road Races in April. I also wanted to start getting myself doing some additional workouts beyond running so I set a goal of spending 8 hours on the bike and walking 15 miles in March. Very achievable goals, but something to help me focus and continue to improve. 

The walking goal fit right in with my plans to do some hiking at the cabin early in the month as well as a trip to NE Iowa with my family over spring break. Walking isn't the most interesting exercise to me, but it is much lower impact than running and is a great way to lose weight and improve fitness. I was successfully able to complete the 15 miles of walking, even with all the crazy weather that we had. 

Beautiful sunshine and fresh snow while hiking at the cabin

Hiking at Effigy Mounds

A very cold hike at Pikes Peak State Park

The cycling goal was less interesting, but it was building on a similar goal that I had completed in February and the intent was to start getting my legs ready for triathlon training and (hopefully) outdoor cycling starting at the end of April. With the less than ideal weather, all of these miles were logged on my spin bike in the basement but I did get to watch a bunch of my favorite movies while I road. 

I did manage to hit a 19 mph average on a couple of the rides and really pushed myself throughout the month. Still a lot of work to do on the bike this year, but meeting this goal got me off to a great start!

My last goal for the month was to keep my run streak going. The weather and planned travel didn't always make it easy, but I managed to accomplish that too. To put some icing on that cake, I was able to log 74 miles running for the month, the most miles that I have run in a month since September 2019!

After such a successful March, I decided to set some new goals for April. I will be continuing my running streak, while ramping up mileage to prepare for Drake, but I am also hoping to complete 100 miles cycling, 4 swim workouts, and 15 strength training workouts. At only 8 days into April, I can tell you that I am well on my way to completing all of these goals.