4/17: 3.1 mi; 24'05"; 7'36" avg pace
4/18: 3.1 mi; 23'59"; 7'35" avg pace
5/01: 3.1 mi; 24'09"; 7'39" avg pace
5/08: 5.1 mi; 42'47"; 8'16" avg pace
Cycling
4/12: 8.3 mi; 0:38:10; 13.2 mph; 570 ft climbed
5/03: 11.3 mi; 0:45:05; 15.1 mph; flat
5/07: 13.1 mi; 0:37:31 (Zwift - indoor ride)
5/10: 15.7 mi; 1:05:15; 14.5 mph; 696 ft climbed
It has been a busy spring so far. Ashley and I took a trip to California and Napa Valley in the last week of April for our anniversary. Before that, I was focusing on running and getting my 5k times faster. This is a larger goal for the entire year. Still, I like to mix in a good number of bike rides to keep both skill sets up to par. The first three runs listed on this post were relatively flat; two of them were straight-forward runs and one was an interval run that combined sprinting and jogging. The longer run left the flat ground and climbed up the Carriage Trail. I dodged dogs and their owners up to the old Sunrise mansion and came back down to the South Side Bridge via Bridge Road. Running more hills is part of the strategy behind increasing 5k and 10k speed, so I will likely be visiting Carriage Trail often in the coming months.
The cycling goals are concentrated on better hill climbing and longer rides. I would love to be able to get a 100 kilometer ride under my belt. That will take time building up endurance and getting used to being saddle sore. I am more accustomed with making it the local hills. My ride on May 10th was going well as I climbed up Mount Alpha, but it came to a bumpy end when my front tube punctured at the top of the hill. After twenty minutes of unsuccessfully changing the tube, a good citizen pulled over and helped me get the tire back on the rim before giving me a lift home. My next ride focused on the flats, as I did the Kanawha City bike route after work, a familiar if somewhat boring ride. Rain pushed me inside for the next ride, but I was happy to revisit the Zwift software and log another ride on it. I had to update my software because it had been two months since I last road indoors. Once the clouds cleared up a couple days later, I road Mount Alpha again and not only made it up without a puncture, but also set a PR on the Strava segment that ends at Whispering Woods Rd.
It will be interesting to see if I can improve both cycling and running times in the next month. I think a good goal will be to two runs and two rides each week (leaving some room for golfing). The temperatures are about to increase dramatically, so it is time to break out the sunscreen and get ready to sweat.
