Let’s just admit right here that me doing this two months in a row is an accomplishment right here!

Welcome to How it’s going, my month in review post.

Last month was the first edition, so hopefully I can learn and grow with each month.

March was all about the rebuilding after the storm that was Tarawera 2023. It took quite an emotional hit, probably more so than the obvious physical one. It was the slap in the face to all the hours spent training and planning and obsessing over the race and the holiday itself.

Coming back from an injury or a setback is really challenging and it truly knocks your self confidence a bit.

I spent most of last month second guessing everything and everyone.

This month I focused on getting back to consistent training.

I mentioned in my last post how I missed having a coach after my previous coach got way too busy (and way to expensive) for me to continue on with her.

I thought I could just go on and do it myself but I know me and without some structure I just go out everyday and run fun with the dogs.

So I signed back up with my trusty friends Kerry and Ali over at SquadRun. I’ve never really made their program work the best for me. They have a 7 workout per week priority program. Historically I’ve been very all or nothing with it. If I can’t do all 7 or at least 6, then I wouldn’t do any and you don’t pay for accountability so no one notices if you do or don’t do a workout.

I also really struggle with more than 2 or 3 workouts a week. My body just can’t handle it and neither can my brain! So with all this new found maturity, I have been scheduling into my planner the top 3 priority workouts and doing them. The other three days I take it easy.

So far so good. I feel like I’m accomplishing something and not about to break my body.

But my god, the stairs!

I signed up for Ultra Trail Australia after my husband suggested I couldn’t beat him. I was travelling to the race anyway so figured I may as well take up the challenge. Which means my training has a lot of stairs!

I’ve kept up my mobility and stretching work whilst trying to have some consistency with the strength training. I have always had terrible hip flexibility, I couldn’t cross my legs and sit on the floor in school. So the goal for the year is to get to Christmas and be able to sit cross legged on the floor.

I also signed up for two races this month as training runs, Sharpy’s Beer Run which is about 21km and Maroondah Dam 50k. I’ve already done recaps on both so I won’t go over them again but I took away different lessons from both and I can definitely say that there is definitely an advantage to racing more and working out what works for you.

I’m keen to see what I can do at UTA. It’s a massive race, Australia’s biggest trail and ultramarathon. I’ve never understood what all the fuss is about so I’m going in super curious.

As for the Garmin update, she is officially cooked. I did all the things Garmin asked me to do and unfortunately we couldn’t fix it, so my 6X Pro Sapphire is going back to them and they are going to send me a refurb model. This happened with my 5X too so it’s a little disappointing.

Unfortunately they don’t have stock of the refurb, so to celebrate a little work success I bought myself a brand new Enduro 2. It hasn’t arrived yet and I’ll be eating just potatoes and baked beans until race day but I’m super excited about it. More to come when it arrives.

My goals for May, well I’d like to finish UTA with a Western States Qualifier of 19 hours. It will be my longest run (time wise) so far. Bonus if I actually finish before hubby!