February started off with a few more days on vacation in Fuerteventura, which maybe served as a way to kickstart a renewed focus on endurance, with a little elevation gain thrown in.
Track&field: I decided to skip the last remaining indoor track competition in February. 2017 was pretty much a loss anyway, with times that were considerably slower than in 2016, so I didn’t see any point in running another 60m (with maybe a 50/50 probability to either run yet another mediocre time, or to injure myself). Throughout the month I still did 5 track training sessions, 4 of which were with the club and 1 indoors with the national team.
Road and trail running: With a lowered focus on track&field came an increased focus on road and trail running. I ended up with 122.59km on the month; which is twice as much as I did any single month in 2016. At the start of the month I told myself I’d aim for a cumulative elevation gain of 4000m (1000m per week), but I ended up slightly lower, at 3274m. Still, that’s twice as much as last February. The weather wasn’t always cooperative, so my total mileage includes more road km than I’d have liked; but if I go running in my work lunch break I’m not particularly keen to return to the office with muddy shoes. I did one race in February, on the 26th. The name implied it’d be a 10km in the forest, but in reality it was probably closer to 9.3 to 9.5km, with at least half of the distance on paved surfaces (and out in the fields).
Walking: I complained about the low amount of hiking in January, and that trend continued in February. At least this time I had a better excuse, since a lot of my lunch breaks were taken up by running. Still, only 29km with 558m of elevation is low.
Cycling: With the weather not cooperating, and winter logistics being more complicated than during summer (it’s easier to go out for a ride in the evening if it’s still light outside), I only did one alibi outing on the road bike. Since I hadn’t done much biking in the past month, I kept the outing fairly short and only did 23km. I was still rewarded with neck pain, from what my body now considers an unusual effort.
Weight training: None. Which is bad.
Total time outside: 25h05. Much better than January (by almost 11h). Getting closer to my 1h/day minimum.
Body composition: 81.27kg. Body fat 14.75%. Compared to January, my weight is up slightly (by half a kilo) but my body fat is down slightly (0.16%). I came back from the vacation (with buffet breakfasts and dinners) with slightly over 1kg of weight gain, and that number stayed mostly the same for the remainder of the month. I guess the increased training led to increased appetite. Not too worried about that as long as there’s no further increase. I’d rather over-eat a little than starve myself.