Monthly report: July-2010

I thought it could be useful to evaluate each month in addition to every week. It makes sense because a month represents a cycle with weeks leading up to a recovery week with increasing workload before recovery the last week. There are certainly some experience to gain from each month in many ways and I'm sure I will benefit from the effort.
Well then, July was the first month of the third quarter and the last days of the second quarter. I've decided to consentrate on street-running with the A-priority target being Berlin Marathon 26th of September.
Initially I had a transition week in order to recover fully from the second quarter. No activity in week 27 at all. Just trying to give the body a total rest.
After that I've completed one week of preparation and two weeks of good, hard training. Planned working load was 25,16h in total(Running: 19,4h) , 279,9 km of movement(219,9 km, 60 on the bike).
Initially I didn't plan a race before Kongsvinger Marathon the 7th of August.
My training log shows:

1. Total activity:
-Workouts: 19
-Distance: 373,88 km
-Time: 42h 57m 10s
-Verticals: 7.150 m
-Calories: 23.708 C

2. Running:
-Workouts:13
-Distance: 317,88 km
-Time: 38h 50m 15s
-Verticals: 6.728 m
-Calories: 21.045 C

3. Bike:
-Workouts:2
-Distance: 56 km
-Time: 2h 6m 55s
-Verticals: 421 m
-Calories: 2.663 C

4. Strength:
-Workouts: 2
-Time:1h 30m

5. Flexibility:
-Workouts: 2
-Time: 30m

Thuringen Ultra is included here as the race was held the 3th of July. In addition I decided to replace two running, endurance-workouts  with a race-Rallarvegløpet. I'd planned a total workload of 40h in the same period. I'm a bit over then. Running was about 35h planned-I ended at just under 39h.
I'm very satisfied to have completed Thuringen Ultra within 14h. It serves as a qualifier to Western States next year. In addition it was an awesome experience to race and finish. I shall never forget the feeling right after I finished. A very strong emotional experience. It's one of the reasons for racing again.
I've increased the length of my long runs as planned. A long run to me is over 3h. I've also experienced some problems with my knees, but I've elemintated that by changing the shoe I use while running. Mizuno serves me good-models Ronin and Aero 8. I've also incorporated bike-, strength- and flexibility-workouts in my schedule. That was a relief. I need the cross-training in order to gain strength and variety.
Focus in the third quarter is street-running. However, I will schedule one workout weekly on trails.
I've carried out three quality-workouts when it comes to running weekly and two endurance runs. I'll stick to that as earlier planned.