And you thought 2011 was bad? Straight to the stats...
Biking info (2011 results in parenthesis to compare)
Number of rides: 74 (down from 125)
Miles biked: 734.32 (down from 1690.30)
Elevation gained: 45,902' (down from 108,485')
Total Saddle Time: 57:54:19 (hh:mm:ss) (down from 138:08:35)
Run info
Number of runs: 17 (down from 24)
Miles: 58.34 (down from 91.91)
Elevation gained: 3,574 (down from 8,274')
Total Run Time: 10:11:19 (hh:mm:ss) (down from 17:31:48)
Starting weight: 288.4
Ending weight: 299.6 (net change: +11.2 pounds)
Races/Events finished:
Issaquah Triathlon (Sprint)
Ocean Shores Sprint Triathlon (Sprint)
Federal Escape Triathlon (Olympic)
Overview: (see the race reports for details)
My own advice to myself from last year still rings true: "Be a man! Take some Pepto Bismol and ________!" (Fill in the blank with every event I missed last year)
Wow broken record time? Another quote from last year: "No more excuses. This year was lame. Next year will be better." I say that every year. How will this year be different, considering I am already way behind last year, which I said was a bad year?
Last year started out strong but ended poorly. My poor performance in the Federal Escape Olympic forced me to rethink everything. I spent most of August with family trips and other non-training activities to regroup. Then in early September I had a minor setback: I broke my toe just before going on a long ride into Seattle (more to come on that later). Breaking my toe (only a minor break) was just the wind up. When the pitch was actually delivered I struck out big time. That strike out was our back-to-school schedule, which I am still trying to figure out.
In the last 3 months of 2012 I rode my bike a grand total of 10 times. No so impressive when you consider that in the same period in 2011 I did 33 and in 2010 I did 25.
This year I'm starting out slow and just now beginning to see how to coordinate my ride/training schedule with all the personal appointments (i.e. pickups/drop-offs for the kids' classes, swim, sports, etc). The next few months will really tell the tail. It really scares me that I am less than 90 days from the Issaquah Tri (my traditional first race of the year) and my training is horrible.
But I have an ace up my sleeve...
Patrick at the start of the Federal Escape Kids' Tri...Or rather a young man. My son decided that he wanted to do the FULL Issaquah Sprint Tri this year! I promised him that if he trained hard enough he could do it and, not only that, I would stay with him to make sure he finished the race. A sprint tri is a big jump up from the little kids races he has been doing. In 2012 he finished 3 such races and barely broke a sweat. So far this year he has significantly improved his swimming and can do 250 yards in the pool without stopping (a personal best for him). He has a long way to go but is well on his way.
So what happened to the Grand Columbian? I decided top drop this race in July after the Federal Escape and good thing I did! The broken toe incident (ride report coming later) happened less than a week from when I would have been racing in my first half-iron distance race.
Did I do Cycle Oregon 2012? Short version: no, I didn't get off the wait list. My strategy of waiting until it sold out backfired. I was so far down the wait list that there was no chance of getting into the real ride. Too bad, since 2013 appears to be not nearly as exciting (i.e. I most likely will not do it).
Lessons learned:
- Broken toes suck. Must join the "protect our toes" society.
- I need to find a new way to deal with illnesses and still train. More to come...
- Focus earlier in the year on distance running and cardio volume.
- My best and more consistent results are still from bike commuting, which I try to do 3-5x per week during the spring/summer and early fall months.
- Commuting home on foot on Fridays are a great way to get in an 8+ mile run once a week. That will start in April.
Rubber side down...