2012 Year End Totals

Here's what I banked in 2012:

- Swim: 39,148.84 yards (22.24 miles)
- Bike: 608.03 miles (18.38 mph ave)
- Run: 1,027.62 miles (7:07 / mile ave)
- Bike Trainer: 1 hour, 26 minutes (all early in 2012)
- Strength / Core: 118 hours, 9 minutes
- Elliptical Trainer: 21 minutes (2 quick times just to warm-up to stretch)
- Aqua Jogging: 2 hours (3 times)
- Walking: 33 hours, 11 minutes (nearly all with Henry)
- Weight: 153.4 start, 159.4 end, 161.6 high (Nov), 153.0 low (Jan), 157.22 average
- Body Fat: (monthly ave) 14.07% high (Aug), 11.93% low (Jan), 13.25% yearly average

No spin classes and no mountain biking (both for the 2nd year in a row).


SOME NOTES ON THOSE NUMBERS:

- Swim: possibly my lowest yearly total ever. I MAY have swam less during my first year of triathlons in 2006, but I didn't keep good records then. It was definitely hardest to get to the pool this past year. And I didn't do the 3,000+ yard workouts of years past - this past year was a lot of 1,500 yard workouts when I had a moment to hit the pool.

- Bike: Second lowest year ever. I rode more "year round" this past year, but I didn't log a ton of miles. Nearly half of my miles were after my multi-sport races (290 miles from July-November), where as in 2011 my last ride was my last multi-sport race in August (180 miles from July-August, with NOTHING for the rest of the year).

- Run: BEST. YEAR. EVER! It was my first 4-digit year, and I logged 511.1 miles with Henry (49.76% of my total miles!)! I took it easy for about 8 weeks as my heel flared up after the New Prague Half Marathon in May, and I had 4 months of 100+ miles (as I noted in an earlier post). My biggest month was December (with 107.82 miles), but that was mainly easier mid-distance runs to TRY to hit 1000 total miles; it wasn't great "training" in December.

- Strength / Core: very similar to last year. I'm doing much shorter workouts, but I'm trying to cram them in when I can.

- Weight: I started a bit lighter in 2012 than I did in 2011, but everything else is not looking good: my "heaviest" was heavier in 2012 than in previous years, my "lightest" was heavier in 2012, and my average weight was 3 pounds heavier than 2011. I'm s-l-o-w-l-y gaining weight over the years. I gained just a BIT of body-fat this year, but I think I built a bit of muscle too.


RACE COUNT:

- Duathlons: 1 total (no relays)
- Triathlons: 2 total (both Olys)

- 25Ks: 1
- Half Marathons: 3
- 10Ks: 3 (one of those with Henry)
- 8Ks: 1
- 4 Mile: 1 (with Henry)
- 5Ks: 2
- 1 Mile: 2 (a road mile, and an indoor mile on a 200M track)
- Other: 4 (a 3 mile CC race, a 6K CC race, a "kitten" mile, and the "Hillfest" bike event in WI)

If you add up my running and multisport races listed above for 2012, you get 20, which is my 2nd most races ever (and my most running races ever at 16 races!). In 2011 my "race count" was 13, in 2010 it was 15, in 2009 it was 19, and in 2008 it was 21.


HIGHLIGHTS:
(There are 5 for 2012)

- Running a half marathon PR of 1:20 at the New Prague Half Marathon while placing 4th. Click here for my race report full of "holy crap... I'm maintaining this pace!"

I'm 2nd to the left.

- Placing 2nd overall at the Cinco DU Mayo Duathlon. Sure, it wasn't a huge race, but it was the first multisport race where I was in the LEAD for a while. I lost some spots on the bike, but fought back for 2nd (as the winner broke the course record). Click here for my race report. (Oh, this was also the race were everyone was checking out my ass.)

Leading near the end of the 1st run, with the eventual winner behind me.

- Running nearly half of my miles with Henry. It was a fun year, little guy! I ran 511.10 of my 1,027.62 miles with Henry in the stroller. We've gotten our money's worth out of that thing!

- Finishing my longest running race. I DNFed a marathon back in 2008, and my longest race until this year has been a handful of half marathons. But in September, I finished my first 25K in 1:39:

Around the 9 mile mark of the 15.5 mile race.

- Winning the "Minnesota Distance Running Association's" Grand Prix series. I'm really proud of this. I was NEVER the fastest runner at any of these 14 races throughout the year, but I performed well at most of them. And I guess that's what it takes to win a series like this. Here's a post with the final standings and some of my final thoughts on the series.

Finishing the final race in the series (in a pack of U of M CC runners).

I didn't PR much this past year because I let some of my speedwork go. (I talked a lot about that in this recent post about the 7 big things I learned by running so much this past year.) Starting 2012, I had HOPED to PR more than I did, but I have no regrets right now, and I feel GREAT about the past year. I didn't perform well in my 2 triathlons, I had hoped to swim and bike more than I did, I only set 1 PR over 16 running races.... but I kept my body mostly injury free, logged a record number of miles, spent a lot of time with my son, and was able to eek out a win in the MDRA Grand Prix series. What's not to be happy about?!?!

Here's to a fantastic 2013! I'll post a preliminarily race schedule shortly. (And I have a funny video of Henry and I "training" together that I'll post Monday.)

Happy training!!



UPDATE:
I forgot 1 thing that I wanted to note. I had a few "biggest running weeks" ever in 2012. Here's a quick timeline:

- Just over 30 miles one week in Sept 2010 while being coached.
- 34.3 miles the last week of Dec 2010.
- 35.5 miles near the end of Feb 2012.
- 40.16 miles in mid Oct 2012!

That week was 5 runs, which is 2 more than a "good" week for me. Four of the 5 runs were with Henry (the 1 non-Henry run was intervals on the track at 5 am). And then the next week after that, I ran 30.1 miles. So that's also my biggest 2-week stretch since CC training in high school (70.26 miles in 2 weeks). I had 5 weeks of 30+ miles in 2012, after just having 2 weeks of 30+ in the past 5 years before that. I'll take it!