Quarterly Report: the First 3 Months of 2013

I posted about the first 3 months last year, and these were my totals back then:

Jan-March 2012:

SWIM: 3,900 yards
BIKE: 102.26 miles
RUN: 255.81 miles

Average weight: 155.7

RUN WITH HENRY: 101.43 miles!!
(22.72 miles in Jan, 25.2 miles in Feb, and 53.51 miles in March.)

So to review, at this time last year, my swimming was horrible, my biking was pretty good for me (over 100 miles outdoors in March, but really no time on the trainer at all), and my running was GREAT.

Here's where I'm at through the same stretch this year:

Jan-March 2013:

SWIM: 24,675 yards
BIKE: 0 miles
TRAINER: 1 hr, 51 mins
SPINNING BIKE: 1 hr, 27 mins
RUN: 198.93 miles

Average weight: 158.08

RUN WITH HENRY: 27.11 miles
(23.01 miles in Jan, 0 miles in Feb, and 4.1 miles in March.)

I didn't hit 24,675 yds of swimming last year until September 25th!! I sucked at swimming last year. This year, I've been able to get in some OK workouts in the pool (so far).

Between this year and last year, you can see the weather having a lot of impact on my biking and running with Henry. Last year, I was outside on my bike for over 100 miles in March. This year, nothing. (I actually went for my first ride of the year last night.) But this year within the last few weeks, I've been on a spin bike twice and hit the trainer for some Spinnerval workouts a few times... it hasn't been much, but at least it's been something. I need to get outdoors a LOT more on my bike!

And with regards to running, I haven't been doing the longer runs with Henry like I was doing last year - I've been doing shorter, harder workouts. In March of last year, I ran 83 miles, and 53 of those miles were with Henry. This March, I only ran 68 miles total, and only 4 miles were with Henry. It was a cold and snowy March. It's FINALLY starting to warm up a bit.

I'm happy to be running shorter. I'm working on my speed, and letting some of my longer endurance go. If I'm hoping to focus on duathlons and sprint triathlons this summer, there's no need to be doing 11-13 mile runs every week. And as I noted in Thursday intervals post, some speed is coming back!

Speaking of speed, I want to share part of a note I got from the owner of "Gear West Bike and Triathlon," a speedy speedy man, and a more experienced Dad. Kevin O'Connor and I e-mailed each other shortly after the Meet of the Miles track meet 3 months ago. He congratulated me on my times, and I said this:

And my shorter distance speed is starting to disappear, but thanks! That was my 2nd slowest mile ever. I tell ya... once you hit 30.....

Kevin wrote back, and it's something that many of us need to be reminded of:

Did you see Lance Elliot's time? He is 42, like me. We met in the first class as Freshman at Iowa State. We had Chemistry lab together. He ran a 4:04 mile in college and then took 15+ yrs off. He has been running for 2 yrs now and is getting in shape. A 4:33 may be slow for him but still isn't too bad for a 40 yr old.

Don't complain about 30. It is the two year old, not your age that is slowing you down. Just give it another few years of parenthood and you will have plenty of time to get back into shape and set a PR in that mile. You will look back at this yrs time and laugh. And if that doesn't work, just remember that it is January.

Keep running hard,

Kevin O'Connor
Gear West Bike & Triathlon

That's important for a lot of us to hear. But... it's no longer January. Time to kick this training up a notch!

Back with some solid training numbers (for me) next week. Happy weekend!