Steve in a Speedo?! Gross!: 2015 Training Totals

- Swim: 131,126 yards (74.50 miles, 1.89 mph ave)
- Bike: 1294.61 miles (18.95 mph ave)
- Run: 734.87 miles (7:13 / mile ave)
- Bike Trainer: 34 hours 52 minutes 30 seconds
- Strength / Core: 168 hours 49 minutes
- Random: Jump Rope: 8 mins. Stairclimber: 26 mins.
- Weight: 158.6 start, 159.8 end, 161.4 high (Nov), 155.6 low (Feb), 158.34 yearly average
- Body Fat: (monthly ave) 13.64% high (Dec), 11.2% low (Sept), 12.65% yearly average

SOME NOTES ON THOSE YEARLY NUMBERS:

- Swim: I was on track for my biggest year ever (nearly 126,000 yards through June), and then I realized that swimming was aggravating my elbow. Still, this (essentially) 7-month total is nearly as much as I swam the year before, and was my 2nd highest year in 5 years (since before kids). I can't wait to kick this elbow issue and get back in the pool.

- Bike: Second biggest bike year ever! Only 2007 (when I was Ironman training) had more miles. I really fell in love with biking this year, and went on MORE rides and LONGER rides than in past years. Usually, rides around 30 miles are ones I consider "long." Here's how many outdoor rides I've had each year (since tracking workouts online) that were over 28 miles:

• 2015: 14 (SIX in Nov! Beautiful fall!)
• 2014: 3
• 2013: 5
• 2012: 6
• 2011: 4 (all before Henry was born in mid-June)
• 2010: 13 (pre-kids)

- Bike Trainer: CRAZY better than 2014! In 2014, I was on my trainer once for 38 MINUTES for that duathlon workout that I like to do. In 2015, I was on it for nearly 35 HOURS. And I saw the improvement in my bike splits. If you convert my trainer time to miles by multiplying my time by my average outdoor speed, you get another 660.89 miles of riding, for a yearly total of 1955.50 miles, which would be my biggest year ever! That's more total saddle time than when I was Ironman training! I'm doing my best to keep this up leading into the 2016 multisport season.

- Run: Although these numbers aren't amazing, it was still almost 200 miles more than last year, and my 4th highest year. (2010-2012 had more miles.) 2012 was my biggest year when I hit 4 digits because I wasn't injured, I was running lots of races in the Grand Prix series, and baby Henry LOVED stroller runs. This past year, I did 88.69 miles with our "single" BOB stroller (most of which was with Charlie - only 4.42 miles of that was with Henry), and 42.76 miles with the "double" Chariot stroller with both boys, usually to or from a park.

- Strength: Over 40 hours less than last year, but this doesn't tell the whole story. It's lower because I do more stretching and "loosening up" at the gym these days (as I get older), so I have less time to lift. And I haven't been lifting with my upper body since early June, so my weight lifting hours have had a higher percentage of "easier" things like forearm exercises and physical therapy leg work. I feel like a blob.

- Weight: My yearly average weight and average body fat percentage were both a bit lower in 2015 than in the year before. Nice. I'm afraid I won't be able to make this a trend, unfortunately.

- Injuries: My heel issues and sacrum issues are both in a "good place." They're being kept in check. I had a flare up with my achillies in July, and then I took some time off in October after the TC 10 Mile to let things rest up (which was a GREAT decision). My "new" and super annoying injury is my medial epicondylitis in my elbow/forearm that has kept me from lifting weights (with my upper body) since early June, and kept me from swimming since early August. I'm SOOOO ready to be done with this. But it's only slowly getting better with rest, massage, and some strength exercises.

Monthly totals. Notice the swim stoppage in Aug after my elbow injury,
and my "rest month" in Oct after the "Loony Challenge."

Monthly totals with trainer "distance" added in. (BeginnerTriathlete.com doesn't have a way
to add in trainer time, so I just did a quick, bad Photoshop estimate here).

2015 RACE COUNT:

- Duathlons: 3
- Triathlons: 6 (5 individually and 1 as a relay)

- 1 Mile: 1 (as a Donut Mile)
- 5K: 1 (as part of the Loony Challenge)
- 10K: 1 (as part of the Loony Challenge)
- 10 Mile: 1 (as part of the Loony Challenge)

- Time Trial: 1

In 2012, I did 20 races. In 2013, I did 12 races (falling injured in the last half of that year). In 2014, I "rebounded" a bit with 14 races. And in 2015, I had fewer running races, with a total race count of 14 races. Hoping to race a bit more this year!

HIGHLIGHTS:
(There are 4 for 2015)

- ONE: Falling in love with swimming and biking. This one sounds lame, but it's true. I really loved swimming (while not injured) and biking this year. In the past, 200 miles/month on the bike was HUGE (I think I've cracked that twice between 2009 and 2014), but when you look at my bike and trainer time, I was over 200 miles FIVE months in 2015! (And between 165 and 200 miles another THREE months!)

- TWO: Duathlon Nationals. 2015 was the final year that Du Nationals was in St. Paul, and it was a pretty great race. It was fun to be a part of, and I finished just off the podium in 4th in my age group.

Heading to the finish (as seen in my race report).

I raced with sister-in-law Annie and her fiancé Matt.
We raced the month before at the Oakdale Du as well.

- THREE: Back-to-back wins in 1 day at the Life Time Fitness Triathlon. I raced the Sprint Tri as a relay (as a swimmer), and then I hopped back in and did the SUPER Sprint Tri by myself. I think my team and I set 2 course records that day. What a day!

A truly humble team photo after our win (as seen in my team race report).

Hitting the finish an hour later as the winner of the SUPER Sprint Tri (as seen in my race report).

- FOUR: Racing as an "elite" for the first time. I knew the North Mankato Triathlon was pretty small, so I figured I'd try signing up as an elite when I saw that was an option. It was a blast. I ended up 4th overall and 1st in my age group:

Running to the finish (as seen in my race report).

I even made an appearance in the Mankato Free Press Newspaper! :)

Other assorted highlights include racing and beating Lisa at the YWCA Indoor Tri, winning the Cinco Du Mayo Duathlon for the 2nd time, purchasing a new bike, and the fact that I placed (overall or in my age group) in 7 of the 9 multisport events in 2015. (But it's no secret that I like to race smaller races.)

GOALS FOR 2016:
(There are really only 3.)

• Keep trying to kick these injuries. The hip/sacrum thing from over 2 years ago will always be something I'm watching. Same with my on-again/off-again achilles problems. I'm hoping this elbow/forearm thing will be over shortly and I can be swimming and lifting like normal again. I'm really close to ruling out triathlons in 2016 (because my elbow is keeping me from the pool) and instead just focusing on duathlons and running. (I mentioned this in this post 2 weeks ago.)

• Run more. More EASY miles. Many years, I end up saying "I ran about all I could because of my injuries." Well, if I'm good about my first point and am able to stay injury free (mostly), then I hope to rack up some decent miles for me. And this easy running that I've been doing since the TC 10 Mile has been treating my legs well, so I hope to do more of that. I have no specific milage goal - I just want to run more.

• Get passed on the run. "WHAT?" you say? "Your goal is to get PASSED on the run?" you say? Well yes. Let me explain. I've been biking more over the last year, and (so far) I'm doing good about keeping up on that this winter. My biking as gotten a lot better. AND I recently got a new bike - my first bike since my kinda heavy 2008 Specialized named "Goldilocks." So in the past, when I'm racing a sprint tri, I do OK in the swim, OK in the bike, and then pass some people on the run (which is generally my strength). This year, with better bike fitness and a better/faster bike, I'm hoping to start the final run (in a tri or du) along side a "better category" of athletes. So that means I MAY get passed on the run more easily than in year's past when I was well behind the good swimmers and bikers when starting the run. (This might only apply to duathlons this year as I'm not sure if I'll be able to swim any triathlons.)

Finally, here's the BEST "year in review" shown through 12 photos from my Instagram posts: