When I sat down to write this post, I opened up SportTracks and had this staring me in the face.
Each bolded/gray day represents a day that I did at least one activity (swimming, biking, running, or strength). I have a little game I play with myself where I try to get all the days bolded/gray in a month. Look how good I was in November. And how much I slacked off in December. Poop. Well, at least I did activities on the 30th that I haven’t logged yet and have a race planned for tomorrow, so that should help.
The Numbers
First off, the numbers. Here are my totals for 2010. I crushed my 2009 numbers. My running numbers were slightly down, but I made up for it with over 1000 more miles on the bike. Ironically, with less running, I saw my race times continue to drop.
| Running | Swimming | Biking | Strength | Totals | |
| Number | 280 | 139 | 146 | 51 | 616 |
| Total Distance | 1,501.81 mi | 171.65 mi | 3,802.34 mi | 5,475.80 mi | |
| Time | 220:01:43 | 96:56:58 | 209:10:39 | 526:09:21 | |
| Average Pace | 8:49 (8:06) | 3:15 |
I store all of my training data in SportTracks (highly recommend the software). While calculating the numbers, I found a bunch of really cool ways to visualize my training for the year. Below is a chart of each day throughout the year with activities done. Red is a running, aqua is swimming, green in cycling, and orange is strength training.
There are a ton of cool graphs that I can generate from SportTracks comparing my workout load going back to 2008 (when I started using SportTracks). I’ll only bore you with one more graph. The dark green is time spent training each month in 2010 and the light green is the time spent in 2009 and 2008. I didn’t get my Garmin until mid 2008 which is why the times are so low then.
Goals Review
On to my 2010 Goal Review. I posted my goals back in January. They were as follows:
Sub 3:40 Marathon- Check
Crushed it! Twice! I first ran a 3:34 in April at the Martian Marathon and followed that up with a 3:26 at the Grand Rapids Marathon in October.
Sub 6 Hour Half IM – Check
Crushed it thrice! My first sub-6 Half IM is an asterisked race because the run was shorted to 12.1 miles due to weather. Regardless, I would have been far under 6 hours on a full course. I then followed it up with a legitimate 5:29 at Steelhead and 5:39 at Breakwater that earned me 2nd in my age group and pushed me to the limit on a hard bike course.
Add Strength Training – Semi-Check
It took me a while to get into a groove, but once I started P90X, I was hooked. I ended up with 51 strength sessions this year which averages to one a week. I’d really like to see this increase in the next year. This year, I struggled with maintaining the strength workouts during my half IM training and only found time for it in the offseason. Because of the benefits I have seen, I really want to incorporate it into my training full time.
Sub-20 Minute 5k, and Possibly a 10k PR – Half-Check
Finally! I rocked a 19:38 at the Mitchell’s Run 5k. Unfortunately, I only ran one 10k this year and it was a miserable race. I’d still like to get a 10k PR, but I just don’t race the distance enough.
Get a Professional Bike Fitting – Check
I finally did this. And what did it take? A stranger in a car pulling up next to me and commenting on how poor my fit was. Haha. He was very nice about it and recommended the Grand Rapids Bike Company to me as well as why he thought I needed a fit. We only had a red light’s time to chat, but it was the push I needed to get it done. I really wish I could find the guy again to thank him because it made a huge difference.
Coaching
Coaching is what I call my running with Jennie. Together, we logged 98 runs totally 170 miles. Not bad considering this is her first year running ever and she didn’t start until June! Running together has been fun and a great way to chat about the day when she gets home from work.
Overview
Overall, it has been a great year. I can’t imagine it going any better. I pretty much met all of my goals. Maybe I didn’t set aggressive enough goals, so I will be more aggressive when I put together my 2011 goals.
It is still hard to believe that I did 3 marathons and 3 HIMs in one year. Two years ago when I first started doing triathlons, I would have never even considered a year like this. It just goes to show how far a little hard work and dedication can you. And now next year, Ironman Wisconsin. I can’t wait!
8 comments
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Jon
December 30, 2010 at 11:16 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Huge numbers! That graph showing off the entire year is really pretty!
So 171 miles of swimming. Seems like you could pick a start and destination that could be 171 miles around the great lakes region.
And don’t worry about slacking in December. Everybody did!
rachel
December 31, 2010 at 7:24 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Outstanding year! I too am trying to figure out how to keep my weight training going throughout the season…
I was actually just looking at your training plan (the google calendar one) for Steelhead as I am trying to build my yearly training plan. Besides the outlines given in the books how did you decide the exact duration and/or number of reps/sets for your Force, Speed and other interval work?
Ironman By Thirty (Kevin)
January 1, 2011 at 10:17 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
For the workouts, I am relying solely on Matt Fitzgerald’s book (http://www.amazon.com/Triathlete-Magazines-Essential-Week-Training/dp/0446696765). I picked Level 7 of the IM plan after completing Level 6 of the HIM plan last year. I’m horrible at doing interval/speed work unless I have it on paper that I have to do it. I’ve been very happy with the training plan’s progression (3 weeks on, 1 off) as well as the variety of workouts.
As for strength training, I’m not quite sure what I am going to do. I really like the P90X series so I am going to try and incorporate as much of the lifting workouts I can, but I’ll probably skip out on the cardio P90X workouts as I’ll be doing enough cardio with the running, biking, and swimming. I figure that if I can stretch the 90 day workout schedule into 120 days by spacing things out a bit more, I’ll be able to maintain the strength training without over doing it.
Good luck!
Jeff
December 31, 2010 at 8:39 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Wow Kevin! The running numbers jump out -1500+ mi with all that swim and bike too – pretty freaking solid dude!
I have been thinking of switching over to ST, especially since I am beginning to train with power on the bike. This may have pushed me over the edge, thanks for the graphs!
Ironman By Thirty (Kevin)
January 1, 2011 at 9:56 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I can’t say enough good things about ST. I have tried a couple of web based tools, but always go back to ST. For some reason a desktop app has just worked better for me. I guess the only downside to ST is that they changed to paid instead of free with version 3. They still offer a free version with some limitations (only tracking 2 pieces of equipment being the biggest limitation for me, so I ended up buying the full version).
The link for the free version is sort of hidden, so here it is in case you are interested.
http://www.zonefivesoftware.com/sporttracks/store/compare.php
lindsay
December 31, 2010 at 2:54 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
daaataaaaaa. mmm.
for not being a mathy/sciencey/geek i sure do love running data.
nice year! still waiting on ups to deliver your old bike…
BDD
January 1, 2011 at 1:27 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Happy New Years!!!
onelittletrigirl
January 6, 2011 at 11:05 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I love that graph but I am seriously jealous more of those high high numbers! Way to go!