This seems to have become a personal fitness blog in the last few months, which is fine, really. I'm not bringing in a ton of visitors with my other interests and the friends who read my posts because they're friends are probably going to read (skim) regardless of what I'm writing about. Besides, the blog title totally works with a personal fitness blog, although I haven't really gotten any blisters, which is a little surprising given the amount of time I've spent running this year. I have gotten chafed nipples (that even bled once) and weird, random chafed spots on my hips and just behind my armpit on a couple of runs, but no blisters. I've developed a strange love for physical exertion, so the bliss part really seems to apply.
Anyway, this is my 2011 year in review for my running, biking, and other endurance activities. This will be surprisingly detailed because I joined RunKeeper almost exactly a year ago and recorded my very first run of the year on my phone and have kept track of every run, bike ride, and swim (and a few hikes and other activities) ever since. After I go through the stats, I'll do a brief summary of my competitions.
Running
- Total distance: 557 miles
- Average distance per month: 46.4 miles
- Best month (distance): 101.1 miles in October
- Best month (pace): March, 8:23 per mile in March
- Longest run: 13.2 miles, Savannah Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon, November 5
- Fastest run: Fall Fitness 5k, 7:17 pace
- Biggest Elevation Change: 1,245 feet climbed over 5.9 miles, December 23
- Personal Race Records: See second listing on column to the right, although I ran a 12k at a significantly faster pace than I ran my fastest 10k this year.
- Analysis: I really improved drastically in my running this year. Over the course of the 12 months, I increased in speed and endurance and I'm running more frequently and for longer distances than ever before. My fastest month may be March, but that's only because I don't just run as fast as I can for every run. December would have been my fastest month by a long shot except that I spent several days before and after Christmas working on hills and during the fall I spent a lot of time working on longer distances. I probably never ran farther than four miles back in March during that record. It's mostly because of this running that I am in the best shape of my life and at my lowest weight since high school. I'm now wearing the same size pants and a smaller size shirt than I did when I graduated 13 years ago.
Cycling
- Total distance: 1,005.5 miles
- Average distance per month: 91.4 miles (Did not start until February)
- Best month (distance): 184.8 miles in August
- Best month (pace): 3:09 per mile in June
- Longest ride: 101.3 miles on Sept. 4
- Fastest ride: 3:04 per mile, May 21
- Biggest Elevation Change: 4,911 feet climbed over 101.3 miles, September 4
- (No Personal Race Records. Not enough events.)
- Analysis: Cycling was a new addition this year. Back in February I pulled out the old Wal-Mart mountain bike I had in college to ride on the days I didn't run. While I'm currently leaning toward running as my favorite activity, there have been points during the year when I though the bike was best. I have to admit, this is probably not my best event in the triathlon, partly because I've been doing it for a shorter period and partly because it requires more technique to be successful than running and I'm entirely self taught.
Swimming
- Total distance: 8.1 miles
- Average distance per month: 2.7 miles
- Best month (distance): 3.9 miles in April
- Best month (pace): 47:38 per mile in May
- Longest swim: 0.8 miles, April 11
- Fastest swim: 36:27 per mile on May 21
- (No Personal Race Records. Not enough events.)
- Analysis: There was a time when I was a competitive swimmer and I always focused on the distance events because I've always had the ability to pace myself and go for long periods of time, but I'm always slow at everything I do. Surprisingly, at the sprint triathlon I competed in back in May, I was surprisingly competitive in the swim, probably due to better-than-average form from my years on the swim team as a kid. In fact, next year I'll be lining up at the front of the group instead of the back. Unfortunately, I like this the least of the three triathlon events (possibly due to having burned out on the swim team in middle school when I quit swimming) and I also was only able to train for three months. I didn't bother to get a pool membership during the summer because we were travelling too much and the pond I was using to train for open water swimming during the spring dried up during the warmer months. I plan on taking this event more seriously in 2012.
Tomorrow I'll post my goals for each of these activities for 2012.
5 comments:
Excellent year, Jacob! You've been a little lazy with the swimming, though. You should probably pick it up.
I'm not even slightly exaggerating when I say my training pond is literally down to nothing more than a mud puddle.
Go you. That is great.
Question: How exactly do you run hills in your area? I've seen nary a hill down there.
I don't. There are actually some low rollers nearer the river. Remember the cliff we waited out the rain across from during out canoe trip? They're about 10 miles away, though, so I don't run them. My elevation comes from either the fact that I have 50 feet of climbing over 6 miles at home and I run a lot of miles or when I run in Marietta. Really hilly there. I got more elevation in my run with Mickey at Kennesaw Mountain than I normally get in a month.
I don't. There are actually some low rollers nearer the river. Remember the cliff we waited out the rain across from during out canoe trip? They're about 10 miles away, though, so I don't run them. My elevation comes from either the fact that I have 50 feet of climbing over 6 miles at home and I run a lot of miles or when I run in Marietta. Really hilly there. I got more elevation in my run with Mickey at Kennesaw Mountain than I normally get in a month.
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