I sit here on New Years Day following a morning Parkrun (start as you mean to go on), wanting to share with you my 2018 high’s and low’s and reflect on what was an extremely busy year.
2018 Goals
Let’s start with the goals I set myself a whole year ago and how I got on with them. I wanted to achieve sub 23 and 45 minute 5km and 10km respectively. I wanted a sub 6 day JOGLE ride and a sub 9 hour Alpe D’Huez Triathlon. Although I never managed to hit any of these, there is reasoning behind it. Firstly my main focus of the year was the daunting task of JOGLE, sum what 900 miles in a short space of time. I decided early to make this a 7 day cycle rather than 6 judged on what I truly felt confident in completing. With all my focus concentrating on the successful completion of JOGLE I was training my body for endurance without realising the impact this would have on my speed and power. The detriment to both of these meant that I was not going to go sub 23 minute or in fact have the power to push through Alpe D’Huez Triathlon (might be worth having a read of my blog from that event). The 10km goal was also not going to be hit as I didn’t enter any last year. So looking back, although on paper I never managed to tick any goals, I did a bloody good job in giving it a go!
Reflection Time
Knowing that it was going to be a busy year with lots of different events I set off with a fitness plan that involved lots of different activities throughout the week. January saw me complete a few Parkruns and build a base of core running strength, the rest of Q1 was a mixture of running, swimming, squash, football. It was a very busy Q1 which in the end took it’s toll on the body and led to me picking up a knee injury on the 29th March. This took weeks’s to recover from as physio’s didn’t really know what I had done, due to me stopping before I did further damage. In this recovery period I concentrated more on my cycling and swimming. It did however mean that I would be cutting it fine with the first event of the season the Snowdonia Slateman Traiathlon. After some deliberating on what to do, I made the decision that JOGLE being the main focus, mean’t I should defer my Tri entry and make sure that the body is fit and healthy for cycling.
Q2 was going to be a little busier, I had my standard issue April sportive with Angela, I was riding a DEMO bike at the time for my new Wilier that I was buying. 2nd May was in fact new bike day, my Wilier Cento 10 Disc Remato, Camilla! I will do a review on this bike in a future post. She got her first outing when I got back in touch and riding with the Dawnay Raiders on the 5th May. I could see the benefits that this bike was going to give me, this was evident when I managed to take a full 5 minutes off my 18 mile route on 12th May. Later that month I took the first fall on Camilla, riding up a steep hill on a sportive, a guy cut me up when I was going walking pace and down I went. My knee got cut up pretty bad and I still have the scar to show!
June was originally going to be when JOGLE would take place, I decided to push this date back based on the knee injury and a clash with my parents 40th wedding anniversary. I was now increasing my mileage in this month with rides down to the coast, back to back 100 mile rides to build up the endurance and stamina. This was also the first time I had weighed myself in the year, I had lost 1st 8lb since Jan 2017. I also picked on my first pair of ON Cloudflow running trainers in June, they are sooo comfy that it has made me go purchase the trail version Cloudventure! I really recommend these trainers, best fit I have ever had. Also decided to ditch the elastic laces this time, I don’t think the extra 30 seconds will harm my transition times that much! The reason behind this purchase was the running I needed to bank before JOGLE in prep for the Alpe D’Huez event.
JOGLE – WOW (that’s all I am going to say about that, head over to the JOGLE page to read all about that one)
What goes up must come down, something that can also apply to emotions. The heights and elation of JOGLE was sapped from me when I DNF Alpe D’Huez in August. Another blog post that I would suggest reading if you want to know more about that event and why it went horribly wrong. It took me an awful long time to get over this and actually enjoy cycling again.
My first event that I enjoyed post Alpe D’Huez was the Nuts Challenge in September, 14km obstacle run that was a lot of fun! This was at the beginning of the busiest month of the year for me. Another cancelled triathlon in the Sandman (differed Slateman entry), as I jet setted off to Singapore and Boston for pleasure and business. With a less than 24 hour turn around in between the two. Whilst out in Boston I was able to complete the Tri State Sea Coast Century ride with an old friend. My first 100 mile ride since JOGLE, my body was fine with the endurance, however I lacked any power and couldn’t ride at a fast pace for the whole thing.
A trip out to Barbados in November wrapped up my year nicely, although this was mean’t to be pure chill time, I still managed to get a couple of runs under my belt along with some glorious open water swimming in the Caribbean sea. I put this swim training down to the fact that I broke my 1.5km swim time in the pool when I got home.
The year ended with the 8km Brutal run on 29th December, running with some friends through this trail and mud run. Odd bit of water wading and lots (LOTS) of hills.
Across the year I have picked up lots more stash, finding new makes in Rivelo and Komraid for my cycling. Even have some kit from the bike shop that provided me Camilla, ill tell you more about that great shop when I review the bike. Finished the year with an additional trisuit purchased and a HUUB wetsuit, replacing my first wetsuit that I have had for nearly 10 years.
Stats
The moment most have been waiting for, my statistics throughout the year of 2018. The majority of these have been pulled from Strava as all my data is automatically uploaded to Strava from my Garmin watch that I wear. These also only come from the events where I have used my Garmin devices, for example the Nuts Challenge (14km obstacle race) was not tracked, didn’t fancy damaging the watch. So give or take a few miles here and there it pretty much sums up my year and what I put myself through. I am pretty impressed with the numbers, but like any competitive person, it’s just set the benchmark that I need to beat this year!
121 days active
211 hours of exercise
2301 total distance
13.3 miles swam
1940 miles cycled
147.8 miles ran
135,180 calories burnt
2019 Schedule / Goals
So my 2019 schedule is already taking shape, kicking off with a 15 mile run in January at Hadleigh Castle. This will be the longest run I have ever attempted by sum 5 miles! So starting off easy hey. February typically is when I head out to somewhere for a weeks skiing, so going to try and do some strength and power training before I hit the slopes. In May I have the rescheduled Slateman Triathlon that I had to cancel last year, June see’s me return to Windsor Olympic distance where I want to beat my previous time. July is the big Tri event for the year as I take on another 70.3 in Jongkoping Sweden. So who knows what the rest of the year holds in store for me, maybe a little mini break from work and a sabbatical to cycle East to West coast of USA…!? Watch this space.
My fitness goals for 2019 are as follows,
1. Break Olympic Triathlon PB at Windsor
2. Sub 7 hour 70.3
3. Sub 23 min 5km (I will get you this time)
4. Lose body fat (Xmas weight)
5. Plan something big (USA)
Happy New Year everyone, remember, a goal without a plan is just a wish, let’s go smash 2019!
I Just Felt Like Cycling 