Outdoors again

I've been almost exclusively walking and rowing since January 1st.  Mostly because of the broken crank on my spin bike, and partly due to a pulled hamstring from my race on New Years day.  It's been a little frustrating since I was hoping to run a little more often, especially since I can't spin, and I thought it would be a good way to work on running endurance and pace.  I like the rower, but I don't have the dedication to spend 60-90 minutes on it every day, so I feel like I'm treading water and losing fitness and motivation.  Not really how I planed on starting 2025.

The weather here in Florida has been cool, but otherwise pretty nice and I decided to take my bike out and ride on the trail.  I really appreciate that we have a nice trail system here in Pinellas county, but my only wish would be for a few less street crossings and more bridges, because it's a pain in the ass to stop all the time.  Yes, it's better than being a hood ornament, but it is a pain in the ass.  I think that was the first time I've been on the bike since September and it felt great.  I was a little slow to get started, so I didn't ride as long as I planned; only went 24.5 miles, and I completely forgot how to use the garmin equipment (Pro tip, don't try to figure it out while riding), but I got it all working and had a good ride.

Long story short, I might be the only person looking forward to vacation so I can exercise again...   

 

Well

Between the broken bike and my pulled hamstring it appears this will be an easy month for me...   At least I'm finally getting some use out of the rower.  I still prefer the bike, but it's better than nothing.

Et tu Echelon?

So I already mentioned that my Echelon bike failed.   There's a fairly consistent issue with the crank breaking right at the spindle and, for reasons that dont seem clear, it's a part that cannot be replaced.   If it breaks, you have a giant paperweight/clothes pole.

This happened to me for the first time in July 2023 and they replaced the bike within a week, which I thought was remarkable since it was a holiday week.   Fast forward to December 2024 and my replacement bike failed.   I'm pretty sure it was the same side which is an odd coincidence, but I have a 50/50 shot so it's probably just that.  Regardless, it broke the morning Tyler and I were driving to VA and didn't snap off completely so I figured I would deal with it when I got home.   Reached out on Monday and while they were initially responsive, they asked some odd, seeemingly unrelated questions and have gone quiet.  This is a problem because there's a good chance this might arrive while we're on vacation.

/sigh...   First world problems.

I could look at this as a blessing in disguise, I did pull my hamstring on new years day, so I'm getting time to rest and let it heal, but I was hoping to hit this year with a bang and that hasn't happened...   I guess there's always February.

Let's talk about 2024 and 2025...

We're finally home, and things are a little calmer, so it's a good time for me to talk about 2024 as a whole and what I did in December.

I think 2024 was a tremendous success for me by any stretch of the imagination.  I competed in seven in person races, two of which were sprint triathalons, and one was a four mile race in July...  In Florida...  Every part of my body was sweating, but I finished strong.  I ran ten virtual 5k's last year.  Finally, I ran two 5k's in December alone, and I even squeezed one in on New Years Day, and set my current PR for a 5k time in one of those (33:26 and 10:45 pace).  I find it somewhat ironic that although the spin bike was the push to get me back in shape, the accomplishments I am most proud of don't relate to cycling.  Of course I have cycling accomplishments too, I rode 6249 miles last year, which ended up being 104% of my final goal.  Yes, I know I said 7000 when I set my goals in January, but that ended up being unrealistic as I still have to balance other demands on my time.  And last, but certainly not least, I kept my weight where I want it to be.   Even after 2 weeks of family time up in VA, and eating lots of holiday food, I didn't go over my "max" weight.  

With all that, there were some things I didn't accomplish that I wanted to, I didn't get every month's Apple fitness challenge, Septembers challenge was practicallyimpossible with an event in the middle of it.   Could I have done it?   Yes, but I didn't want to overtrain and wear myself out for the triathalon.  I missed a gold in a few challenges, but I can live with that because some of that was me, some was bad teammates.   I know Merinda think's I'm inflexible, but that's not quite true.   Life happens and we adapt and move on.  I just try my best to make sure I stay on track and to not let my fitness slip.

That's a perfect segue into talking about December.  As a reminder, here were my goals:

• Maintain weight
• Ride 550 miles
• Try to run weekly
• Two 5k events.   12/14 and 12/28
• December Apple challenge
• Continue weight training
• Continue bootcamp workouts. 
• Perfect Month in Apple
• Gold in my December challenge
• All the bonuses in #mc47 and start #mc48

Optional:

• Scuba Certification
• 2-4 Rowing workounts
• Swim 1000 yards twice this month
  

Weight Results:

• Starting Weight: 213.10
• Ending Weight: 218.70

Exercise info:

• Number of rides:  88
• Time on exercise:  53:36:15
• Distance on rides:  500.33
• Number of runs:  9
• Distance running:  12.02mi
• Number of walks:  5
• Time walking:  2:41:06
• Distance walking:  7.35mi
• Number of rows: 0
• Time rowing: 0
• Number of swims:  0
• Distance swimming:  0
• Weight Workouts: 2 dedicated, plenty of I&A and bootcamps.

Results:

This was a great month.  I every goal, with the exception of the cycling distance which I probably could have hit, except I took a mini bike break when I was up in VA.  I enjoyed using the treadmill, and since I ran two 5ks in December, and one NYD,  I'll give myself a pass.  Other than that I exceeded my goals for the month even factoring in travel and holidays.  No, I didn't get my optional goals, but c'est la vie.  My bike is broken so I will be rowing frequently until it's replaced.  It's still not my favorite workout, but it is effective, and will keep me able to run longer.

So...  What to expect for 2025?  I want to maintain and increase my overall fitness and improve performance on events.   The question is, how to do that.  Let's start with these goals:

• Maintain Weight
• Ride 6500 miles
• Perfect Year of Apple move rings
• Every Apple Monthly exercise goal
• Perfect year of closing my rings
• Complete two or more triathalons.  I'd like one to be olympic distance if I can get to 10k distances.
• Run at least one 10k
• Get my 5k pace under 10 minutes.

I believe all of these are possible, albeit challenging, but what is life without challenges eh?  The first five, with the exception of the Apple monthly goals, should be straightforward.   Yes, it's 250 miles more than this year, but if ride 550 miles/month for every month, except for January, I'll hit 6500.   I can dial this back as the year goes, but even if I have a slow start I'd like to do better than 2024.  

The remaining three are where it's going to get harder.   At a minimum I'd like to do both the Dunedin and Tarpon Springs triathalons.  If Tyler walks in May I will miss Dunedin because it's the same weekend, but I can find something else.   Tarpon is the question mark.   It has an Olympic distance, which would be my preferred race, but the 10k is the question.   I'm confident in both swim and cycling and it remains to be seen if I can run 10k's regularly.   I didn't mention it here, but I really want to run the Miami half-marathon in either 2026 or 2027, and that's dependent on my being able to run futher.  As to running faster?   That just takes practice, so I'll need to run more than last year.  I'll need to shave almost 2 minutes off my 5k time to get there, but I think that's within reach.

With that, what do I have planned for January?

• Maintain weight
• Ride 400 miles
• Weekly runs once my hamstring heals.
• January Apple challenge
• Continue weight training
• Continue bootcamp workouts. 
• Perfect Month in Apple
• Gold in my January challenge
• All the bonuses in #mc48 and start #mc49
• Stretch... stretch... and stretch....
• Row

Optional:

• Scuba Certification
• Swim 1000 yards twice this month

So...   I'll share that I am not going to get all the bonuses in #MC48.   I didn't get the I&A workouts in.  I thought I'd cycle more up in VA, but I didn't and I was behind when it started.   I'll get back at it for MC49.  Other than that I think I can hit this.   I did pull my hamstring on New Years, so I won't be running until it feels right, but I am walking on it and I hope to be able to run by next week.  Obviously with a broken bike I can't ride. so if it's not replaced before we leave for vacation I'll have to dial the mileage back.   I will be using the bikes on the boat, so I should get some distance there and I think I'll use the rowing distance as an alternative the same way it's calculated for the distance challenge.

I won't get certified this month, but I would like to start, and I should start swimming soon. Most likely after vacation.

That's enough, was a great 2024 and looking forward to bigger and better things in 2025!  Talk soon.

Ugh

I didn't have time to post before we left, but that morning I broke the crank on my Echelon bike.   Not the way I wanted to end 2024...  At least I'll have a new bike in 2025 and no excuse to not use my rower anymore.

I finally caught up on my distance challenge stuff and got it all entered so I'll talk about 2024 and 2025 in the next few days...   Talk soon! 

It's an anniversary of sorts

Two years ago today I started my fitness journey.  I don't feel like it's been two years, but sometimes longer, and sometimes shorter.  I don't know how to describe that.   I guess it's because time goes faster, or appears to go faster, as we age.

This morning I weighed 216.6 pounds, which is right in line with my average for the year.  I have a race coming up on Saturday, so I'd like to be a little lighter by then because it's easier on my knees, but I'm very pleased with how I've maintained my weight this year.

I've already exceeded my mileage target for this year, despite missing my monthly goal a few times, and I expect to beat my monthly target.

I've completed two sprint triathalons this year, a number of 5k's and one four mile run.  Far more than I imagined I would when I first thought about trying to run again and I have two more 5k's to run this month.

If you've been reading this you should know I am a fan of Echelon and what it's done for me.  I was in dreadfully bad shape when I started and in poor health.  I don't believe it's hyperbolic to say it played a huge part in saving my life.  I was morbidly obese and on a number of meds.  I struggled to walk and stand for more than 20-30 minutes, and I believe I was going to end up in a mobility scooter and probably destined for a heart attack.  Is it possible that still might happen?   Of course it is, but I'm going to do my damnest to make sure it doesn't.  

Let me finish by saying that it's not always rainbows and unicorns.  I get sore, my joints ache, and I still struggle with poor eating habits, carbohydrates are my kryptonite, but I promise you that if you work hard and are disciplined you will improve your health and overall fitness.

With that, looking forward to an even better year ahead...  

Juan gone

I'm not surprised, but rather disappointed that Soto is going to the Mets.   Yeah I know it was a possibility, but I hoped he would resign.   I can't blame Soto for taking the money, but I wonder if the Yankees dodged a bullet, because none of the money was deferred and it would have made their payroll too high.   Sure, it's the Yankees, but Steve Cohen has a ton of money and I think he was going to keep raising the pot until he won.

Now what do I do with the jersey that Tyler gave me?   I can't wear it unless someone else wears 22.

Yankees go SIGN players.   Get Bregman and Burnes.