Mornings

You know I'd forgotten how much it absolutely sucks to get up in the morning.   I've had about six weeks of getting up at a more leisurely pace and hitting the snooze button, or not even setting an alarm.

That ended today.

No, I didn't get up at o'dark hundred, but I did have to get up on time for my class, and while the class was great, I struggled to get up, but glad I did and it ended up being a great start to my day.

Otherwise, the new bike arrived at lunchtime yesterday and so far I love it.   It felt like a year since I'd taken a spin class, but got right back into it last night and managed to finish 6th in class despite being in z5 for 40% of the class.

I've also started filling up my race schedule.   I have four 5k's scheduled so I can start getting ready for the Dunedin triathalon.

Fun times ahead!

Now it's time to get back at it...

And just like that it's February.  I'm actually glad because the past six weeks have been a little crazy between Christmas in Virginia, driving up and back and then going on the cruise.  We kind of lucked out a little bit because Merinda's friend Jackie was pretty sick and unable to visit and go on the cruise.  Now don't take that as a "we didn't want her to visit, because we did" rather as a "we got a chance to catch our breath" instead.  I caught a cold on the cruise, after all it's not a cruise if I don't get sick, and I hate having company when I'm sick.

In terms of fitness, not much changed...   I ended up not running all of January and still don't have a replacement bike from Echelon.  I had planned to run today, but went for a 35 mile ride outside yesterday, so I'll be walking tonight instead and my new bike is due to arrive tomorrow.  Yes, it was six weeks, but due to travel I lost over three weeks due to travel.  It really was just bad luck on the timing.  C'est la vie, and I think I needed a little break.  I ran a lot of 5k's in the Thanksgiving > New Years window, and had been riding like a fiend for the challenge, and it just reminded me that I need to do more recovery and less intense workouts.  

So with that, let's talk about what I did during January, as a reminder here were my goals:

• 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

Weight Results:

• Starting Weight: 218.70
• Ending Weight:  215.80

Exercise Info:

• Number of rides:  15
• Time on exercise:  14:11:31
• Distance on rides:  181.02
• Number of runs:  1
• Distance running:  3.1
• Number of walks:  11
• Time walking:  9:01:07
• Distance walking:  24.98
• Number of rows: 36
• Time rowing: 8:06:46
• Distance Rowing: 73,169.00 meters
• Number of swims:  0
• Distance swimming:  0
• Weight Workouts:  0

Results:

So let's talk about January.   I think if I was to best describe it, it would be "when life gives you lemons make lemonade".  My spin bike was broken and unavailable, I was injured and needed to rest and overall I was worn out.  Add in a vacation and it could have been a disastrous month, but in some ways I'm pretty pleased with myself.   My weight was spot on, even with a vacation and a lot of food on that last Sunday and while I didn't get any weight workouts in, I still managed to have a perfect month in Apple, get all the Apple goals, row and walk quite a bit.  And, while I missed my "cycling target" for the month, if I take the updated calculations that they use in the distance challenge for running/walking/rowing, I  hit 401 miles for the month, and I'll take it as a win.   

This isn't to say last month was perfect, I let the weight workouts and stretching slide a bit as I was hyper focused on trying to add to my mileage, and I missed some of the MC49 bonus points, which is ok too.   All in all, I enjoyed a month of walking and rowing with a little biking outdoors and on the cruise thrown in there

That's enough of rehashing old news, let's talk about February.   Unfortunately I missed the 5k in Safety Harbor I wanted to do, but I wasn't ready to run on Saturday, and forgot all about it, but my bike is supposed to arrive tomorrow so I should get back to some regular spinning, but I don't want to go back to just spin so I'll have to play that by ear,  but as of today I think it's going to look like this:

Maintain weight

• Ride 500 miles
• February Apple challenge
• Weekly bootcamp workout(s)
• Perfect Month in Apple
• Gold in my February challenge
• All the bonuses in #mc50
• Weekly Row
• Weekly walk and run

Optional:

• Scuba Certification
• Swim ~1000 yards twice this month

These should look pretty familiar.  With the return of the bike I should go back to spin at least 4 days a week.   That will leave room for a weekly row, walk and run.  I'll take the walk and possibly the run as a recovery day.  With this quarters schedule I should be able to pick up some bootcamp classes since there are live classes a few days a week that work with my schedule.  Realistically, I'm just trying to get back into a habit.  I've been letting myself laze in bed a bit more than I should, and surprisingly I'm happy to get my discipline back.  

Other than that, planning on registering for the Dunedin triathalon and trying to find some 5k's to run.  Hope you're having a great month and I'll probably provide an update on the bike in a few days...

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!