1/02/2009

2008 year end motion update!

Even though I did not give monthly summaries this year, I still kept track of the mileage. The goals were 10 miles a day biking on average and 1 mile a day average running. The reality:
2817 bike and 108 miles running.
That is 7.7 miles a day bike average and .3 miles a day run average!

Not too surprising as again I did virtually no long training type rides this year nor did I do any regular running. Most of the mileage was commuting oriented with diversions. The year was nasty and cold until June, so lots of the early season mileage was depressed. Having little Aida come along also curtailed the riding a bit.

I only drove to work twice in 2008. It was last winter some time, I can't remember why, probably because I was sick and it was really cold, but I don't remember.

The yearly, per bike mileage:
536 on the Big Dummy
495 on the Kogswell PR
449 on the Kelly Singlespeed MTB about half on studs for the winter
367 on Bones, the Kelly Fixie
283 on the Stud shod Raleigh twenty
214 on the Bike Friday Fixie
198 on the three speed Schwinn Breeze
124 on the Hunter 24" BMX bike
62 on the Kelly singlespeed Cross Bike
58 on the Kelly Road Bike
32 on the Picnica

Big changes from last years profile. Still 1247 miles were on one speed/fixies. The new geared bikes were the mileage champs this year. I suspect the big dummy will win again in 2009. It is too useful. I rode it almost exclusively for 2 months around the time Aida was born.

I still plan on contracting the Picnica and the Friday Fixie in to a seasons Tikit which can both be the throw in the car bike AND the travel bike, but I need to sell some bike junk to get that to happen. The other low mileage bikes were the Cross Bike, which I usually only race cross on now, so not a big deal, and the Road Bike, which is usually high milage, but the appearance of the P/R has relegated that to go fast rides only, but the bars are a bit low and some other mechanical issues are causing it to not be ridden. I should get that fixed, I have a new fork for it and all the parts, just finding time to deal with the dozen or so bikes in the upkeep department is tough. More bikes=more that are mechanically deficient.

Running was a disaster this year. I can't remember why either, I don't recall being injured at all. I think I was too busy at work to sneak out for lunch runs in any consistent fashion this year. No big deal.

In other motion based activities, I went XC skiing 19 times in 2008 and ice skating a measily 7 times. I am not sure if I went swimming at all, certainly not in a pool. I am pretty sure I did not go open water swimming at all either. I will almost definitely swim more this year as Elena is a regular swimmer and I will need to play with the baby as she swims, and I probably will sneak a few swims in after elena is done. I think ice skating will fall by the wayside this year as someone needs to watch the baby, and I usually iceskated only to see elena at lunch a few days a week. As Aida gets older, I am sure this will return!

I did 6 "real" races in 2008. One cross race, one mountain bike race, one duathlon, and three xc ski races. I did two training bicycle time trials and one xc ski time trial. That is a lot less than the 10 real races and 8 training races I did last year. In retrospect I am a bit surprised it was half the races of 2007. There are plenty of local races this year that I will probably do, so lets see what happens. I got afflicted by the lazies, the early season doldrums and the mid season illnesses this year which made me skip a bunch of local races. Long trips with the little miss are probably going to be few with the possible exception of a durango weekend in september if I can get an entry.

Running is a weird thing. In my collegiate racing days I would hit 100 miles every 10 days or so during cross country season. I really enjoy running, but I tend not to deal well with more than one run a week. I think I should probably get my knees checked this year. My brother (with a similar running background) got his checked and the doctor told him he had arthritic knees and should not run anymore. So he now ignores his doctor. I suspect I have similar problems, but I will prefer not to know. There are a few longer trail races here in Los Alamos which I would like to do this year, but that would require two runs a week. I like being able to go out and run for an hour or so pretty fast at will...We shall see!

Tied into runnnig is weight issues. I think I weighed in at exactly 202 lbs on new years day in 2007 and 8. This year it was 196. It is a bit fake as I usually weigh around 195 pretty consistently and then shoot up a few pounds over the holidays, skewing the number. When I ran in college I weighed somewhere between 160 and 170 pounds. I think splitting the difference between then and now is a good goal. So I will shoot for 185 by years end. I think it is pretty doable by a combination of fasting and miracle diet. Or at least not eating as much at work in the snack department and excercising a bit more. Maybe cutting out the bacon in my breakfast burritos and maybe cutting down on beers a bit. I have tried limiting beer consumption by only drinking expensive beer which worked great as a student, now I just have taste for expensive beer while having the means to buy it regularly. Oh well. I was at about 180 in 2005 when I was at the peak of my dissertation writing procrastination by biking and racing alot. I don't think I can quite get there, but I would like to get the weight under 190 consistently. This will make running alot easier and will make my bike and ski racing even better.

Uh OK, where are we here. So the new years goals are the same as every year:
more gooder, less badder, more thinner, less fatter
The riding and running goals will stay fixed at 3650 miles biked and 365 miles run. I will be happy with 3000 miles biked and 150 runned, but I will see if I can push it! I am already at 15 miles biked this year, so maybe it will be a record january. Heavy winters have pushed the bike milage down with at least three months of subsitance commuting milage of 150 or so miles a month. The most recent high milage year happened during a winter where there was zero snow fall. At least the skiing has been great last few years. I am soon to have the big dummy with studded tires, giving me three bikes that are winterized, so hopefully the winter mileage will be better this year without trying too hard. I am perturbed from a commuting standpoint that there is already a ton of snow onthe off road route to work, so that really makes the commute boring. It will take some serious post holing/snow shoeing/plain old plodding through to get it ridable, discounting two-three more months of winter storms.

Random factor this year is Aida. I think she will be bike trailer and bike seat ready by spring, whenever that is, so that might help and/or hurt milage! Yay baby. I welcome whatever changes she brings. So bring it, little baby girl.

Here are the last few years milage summaries that I can find:

2005 and 2006 milages are estimated based on partial year reporting.
I have a few other years stashed around somewhere on old harddrives. I think there was one or two 5000 mile+ plus riding years in the past ten years, but for the most part, 3000 miles has been pretty typical.

And a couple of last things. Core strength, oraganization and teeth flossing. I will endeavor to improve these!

Happy 2009!

4 comments:

Maureen said...

love it! you are more into lists and averages than me--I am impressed and amused!

Tarik Saleh said...

I spared you the month by month per bike comparison graph and the monthly daily mileage averages...
I blame my college cross country and track coach for instilling mileage mania... Somewhere in a folder I have some graph paper with 4 years of data on daily running activities along with morning resting heart rate and lifting schedule... That can stay hidden as far as I am concerned. Looking at week after week of 70 miles running makes my knees ache...

Brian said...

I love the year in reviews! I still need to get to mine. I also wanted to say that your weight/expensive beer paragraph was one of the most laugh out loud funny paragraphs of the year. Happy '09.

Chrysanthemama said...

OMG! You totally made my evening! This was one of the best reads I have read for the new year. Not only did you inspire me to make a list of race goals for the year, but you made ma laugh and not feel so bad for my expensive beer tastes that are surely the downfall of my training issues. Thanks! Your kid is way cute, btw!