2019 highs and lows

Run and bike hours by month, which made up the vast majority of my training.

2019 was a doozy of a year. January and February started off strong-ish as I worked on getting more consistent with bike workouts, continuing to slowly rebuild running, and trying to add in PT/pre-hab and weights often enough to prevent injury and build strength. I went to Argentina in March and pulled/inflamed/did something to my left hamstring (unrelated to the trip), which sent me back to physical therapy and gave me yet another unwanted break from running for the entire month of April.

But I was back to wogging come May, got outside on my bike a couple times in June and July, and was not great but OK with weights and PT over the summer. I had a running evaluation and ran a fun 5K in August, which ended up being my second-highest month of 2019 as far as volume. I managed a decent September even with family and work commitments, and ran another fun 5K in October. November was pretty light as the holidays started kicking in and multiple birthdays were celebrated, but I still managed decent volume, considering. December, the year’s highest volume month overall, saw running victories as I continued to rebuild mileage very slowly, added in moderate speed work, and ran one last fun 5K to finish out the year.

For the past couple of years it’s been: Start out strong, have a setback, course correct, return. 2019 was no different.

Numbers-wise, 2019 consisted of:

Bike: 133 times, 125 on the trainer and 8 on the road, for 2,203.5 trainer miles and 244.9 (seriously?) road miles in 168:13:35.

Another cycling thing to note: I increased my FTP via Trainer Road significantly this year through consistency and challenging myself with hard workouts. From October of 2018, when I really started getting serious, and November of 2019, my last FTP test, I increased my power by more than 35%. Yes, the bar was low to begin with, but it was still a lot of hard work and consistent riding.

Run: 114 times, 86 on the road and 28 on the treadmill, for 568 miles in 103:07:24. Not my best year by a long shot but still an improvement from last year as I recovered from injury.

PT: 72 times, 9 at the clinic and the rest at home, for 53:55:00-ish. This seems great at first glance but there are 52 weeks in a year so this should be closer to 156 times! I am working on it.

Weights: 45 times – 18 videos, 15 barre classes, and 12 at-home heavy/body weight sessions – for about 49:10:00. Again, this seems like a lot at first glance until you realize there are 52 weeks in a year and it should be closer to 104 times. I am impressed with myself for making it to barre so often, though.

Yoga: 21 times, all at home, for about 5:25:00. Ugh, not nearly enough! No wonder I am tight and sore all the time.

Swim: This is depressing, but I only swam once last year for 1600 yards (I couldn’t even do the math to make it a full mile), doing drills for 50:11. I had good intentions all year but I let anxiety and my schedule get the better of me. I really do want to get back into swimming.

Other: I did some boxing moves at home a couple of times when I was off running and needed to warm up for weights or PT, 2 times for 40:00 total.

Total: And the grand total is… drumroll please… 389 sessions in 381:21:10. I would have liked to hit 400 at least, but considering my hamstring issues, I am not unhappy. I am still ahead of an hour-a-day average, and I was pretty consistent year-round.

I went back a few years to see how 2019 compared to previous years:

(Easily available data. I'm not going to go back four years to convert wind trainer time into miles.)

2015: This was the fittest I’ve been in a long time. It was my highest swim year, highest bike year, and second highest run year. (I JUST missed 2015’s bike volume total in 2019 by a couple of hours.) I also got a new job that year, which resulted in zero work-from-home ability and a longer commute, which I think I am still recovering from (ha). I also dealt with SI joint and IT band issues while training for my last marathon, that October.

2016: I started the year swimming, biking, and running pretty evenly, but scaled back to get my thyroid under control and pace my husband to his first half-marathon.

2017: I was in good running shape and broke 1,000 miles for only the fourth time in my life, and although cycling got off to a slow start, I also got serious about indoor riding with speed and cadence sensors. And then I hurt my knee.

2018: I was still recovering from my knee injury so I started off slowly. I did swim a few times but didn’t bike or run nearly as much as I did in 2019, and lifted weights a bit more often. It was also the Year of Physical Therapy.

It's interesting, if nothing else, to see how my priorities have adjusted to life, injuries, setbacks, etc. over the year.

Of course I wish I could have accomplished more but I'm overall happy with 2019. I made a lot of strides on the bike trainer and built my running back up. I also got to run in Argentina! How cool is that!

It was a good year with a lot of lessons learned. Here's hoping 2020 is healthier, with fewer setbacks, more vacation runs, no trips to the orthopedist, little to no blisters, and lots of fun.