A look back at training over the last four years

It was interesting looking back at the past four years

I was looking back at my totals for 2018 and thought, how does this compare to previous years? So I dug out my old training logs to see.

I only tracked running for a long time so the earliest multisport training log I could find was 2015. That year, I logged:

Swim: 128.5 miles, 88.5 hours
Bike: 721 road miles plus 80-something trainer rides, 171.5 hours
Run: 1,141 miles, 182 hours

That was a good year. According to my 2015 wrap-up, I logged my highest-volume month ever for both the swim and the run. 1,141 miles was my second-highest annual running volume ever. I also bought a magnetic trainer that year and started doing actual trainer workouts. My SI joint went out of whack at the end of the year, but I was able to gut out my seventh (and currently, most recent) marathon. What affected my training most was a new job schedule, which required earlier wakeups and longer commutes, and eliminated my work-from-home capabilities.

2016 was rough. I was slow to return to running after my SI joint and then IT band fiasco. I started out swimming great, but skipped my usual early-season triathlon and then DNF'd an aquathon I'd done many times before because of swim panic. Looking back, my thyroid was severely mis-medicated and it manifested in anxiety. Later that year I scaled back on, well, everything, as I trained and paced my husband to his first half marathon in the fall. One good thing I did that year was pick up the weight training when I wasn't doing much else.

Swim: 71.75 miles, 49.5 hours
Bike: 214.75 road miles plus 50-something trainer rides, 83 hours
Run: 666.35 miles (yes, that was intentional), 114 hours
Weights 54 times, Pre-hab 21 times, Yoga 29 times

Overall, it wasn't terrible, and I did have a lot of fun running that year.

On to 2017. My running was off to a great start and I got into the Gasparalla ultra distance classic at the end of February, a 15K and 5K on Saturday followed by a half marathon and an 8K on Sunday, so my focus for the first two months was running and more running. After the race, I eased up on the running and worked in biking and weights again. I bought speed and cadence sensors and signed up for Trainer Road to really improve my biking. I barely swam and when I did I had trouble breathing. My running got sidelined early in November with searing knee pain that turned out to be a chondral fissure, and I couldn't do much else through the end of the year. BUT, I broke 1,000 running miles in a year for only the fourth time in my life.

Swim: About 8 miles, 6.5 hours
Bike: 457.65 road miles plus 39 trainer rides, 71 hours
Run: 1,026 miles, 167.5 hours
Weights 53 times, Pre-hab 6 times, Yoga 28 times

The "pre-hab 6 times" is a harbinger for 2018...

2018 was The Year of Physical Therapy. I started going immediately after the new year and was diligent with my appointments and all my homework. I slowly added in easy trainer rides and a swim here or there. I did a couple of oddball workouts, upper body boxing and hiking while I vacationed in California. I finally got cleared to start running again in May and I built up super slowly. I did a lot of barre and bumped up my trainer rides. I did my first duathlon. I took out the "walk" portion of my run-walks and my knee felt fine. I ended the year strong.

Swim: About 9 miles, 8 hours
Bike: 141 road miles plus 106 trainer rides, 115.5 hours
Run: 390 miles, 78.8 hours
Weights 58 times, PT/Rehab 154 times, Yoga 23 times, Other 7 times

Four years is a pretty small sample size so I don't know that there's anything to deduce. Swimming was good for me in 2015, OK in 2016, and fell off a cliff for 2017 and 2018. Biking was really good in 2015, crappy in 2016 and 2017, and a bit better in 2018. Running was good in 2015, crappy at the end of 2016, bounced back but was crappy again by the end of 2017, and recovered a bit in 2018. 2017 was just crappy all around, it seems.

I don't know yet where 2019 will take me, but it's interesting to me to look back at my logs. Yeah, it is a bit depressing to see the years where one sport dropped off. BUT, it is also a reminder that through knee and SI joint and thyroid and any other issue, I bounce back. Maybe not as high as I did 10 years ago, but I still bounce back.

I'm looking forward to 2019 and whatever training and adventures it brings me.