Tag: year

2021 Running and Triathlon Year in Review

2021 Running and Triathlon Year in Review

Started 2021 with some trail running. Found out I loved running trails.

What a difference a year makes! After just going through the motions last year, running and biking without any racing, it was such a joy to have racing back again in 2021. As I write this, December 2021 is starting to feel more like 2020, and I definitely do not want to go back there, but I think the ship will right itself again.

2021 saw a return to racing for me. I tried to not go overboard with racing, and there were some changes to how things were done, but we were allowed to push ourselves once again.

On the triathlon front, I got in two events – the first being an “off-road” sprint triathlon that was a lot of fun, and resulted in an age-group placing. And I completed my fifth Ironman in Chattanooga with my friends.

The Gunner Gang the morning of Ironman Chattanooga 2021.

It was also a year of new adventures in running for me as I trained for and ran a couple ultra marathons. I found training for the ultras to reinvigorate my passion for running. I also found that going slower can also be fun. I learned quite a bit about myself on those training runs and during the events as well. I’ve already signed up to do the Big Hill Bonk event, as well as another attempt at the Tunnel Hill 100.  I’m an Ultra Runner now!!!

In the spring I began my training for Ironman Chattanooga, which I made my goal “A” race, and would train for the other stuff around that training. Although it prepared me well for the Ironman, I think the training wasn’t quite adequate for the 100-miler, and that became clear to me when I decided to drop at the halfway mark and take the 50-mile finish. I felt no regret about stopping at 50 miles at the time I did it, but it wasn’t long before I was regretting it a little. I will prepare myself with a little more ultra-specific run training and arm myself with what I learned from the race to give it another try in the fall.

Summer saw me entering my first race of the year and first time back at racing since Covid shut down everything in 2020. I was urged by a few of my coworkers to run a local 5K and that was a fun return to road racing. The course was hilly and tough, and the warm day didn’t lend to a great 5K time, but I did okay-ish. Here’s the race report:  2021 Chasing the Sun 5K Race Report

Had some fun swim training with Tom in Lake Michigan.  He’s caught the tri bug.  

Next was a new, local triathlon that was “off-road,” which basically meant it was on a crushed limestone trail for the bike and run. I was excited about that because I got to actually race my gravel bike for the first time. You can read about it here:  The Forge Off-road Triathlon Race Report

Coming out of the water at the Forge Tri.

In August the Big Hill Bonk – Wisconsin’s Backyard Ultra race finally took place after a couple of postponements and it was a ton of fun. This race format of running multiple 4.16 mile loops every hour is still kind of new, so I found myself learning as I ran. And what I learned is that I had a lot of fun running through the woods and into the dark of night. It was a great experience and I look forward to doing it again in April 2022. Eight laps, or “yards” netted me 33 total miles.  The adventure can be found on this post:  Big Hill Bonk – Wisconsin Backyard Ultra Race Report

Fake running for the photographer, but having a blast at Big Hill Bonk.

Next up was a return to Chattanooga for my fifth Ironman with my Gunner teammates Dave, Jeff, and Jan. Weatherwise, race day was much better than what we experienced in 2019, a dreadfully hot and humid day. This race was wetsuit legal, a first for Chattanooga, I believe. Even with an extra four miles on the bike course, and the run course being one of the hilliest ever, I turned in my second fastest IM time. Here’s the report:  2021 Ironman Chattanooga Race Report

Doing my part to promote pathetic triathlonism.  

I had about a month and a half to work on building some mileage for my first attempt at running 100 miles. I worked on pacing and in-race nutrition while logging lots of weekly miles in training. Race day came and I felt prepared, but my body was aching a little and my mind wasn’t quite prepared to tell my body to keep going. Thankfully, at Tunnel Hill you can get the 50-mile finisher award if you decide to drop at the half-way point, and that’s what I did. I’ve never run that far in one day ever, and I’m pretty proud of that. Read about Tunnel Hill here:  Tunnel Hill 50 Mile Run Race Report

Finishing 50 miles of running and calling it a day.  I had a Forrest Gump moment and didn’t feel like running anymore.

One little note about the Boston Marathon. I ran the Chicago Marathon in 2019 and got my third Boston qualifier, albiet barely. I was thirteen seconds under the qualifying time and even though I was proud of that, I knew that a BQ-13 would not be quick enough, and I didn’t give any thought to applying to run it again. I was wrong. Boston announced that there would be NO CUTOFF FOR 2022! I could have made it in! Oh well, I’m not sure I wanted to run it on such short notice anyway. Running Boston in 2018 was such a miserable experience (!) and great memory for me, I might not ever want to run it again!

So that wraps up 2021. What’s in store for 2022? Well, it seems that I’ve gotten myself entangled in a hodge-podge of events that I will have to figure out how to train for. Plus, I have to keep the calendar clear for a couple reasons: Kari and I celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary in September and we are hoping to go on a trip. And my son Ben and fiance Emily are planning a summer wedding, which doesn’t quite have a concrete date yet. I’m looking forward to both of those non-running, non-triathloning events!

But I have already committed to running the Big Hill Bonk in April, which I have sorta started training for now. I’ve also added the Manteno sprint tri for the end of July. I’m toying with adding the Chicago Triathlon for the end of August. And since the Chicago Marathon notified me that I have legacy and can sign up for the race, I did so. It may end up being another attempt at a Boston qualifier, or it may end up being a training run for Tunnel Hill 100, which I committed to just 2 hours ago. Yeah, I have some unfinished business there.  And I’m a glutton for punishment.

So here’s to 2022 and a happy and healthy racing year.

RUNNING STATS

  • JANUARY – 21 Runs / 140 Miles / 35 Miles per week
  • FEBRUARY – 15 Runs / 79 Miles / 20 Miles per week
  • MARCH – 19 Runs / 85 Miles / 21 Miles per week
  • APRIL – 15 Runs / 78 Miles / 19 Miles per week
  • MAY – 17 Runs / 91 Miles / 23 Miles per week
  • JUNE – 18 Runs / 98 Miles / 24.5 Miles per week
  • JULY – 18 Runs / 120 Miles / 30 Miles per week
  • AUGUST – 20 Runs / 180 Miles / 45 Miles per week
  • SEPTEMBER – 18 Runs / 124 Miles / 31 Miles per week
  • OCTOBER – 21 Runs / 242 Miles / 60.5 Miles per week
  • NOVEMBER – 14 Runs / 158 Miles / 39 Miles per week
  • DECEMBER – 13 Runs / 95 Miles / 24 Miles per week
  • 2021 TOTALS – 209 Runs / 1490 Miles / 28.6 Miles per week

LIFETIME RUNNING TOTAL

  • 29049 Total Lifetime Miles / 5190 Total Lifetime Runs / 33rd Year of Running

BIKING STATS

  • 109 Total Rides / 2843 Total Miles

SWIMMING STATS

  • 33 Total Swims / 51971 Total Yards (29.5 miles)

2017 Running & Triathlon Year in Review

29th RUNNING YEAR 

I think most people will say “good riddance” to 2017, but as far as running and triathlon went for me, it was a pretty good year.  As is the custom, I like to wrap it up with a year end summary.

2017 – RUNNING REVIEW

I wrapped up my third straight year of a running streak, managing at least a mile every day.  There weren’t too many issues in maintaining my streak.  Even the post-Ironman mile was no big deal the day after the race and a 4 hour car ride home from Louisville, Kentucky.  I really felt like I could do 2 or even 3 miles that day, but I didn’t push it.  Maintaining a streak takes some discipline to know when not to overdo it, and so I played it safe with just a mile.

fullsizeoutput_ffa5
I will have to say good bye to this little running data app that I have used for the past several years.  The developer refused to update it for the new iPhone operating system.  It served me well.  I received a new Garmin 935XT watch that is pretty impressive.  I will be using Garmin Connect from now on to log my running miles.  Fingers are crossed.

 

I finished the year with 1682 total miles, 142 miles less than last year.  Even so, it’s still pretty impressive to me.  After 29 years of running, this brings my yearly average to 812 miles per year.  So I have done approximately double the miles this year than my annual average, which is increasing every year.

One item of note is my average pace this year was 8:35 min/mile, which exceeds last year’s 8:47 min/mile average.  Not sure why that is, because it wasn’t intentional, but I will take it.  I have learned somewhat through training for Ironman and marathons that long, slow distance with occasional speed work thrown in is probably a better training method for performance than the constant tempo runs at faster paces that used to be my bread and butter.

Speaking of the running streak, last year I mentioned in my wrap-up that I might give up the running streak in 2017, but it didn’t happen.  The main reason for stopping the streak at the end of 2016 was injury, mainly to my foot.   But I managed to train through it fine.  The reason this year for the consideration is basically the same.  I’m pretty sore after another long season, and I just don’t think I have anything left to prove with keeping the streak going.  At 54 years old, it’s not like I’m going to set a longevity record for streaking.  I would have had to have started that in my teens probably.  And with two big marathons on the calendar for next year, I think that I might benefit from having some rest days after tough or long workouts.  If I do end the streak, I’ll write up a blog about how I felt it affected me.  The original goal was to last a year – mission accomplished.  I think year two of the streak I saw the benefits, and this past year I’m starting to see some diminishing returns with it.

BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMENT

My biggest accomplishment for 2017 was making the cut for the 2018 Boston Marathon!   Of course I actually qualified for the race in 2016, but I had to wait until April to apply and then wait to see where the ax would fall for the cutoff to get in.  I had a -4:51 BQ cushion, so I wasn’t really too worried about it even after missing the cut for the 2017 race by 28 seconds.  When I got the email I was relieved.  So, basically being patient and waiting was my biggest running accomplishment.  Funny.

fullsizeoutput_fc7e-e1514851509899.jpeg

IMG_7045
I guess the information I provided was accurate!  I was very excited to get the official invite booklet.

 

2017 RUNNING STATS

  • 1682 TOTAL MILES – 32 MILES PER WEEK / 140 MILES PER MONTH
  • 365 TOTAL RUNS – 7 RUNS PER WEEK / 30.4 RUNS PER MONTH
  • 240 TOTAL HOURS – 4.6 HOURS PER WEEK / 20 HOURS PER MONTH

LIFETIME RUNNING STATS

  • 23,549 TOTAL MILES – 812 MILES PER YEAR
  • 4340 TOTAL RUNS – 149 RUNS PER YEAR
  • 3124 TOTAL HOURS – 107 HOURS PER YEAR (Nearly 130 days spent running over 29 years!)

2017 TRIATHLON REVIEW

I had a pretty great year with triathlons in 2017.  In all, I took on three races, finishing on the podium at Manteno, Illinois and once again qualifying for the USAT Nationals.  I think that is my second time qualifying for nationals, and is always a big feather in my cap.  The race will be held in Cleveland in 2018, and I will not attend seeing that I am already committed to the Boston Marathon in April, and the Chicago Marathon in October.  Some day I hope to attend, especially if it is a little closer to home.

The ET Batavia Triathlon is becoming a favorite for me, and I did well this year, but did not place in my age group.  I’ve already signed up for it again.

My big “A” race this year was 2017 Ironman Louisville.  I had big expectations for this race and I put in a lot of hard work to achieve my goals.  I PR’d every discipline this time around, lowering my Ironman personal record to 11 hours, 46 minutes, 55 seconds.  The finish was awesome, but once again pales in comparison to the fun and experiences I had with my buddies training for and racing Ironman Lou.  Lots of great memories.

30_3rd-2330589-CERT_US-1960_044546-12498414

 

2017 TRIATHLON RELATED STATS

  • 119,174 TOTAL YARDS SWIMMING (67.7 MILES)
  • 3308 TOTAL MILES BIKING
  • 1682 TOTAL MILES RUNNING

2017 RACES

I did six total races in 2017 and had fun in them all.  Here’s a brief recap with a link to the race reports for each.

GOALS FOR 2018

I’m looking forward to running my first Boston Marathon.  I plan on following a 16 week beginner training plan for it, as I don’t really have any real desire to do this race as fast as possible.  I kind of want to take my time and enjoy every step.  The plan, although labeled as a beginner plan, has plenty of mileage and work in it for me to do well.

I’m already signed up for the Chicago Marathon in October and the ET Batavia Tri in June.  In talking with my Gunner teammates, there’s a strong possibility they will be back at the Chicago Triathlon in August, and I am planning to join them this time.  I’ve skipped it the past few years.

I ran two miles on January 1, 2018, so the streak is alive as I wrap this report up.  But we will see.  If I do decide to let the streak die, I will do so when the marathon training plan has rest days, and I’ll probably throw in some cycling or weight workout on those days.

That’s it for 2017!  Thanks for reading.