Evolution, Conservationism and General Nerdiness

Every year I like to look back at how I've progressed, be proud of what I've done but also set a "data point" for which I will try to beat myself. Competing with myself has always fueled my fitness regime — having goals, a number or a personal record which you can beat while improving yourself is thrilling and perhaps a little addictive. Here is a look back on previous years.



I used to be over-weight, technically obese at over 30% body fat. I'm happy to have found an activity that I can do with my wife and has hopefully added years to my life. I've gone from "not bad for a fattie" mentality in races to picturing myself as a thin, healthy person who strives to see how far I can go. I'm always amazed at how tough people can be, and I think anyone can do it if they find something they love to do that helps them lose weight.

2010 Cycling:
— 36 Races; 2 Crits, 5 MTB, 5 Endurance, 7 OffRoad TT and 17 CX
— 7409.76 total miles
— averaged 617.5 miles per month
— most miles in a month: 1024.08 (in May)
— longest ride 103.3 mi (avg 16.9 mph over hills with Joe, Gers and Mott).
— averaged about 11 training hours per week
— Approximately 575 total hours of training
— most hours trained in a week 22.28
— Max recorded watts 863W (I need to work on this!)
— Max average watts up Kuglar Mill: 299W (15.7mph/7:35)




2010 Running:
— 1 race: Heart Mini Marathon (15k)
— 234.48 total miles (I didn't get to use Nike+ to track all my runs)
— 19.5 mi/mo avg
— most mi/mo 49.25
— longest run 9.33 mi
— Set all new best times for 5k, 10k and 15k!




Commuting
This year I commuted a lot and not only used commuting as part of my training but actively used my bike to reduce my car trips. But this environmental message is slightly a paradox — I traveled thousands of miles to bike races, and at the moment my car is broken down so I HAVE TO ride my bike!

Over the summer I found out that Cliff Bar had the 2 mile challenge, it was a cool to combine my nerdiness for tracking numbers with my cycling and helping the environment and a charity. Cliff Bar donates money to 3 charities, and even more to the charity that commute the most miles (users join a team for a charity and log their miles). Supposedly 90% of trips in the US are 2 miles or shorter — obviously a distance easily covered on bike.

This year I did a total of 1794 miles of commuting in 160 trips — almost 2000 lbs of CO2 conserved.



Here are my workout stats (approximate not exact) since 2007:
Total Workout Days: 962
Total Workouts: 1419
Total Distance: 19,409.20 mi.
Total Burned: 917,231 (kcal)