2011 was a bit of a mixed year for me, started well with lots of road riding and a serious increase in my bike fitness. Lost a bit of lard to help with the hill climbing and I rode further than I ever have before. Totally fell in love with my road bikes somewhat at the expense of my MTBs and began learning to swim front crawl somewhat at the expense of my running.
Highlights were definitely the Etape Du Dales, even with the minging weather and our second Swiss MTB tour. The increased fitness was a big help on those long 10 mile climbs.
The year ended with a bit of a whimper with an knee injury, followed by lurgy, then the death of my Nana. December was spent beginning the road to dragging my way back to fitness.
The year ended with 3467 miles ridden, only 569 miles were actually offroad (no wonder my MTB skills are disappearing). The rest was pretty much on the road either just riding or commuting. I did over 1200 commuting miles last year which is also the most ever so I'm quite pleased with that.
Running wise I only managed 288 miles though it was squeezed out a bit in favour of swimming at which I am only slightly less crap than I was at the start of the year. Only 60 miles swam but everyone was hard fought. I had a rough goal at the beginning of the year that I wanted to average out an hour of some sort of exercise a day, I managed 386 hours last year so comfortably managed that.
Onto 2012....
The aims for this year so far 400 hours of exercise, the Etape Du Dales again (praying for better weather). Just riding even more and perhaps just a little faster, last year was all about making sure I could do the distance this year doing it a bit faster if I can. I am a complete dawdler on the road really and my body doesn't cope well with lots of serious intensity so my plan is to ride with just a bit more purpose sometimes. I do reserve the right to dawdle though, its what makes road riding fun for me believe it or not, dawdling and exploring new roads.
I'm going to keep on with the swimming as I think it is good for me, helps me stretch out and develops some core strength which I really need. I'm going to try and fit in a triathlon at some point this year but its not going to be the focus. I want to do more riding rather than anything else at the minute and I need to build up and maintain some running form so swimming will be cut down to twice a week (and will no doubt get worse).
I need to develop my running again as Jez and I have been drafted in to support a friend at the
CELTMAN! part of the requirement is one of us needs to be fit enough to do the supported run leg. The plan is for Jez to get run fit enough to do it but it is probably best either of us can do it.
Other than to shed a few kilos put on at the back end of last year I've not really set too many targets. I did a kettlebell class last Monday which was pretty hard at the time and the next day I felt as knackered as if I had just ridden EDD all over again (seriously!) so I am going to continue with that for a few weeks at least as I clearly need the strength. I currently still feel I'm clawing my way back to fitness so I'll review at the end of January.