Fitness 2024 Recap

Clear Lake 24

I am a data person so of course I have data on my fitness activities.  Per a cousin that got me started on this 12-15 years ago I decided to revive my annual fitness recap.  At the beginning of 2024 I was feeling good.  I had some solid focus on fitness, body health (working through aches and pains) and nutrition through the fall of 2023 and was feeling pretty good.  I was at my goal weight and feeling trim and ready for a great season of races and activities.

My house had a different idea in mid January, and minutes after giving myself a pep talk about being awesome for hitting my goal weight, and trimming down into my size ten pants, I had a foot shoot out from under me going down the stairs in my race to finish my morning chores before heading to class.  

Drake 10k 2024

The result of my tumble was a broken ankle.  Well, this is a place I have been before as I broke the same foot in the spring of 2022 (I was finally back in shape from that ugh). Once the initial shock wore off and I had a visit with the surgeon, I realized I was in a good place and determined not to slide too much this time.  The break wasn't a load baring bone so I could walk in a boot, and it also did not require surgery.  Bonus points, the surgeon said I could start swimming again right away (pulling only), and riding a stationary bike once the swelling was down enough to put on an ankle brace and peddle.  So for 8 weeks that is what I did.

Clear Lake Tri - 50th BDay

I missed our annual indoor triathlon in late January, but it was a fundraiser and they had my funds already.  I was supposed to do a half marathon in April, but wasn't cleared early enough to train for that, but was determined to do the 10k (6.2 miles) instead.  I was able to get some decent, slow runs in to get ready and felt pretty good on race day.

Next up were two triathlons, one on my 50th birthday at Clear Lake was supposed to be Olympic distance but training three sports with only a month for that distance was not going to be feasible so I dialed back to the sprint.  The swim (my best event) was tough as it was cold, but the bike went as well as expected (so so slow), and the run was fine.

The second one was Ames Tri, which is my hometown fun in late June.  I had a pretty good swim for that one, and an okay bike, and solid mostly run where a young woman doing her first triathlon and I were run walking together at the end of the run.

Ames Tri finish 2024

After that I pretty much don't do races through the heat of the summer so not much happening but I kept up with my run, swim and weights activities.

The next big activity was giving another half marathon a go.  My last one was in June of 2023 in Duluth and the last couple miles of that one were rough for me with some foot drop.  I got lucky with this one as I started near a couple going about the same speed as me with music playing.  Their song choices were fun and kept us all entertained until their pace dropped with about 3-4 miles left so I pushed ahead and had a solid run and met my goal for the day.

So here finally fitness data is my recap.  These are rough numbers as i didn't always have my phone or watch with me so missed recording some of the workouts.

Swim - 53 miles, with 40 hours in the water

Bike - 200 miles, with a big chunk of it indoors, 17 hours

Run - 280 miles, with 57 hours in a mix of roads, trails and treadmills

Weights/Yoga - 14 hours

Kayaking - 8 miles - 3 hours

Walking - 235 Miles - 116 hours mostly walking the dogs (I didn't track all my walks)

Hiking - 13+ miles, several hours

2025 goals include more biking outside, more kayaking and hiking.  Likely a lot more running and swimming as I have some big races lined up.  More to come on that.

Last Kayak on Clear Lake with Dad 2024