2012

So 2012 turned out to be a reasonably productive year, all things considered. Across 73 activities I logged just under 59 hours of actual movement, which sounds impressive until you do the maths and realise that's barely over an hour a week on average (so perhaps not quite the athlete I occasionally imagine myself to be). The highlight was undoubtedly Escape from Alcatraz, which dragged me into the pool for the first time and accounts for all five of my swims — although 8.4km in the water over a whole year does suggest I'm not exactly threatening Michael Phelps. On the bike I managed 412km across 10 rides with 171 achievements and 69 PRs, which I'm quietly pleased about given I barely touched a bicycle in 2011, and the 58 runs totalling 358km — including the Bisham Half Marathon — kept the running ticking along at a pace I'm at least not embarrassed by.

Comparing back to 2011 is where it gets mildly encouraging, though I'd caution against getting too carried away. Last year I scraped together just 36 activities and a shade under 30 hours of movement, so doubling both the sessions and the time is a genuine step forward, not just creative accounting. My average running pace crept down from 6:30 to 6:00 per kilometre, which suggests the extra volume is actually doing something useful, and adding cycling and swimming properly into the mix gives 2012 a shape that 2011 entirely lacked. So the direction of travel is right — the challenge for 2013 is making sure I actually train consistently enough to deserve the results, rather than just turning up and hoping for the best.

Summary generated by Claude