Review of 2012

Well, my first full calendar year of triathlon training is in the books.  Races went well: personal bests at all distances; completed my first 2 Iron-distance races.  I qualified for Olympic Distance Nationals, and missed 70.3 World Championships by only 3 places.  More importantly, I'm fitter than I've been since being a competitive swimmer in high school, probably in better all-around shape than I've ever been, and quite happy to be able to train as much as I do while remaining married and involved in our kids' lives and work. 

Here are my yearly mileage totals from Trainingpeaks plus some numerical geekin':

S--327,850 yds. (99 hr.) My overall avg. time for longer distance sets in a 25 yard pool was 1:24 per 100yd.

B--6340 mi. (363hr., some MTB) = Overall avg. 17.5 mph

R--1201 mi. (191 hr.) = Overall avg. 6.3 mph

T--7727 mi. (653 hr.) = 12.5 hours/week average.

Almost all mileage was done through 11/26, when I dumped my bike and fractured femoral neck. I'm already back at it some. Probably not running 'til April or May, though.

For fun and curiosity, I added a little thought experiment: How would a hypothetical IM constructed from my average training speeds compare with my recent results at IMAZ?

Swim: I averaged 1:24 / 100 yd for long sets; an IM swim is 4155 yards. 1:24 x 41.55 = 58:10 "training" swim leg. Actual time was 58:17 for IMAZ swim. Almost perfect 1:1 ratio. Uncanny. And filled with significant confounders (no flip turns, wetsuit).

Bike: 112 mi / 17.5 mph avg. = 6:24 "training" leg. IMAZ time 5:07. Ratio = 1.25:1.

Run 26.2 mi / 6.3 mph avg. = 4:10 "training" leg. IMAZ time 4:24. Ratio = 0.95:1.

Total "training IM" time = 11:32. Actual time @ IMAZ = 10:39. Ratio = 1.08:1.

Thoughts: While these numbers are pretty darn rough, they do point out at least one thing. Aero wheels, helmet, and flat race course relative to training accounts for some of the high ratio on the bike. But I think they do confirm that my IMAZ run pace was proportionally worse than what I should have been capable of doing, due in some part to overpacing the bike, plus other issues (see race report on blog if interested).

I'll hang onto them and see if there's any correlation with next year's results.

Good hammerin' to all in 2013!