A Look Back at 2016: Part 2, by the #'s

Similar to last year, I am way behind on this, better late than never, right? This post will take a look back at the training and racing for 2016. Part 1 is already up, and if you missed that you can check it out here -->>> "Through the Lens". Part 3 will dive into the financials of racing around the world, and the harsh reality of being a "professional" triathlete. I hope to have that up early next week.

So here we go...................

2016 by the Numbers (from 1/4/16 - 1/1/17 to keep it Monday - Sunday) Swim: 712,722 meters / 201 hours- AVG 13,700 meters/wk (+105km from 2015)

Bike: 6,758 miles / 367.5 hours- AVG- 130 miles/wk (-1,371 mi from 2015) Run: 1,479 miles / 188 hours- AVG-28.4 miles/wk (-259 mi from 2015) Commuter Miles: 384 miles Total: 9,064 miles / 756.5 hours / 14.5hrs/wk (-2.3hrs/wk from 2014) Raced: 11x 70.3's, 2x Full IM's Total= 13 races Placings: 1 Win, 2 Podiums, 2 Tops , 7 Top 10's

Flight Stats: 59 Flights, 141,715 Flight Miles Random Stats: 44 Days Off of Training, Longest Streak of Consecutive Training days: 58, and 10 Countries Visited

Some Thoughts:

Why was the overall training volume down? Looking back at the year this was mainly due to the amount of travel I did and having our first child in early July. Honestly though, the travel was more of a disruption to training than the kiddo, as my wife was on maternity leave and allowed me to continue to train and travel after he was born.

Why so many off days this year? Due to how we structured 2016, and to "reset" for 2017, I took 4 weeks of down time in mid-November to mid-December. There were quite a few off days then and I enjoyed just relaxing and spending time with family while we were back in the States.

Why so much racing? After the 2x Full IMs in the early part of the year, I decided to take a break from Full IMs and focused on 70.3s. I took a few chances on some races, and it bit me in the rear. Looking back at the schedule, I should have skipped Los Cabos 70.3 and Weymouth 70.3--those are the only two that I believe had a negative impact on the year. However, I did learn things at both races, so they weren't a complete lost cause.

Overall Thoughts? I think I took some big steps in the right direction over the 70.3 distance. It was great to pick up a win, but looking back at the season the race in Hefei was the real breakthrough of the year. I raced a bit too much, learned a TON, and hope to build upon 2016. I found that staying in one place for 4-6 weeks and getting a good, solid block of training in typically led to good results. Moving into 2017 I have taken the approach of structuring my races around that model, and hopefully can continue to find success at the 70.3 distance, with the plan to return to the Full distance in 2018.