I'm gonna cry about those numbers and move on

I really don't celebrate New Year's. My husband doesn't either. In fact, though I was awake five minutes before the new year, I forced myself to go to sleep before the ball dropped just to reaffirm how much I don't care.

I believe that each day is a fresh start and should be cherished, so the beginning of a new year (because it's just another day to me) is irrelevant.

There is something to be said, however, about a look back toward accomplishments, or the lack thereof, during any given period and the dates of Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 happen to be a good place. Also, Beginner Triathlete has these totals listed by year, and they're just easy to review that way.

To write that 2010's training volume was significantly down from that of 2009's is not doing justice to the truly embarrassing stats, so I'm providing them below. While I was at it, I took a look at 2008's numbers. Other than the swim, I still did more training my first season than I did this last season!

2010 Swim:     20,908 yards in 10h 54m 04s
2009 Swim:     64,058 yards in 31h 09m 53s
2008 Swim:     18,598 yards in 15h 32m 19s
                        43,150 less than 2009
                        2,310 more than 2008 

2010 Bike:       115.9 miles in 6h 56m 09s
2009 Bike:       541.77 miles in 36h 14m 52s
2008 Bike:       456.66 miles in 40h 08m 21s
                        425.87 less than 2009
                        340.76 less than 2008
 
2010 Run:       254.79 miles in 47h 47m 28s
2009 Run:       350.98 miles in 61h 14m 31s
2008 Run:       280.86 miles in 70h 10m 33s
                        96.19 less than 2009
                        26.07 miles less than 2008
                       (To be honest, about half of these running miles were straight walks. In '09, I started logging my walks from Runs to Walking in my Training Log.)

Yeah, those numbers are enough to make me want to cry. But they are what they are. I cannot change them. So, what do I do about them? I have to learn from them.

Seeing them posted back-to-back in this manner is an invaluable reminder of how easily time can slip away, and how having a passion for something challenging helps muster the drive to get there.

So, I'm looking forward to the next training chapter in my life which begins with my new training plan tomorrow. I'm excited to see what challenges, new and familiar, I face as I train, and I'm excited about setting a personal record for total mileage by the time 2011 is over.