2013 in Review

Winter is speeding by already.  Ski racing season is started and doesn't let up until sometime in March, time to put all that fitness to work, and fitness I should have.  Last year was my biggest training year yet, over 100 hours more than 2012.  Here is a rundown of the stats.

2013 Training Summary
527 Hours Training (10 hr/wk average)
864 Miles Run
1651 Miles Biked
985 km Rollerskied
811 km Classic Skied
1197 km Skate Skied
99 Miles Canoed

My running, rollerskiing, and skiing miles are all way up, but my biking is the lowest it's been since I've started keeping track.  I did my first few gravel races this year, which were sufficiently epic, but had no other crazy rides beyond that.  My longest ride barely broke 100 miles.

It was a big year on the racing front too, proof positive that those hours of training are paying off.  I set new PR's in many races, by time, place, or both.  I won my first ever ski marathon, the Pepsi Challenge classic.  This gave me the motivation to sign up for the Birkie Classic in 2014.  It was the first ski season ever where I went the whole season without getting beat by any women, a goal I have been chasing for several years.  I was not able to match this feat in bike racing however, as Monika Sattler beat me quite handily at Inspiration.  Here is a summary:

2013 Race PR's:
City of Lakes Loppet Freestyle - 17th place (1:31:22)
American Birkebeiner Freestyle - 58th place (2:25:58)
Pepsi Challenge Classic - 1st place (3:10:58)
Afton Trail Run 50k - 7th place (4:24:08)
Mankato Marathon - 6th place (2:51:40)

The marathon continues to be a frustrating distance for me, I feel like I should be faster but after finishing my last two marathon finishing times were within 9 seconds of each other it seems clear I'm going to have to get smarter at training or racing if I want to bring that time down further.

There are already plans in the work for 2014 that will require significant fitness to achieve, starting with an ambitious ski racing season, so there will hopefully be no slowing down in the next year.