Friday, January 1, 2016

My Training Volume in 2015

For the 4th year in a row in January, I have analyzed my annual training volume as I recorded it in my Garmin account (connect.garmin.com/modern/profile/Tarek_Badawi).

2012
2013
2014
2015
Swim (hours/km)
63/137
53/126
26/67
2/5
Bike (hours/km)
143.5/3340
133.5/3699
91/2359
31/851
Run (hours/km)
139.5/1160
130/1119
165/1467
316/2535
Other/core strength (hours)
10
23
15
20
weekly volume (hours)
6.8
6.5
5.7
7.1

The table shows that after 2 years of decline, my weekly training volume in 2015 went up again to reach 7 hours, the highest since I started recording and even higher than 2012, the year in which I completed my one and only Ironman distance race so far.

Already mid 2014 I had decided to take on the challenge of finishing a 100k Ultra run and started refocusing my training on running. I wanted to reach this goal in 2015. This is the reason why my swim training was virtually non-existent and my cycling was reduced to an absolute minimum of 31 hours, including the 5 hours of racing in the Cologne Velodom (Tour around Cologne) as a member of the Skoda age-group cycling team back in June, which I’ve already reported about.

My running training on the other hand almost doubled. My running mileage averaged for the whole year at close to 50 km a week. Finally, I managed to finish one Ultra trail run each month in August, September and October ranging from 52.4 km to 64.4 km with almost up to 1700 m elevation gain. The time I needed for finishing these races ranged from 8h:22m to 9h:38m. And although I did not finish a 100 k run, I am very satisfied with what I achieved and will continue to have the 100k k run as a carrot in front to me to keep me motivated and protect me from a post-race depression (which I’ve never really had). In fact, I am already now considering one of two 100 k races in 2016 in Germany, which are either the one in Wuppertal (www.whew100.de/en) on the 30th of April or the Taubertal 100 (www.taubertal100.de) on the 1st of October.

Mentioning 2016, in addition to participating in a 100k race, I plan to get back into swimming and cycling to participate in Triathlon event again. In fact, I have already committed myself by signing up for Ironman 70.3 in Bahrain on December 10th. On the way there, I will probably do the Olympic Distance Triathlon in Hannover (www.triathlon-hannover.de/home.html) which I have already enjoyed doing twice before.

If anyone is interested in joining me for any of the above mentioned events in Germany, then let me know, especially if you need any help.

Now, it is probably too early to talk about any longer term goals, but I have to mention one. My colleague and running partner Markus, with whom I did 2 of this year’s ultra trail runs is interested in finishing the Transalpine trail run, i.e. crossing the alps from German through Austria to Italy, a distance of about 250 km with elevation gain of about 15,000 m in 7 days. The race has to be done in teams of 2 individuals. But, I’ll come back to talk about it around the end of 2016 if everything else has gone well until then.

Finally, I wish all my facebook, twitter and (new) Instagram followers and readers of this blog a Happy New Year and best of luck and success in achieving your goals for 2016. As usual, let me know if I can be of any help.