3095 miles on a bike
481 miles run
200 miles of other things
January
I took a lot of pictures of the canal to wash away the dubious nature of winter training.
February
In stark contrast to February which turned into the most glorious and beautiful ski trip I have ever known.
March
We went to Kielder to recce an Ironman course. I love making this post every year because although we went to Kielder on 29th March, this picture makes the spring seem so close.
April
Stockton and my first race in GB kit where I was relieved to find out that it works.
May
Goes down as the second best month of the year. The training, the sun, representing my country and a great holiday.
June
Kielder was back in full Iron-distance force. I did the best I could. There is little more to say. Chuffed beyond belief to have finished a second one - proving the first wasn't fluke and exercising the demons that this is not my distance.
July
With all the endurance of an Ironman in me I set about enjoying everything, including my ride out to run the Great Hucklow Fell Race, The inaugral Legend Half Triathlon (which sowed the seeds of intention for 2017) and the Holme Moss Fell Race.
August
I was back to standard distance racing with a last-ditch attempt to qualify for the European Championships 2017 again. At first I thought I'd qualified and then it transpired that a junior (in the 35 - 39 category) was moving up next year and had pushed me out by 24 seconds.
Far from being angry or disapointed at this, I took it in my stride - mostly because triathlon racing is purely empirical. Rules are rules and if you're not fast enough, you're not fast enough. Opinion doesn't come into it.
September
Best month. Best holiday ever. Torino Nice Rally broke me but filled my heart.
Annual pilgrimage to the Yorkshire Dales. Less than annual pilgrimage closer to breaking the 5 hour mark this year spurred me on to do bigger and better things next year.
October
As Britain voted to exit the EU I chose exactly the wrong time to enter the Alpe d'Huez Triathlon next year. Sometimes when you need a goal you gotta get a goal but potentially, I paid more for my entry fee than anyone else in the UK.
Oh, and cyclo-cross started.
which is fun because I get to play with the big girls (all of which are smaller than me).
November
Must have been a slog as I have few nice photos to show for it. TSK went to help with pedal cars and I got one nice MTB ride done and had an early, tentative tri training kind of a run (which then got abandoned as the 'cross season hotted up).
December
Work got silly, I got silly, everything came crashing in on me and then I made Christmas happen. I ignored all the shit. Built a life and lived it. All I have to do is keep the momentum and keep my calm. Keep hold of life.
I kept hold of the threads of actually managing to combine business and pleasure a few times this year and started to find that the more I rode towards 2017, the better 2016 got. Now I'm hoping to carry it all forward in the ethos of never stop trying.
No comments:
Post a Comment