So how did I do?
At the start of the year, here, I listed my goals, aims and targets for the year. 2018 now draws to a close – time to review how I did …
- Run 10 Km in fewer minutes than my age in years. This one is my “biggie” for the year. Its doable, but by no means a given. Am targeting the Glastonbury 10K – conveniently after my birthday – but there are other events if I fail first time round. Will need to average 4 min 53 sec per Km – achievable on the flat, but on in an incline … Challenge complete. Didn’t do it in an official race as my knee injury prevented me running the Glastonbury 10K, but ran numerous self-timed 10Ks in sub 49 mins.
- Run 400 Km. Nearly hit that total in 2017, should be able to do so on 2018, particularly given the goal above. Ran 424 Km in the year, all the more impressive given that there were some months when I didn’t run at all. Did a lot of running in the summer hols.
- Swim 100 Km (3,000 lengths). An achievable, but not a given. If I swim regularly should be no problem. Swim at least once a week.
- Spinning. Spin for a total of 2 days (48 hours). Started the year in good form, swimming on Tuesday evenings to keep up the once a week swim, but this tailed off after Easter. Swam 63.8 Km, 1914 lengths in almost bang on 24 hours of swimming.
- Weight. I finished 2017 with a long term established weight of 12 stone 9, and I have allowed it to creep up over the Christmas period into the 13 stone bracket. Need to get that down. 12 stone 6 as my long term established weight is the goal. Reckon my weight averaged 12 stone 8 – was quite a bit of fluctuation throughout the year. More detail, and a fancy chart, can be seen here.
- Garden. Enjoy it! Less construction and landscaping required this year (but some still needed) Grow sunflowers and sweat peas (in addition to some basic veg) Enjoyed the garden, no sunflowers, but did grow sweet peas and runner beans. Lawn took a bit of a beating in the heatwave, but think its in a better state now than 12 months ago. Graveled the area outside the sitting room, and built the adjacent mini-deck, pleased with the result.
- My maths blog – keep blogging. Write a new post at least once per month, and write a minimum of 15 posts over the course of the year. I kept on blogging, writing 15 posts, but not consistently throughout the year (i.e. not one a month).
- Sleep. A somewhat nebulous aim, but when I think about it, sleep – or perhaps I should say tiredness – is the thing I’d like to change most about my life this year. No target, but I shall aim to think about my sleep, my patterns and routines and what I can do to improve it/get more of it/reduce/manage my tiredness. Still get tired at times, but know a little more about the science behind it, manage my sleep a little better – I do think I’ve made progress with this, but hard to measure.