A Shiny New Cycling Goal
After Sunday’s ride I checked Strava to see how many miles I’ve ridden in 2024 and was shocked to see 4,246.2 miles pop up. I shouldn’t have been surprised considering we’d taken our gravel bikes with us on three cycling focused road trips in 2024: Florida in January, the Dakotas in July/August, and Vermont in October.
I calculated the number of cycling miles I’d need to average daily to make it to 5,000 miles by December 31st and came up with 25.13 miles. That seemed like a lofty goal at first, but as I’ve ticked away the miles this week it seems doable.
Overview of the Week
Before getting into each day’s workouts, here’s an overview of my workouts from this past week. Scroll beyond the infographic for daily details…
Sunday
Strength training: 1 hour of total body
Cycling: 30 miles
• Bike: Life Fitness Lifecycle GX Spin
• Average speed: 15.3 MPH
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 10:29 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 64° in basement, 39° (feels like 36°) outside
• What I wore: bike shorts and sports bra
Not feeling like bundling up quite yet to ride outside, I stayed inside on my spin bike. I’d only planned on riding 15-20 miles, but ended up staying on my bike longer. Considering what I was about to discover (see opening paragraph), I was glad I did!
• Cycling miles to go to reach 5,000 for the year: 753.8 miles
Monday
Strength training: 1 hour of total body
Cycling: 16.1 miles
• Bike: Life Fitness Lifecycle GX Spin
• Average speed: 16.1 MPH
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 7:59 PM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 65° in basement, 32° (feels like 26°) outside
• What I wore: bike shorts and sports bra
• Cycling miles to go to reach 5,000 for the year: 737.7 miles
Tuesday
Cycling: 50 miles
• Bike: Life Fitness Lifecycle GX Spin
• Average speed: 16.0 MPH
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 5:54 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 60° in basement, 28° (feels like 22° outside)
• What I wore: bike shorts and sports bra
Uh oh, I see a trend here after Sunday’s discovery…
• Cycling miles to go to reach 5,000 for the year: 687.7 miles
Wednesday
Strength training: 1 hour of total body
Cycling: 12.7 miles
• Bike: Life Fitness Lifecycle GX Spin
• Average speed: 16.3 MPH
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 8:27 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 64° in basement, 26° and cloudy outside
• What I wore: bike shorts and sports bra
Walking: 3.06 miles
• Average pace: 14.34 minute/mile
• Elevation gain: 121 feet
• Start time: 10:00 AM
• Location: neighborhood circle
• Weather: 32° (feels like 25°) and partly cloudy, climbing to 36° (feels like 29°)
• What I wore: capris, l/s shirt, down jacket, ear warmers, and mittens over gloves
I hadn’t gotten outside for a walk for several days so I made sure to fit that in. It was nippy, but dressed in my down jacket I was very comfortable. I’ve misplaced my bandless ear muffs so I borrowed my husband’s (the type with the band that goes behind your neck). They weren’t very comfortable and in hindsight realized I should have worn a headband or knit hat instead.
• Cycling miles to go to reach 5,000 for the year: 675 miles
Thursday
Cycling: 50 miles
• Bike: Life Fitness Lifecycle GX Spin
• Average speed: 16.2 MPH
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 5:29 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 62° in basement, 38° (feels like 33°) with a wintery mix outside, dropping to 35° (feels like 26°) and blustery (14 MPH winds with 25 MPH gusts)
• What I wore: bike shorts and sports bra
I was very thankful to have Kim join me for the first 17 miles of my 50-mile ride. I took a break 40 miles into my ride to train a client for an hour, but as soon as she left, I completed my ride.
• Cycling miles to go to reach 5,000 for the year: 625 miles
Friday
Strength training: 1 hour of total body
Balance and stretching: 45 minutes
Saturday
Cycling: 50 miles
• Bike: Life Fitness Lifecycle GX Spin
• Average speed: 16.4 MPH
• Surface: N/A
• Elevation gain: N/A
• Start time: 6:25 AM
• Location: basement
• Weather: 61° in basement, 28° (feels like 24°) outside
• What I wore: bike shorts and sports bra
Halfway into my ride, I texted Kim to see if she was interested in joining me for a bonus virtual cardio sesh this week and received an enthusiastic yes. I was thrilled because the miles go by so much faster with a friend.
After my ride I’d planned to go for a quick walk, but got distracted and didn’t have time before heading over to the 55+ gym to teach a fitness orientation class. I stopped by our neighborhood winter festival and tree lighting on my way home.
• Cycling miles to go to reach 5,000 for the year: 575 miles
Last Week’s Blog Posts
In case you skipped checking in on my blog this past week, here’s what you missed…
- • Sunday – Weekly RunDown: November 24 – 30 / A Trip to the Farm, Thanksgiving, and a Lighter Workout Week
- • Tuesday – Cycling Along the Greenbrier Trail
- • Friday – Catching Up Over Coffee: Wind, Hot Chocolate, and a High Speed Chase
Questions:
- • Are you working on any end of year goals or challenges? ~ just the cycling goal for me
- • Do you have any friends you work out with virtually? ~ Kim and occasionally my friend Betsy
- • Did you run in a race this weekend? ~ no
And that’s my rundown… Have a great week!
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I’m linking up with Deborah at Confessions of a Mother Runner and Kim from Running on the Fly for their Weekly Run Down. Be sure to check out not only the hosts’ posts, but those of the other great bloggers joining in on the fun!
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Look at this week’s cycling miles! You are crushing it, Debbie!
It’s amazing how motivating an annual goal can be.
I just checked: my running is at 2’292km this year. I don’t usually aim for a mileage goal, but now that I see it, I hope I can get 2’400km until the end of December!
I was the same way – not even thinking about a mileage goal for cycling until I saw how close I was to that magic number. Here’s to you reaching 2400K running in 2024!
It looks like you are going to hit that goal! I always like to hit 1000 miles running for the year and barring any major complications, that should happen this week, as I am at 990! It’s always kind of fun to see what we can do, isn’t it?
No virtual training buddies, but I have all of you to motivate me!
Oh wow, hitting 1,000 miles running this year will be so rewarding for you! I do love how we motivate each other.
Nice job with all those miles. 5,000 is a ton and you’re almost there!! Hope the rest of the month goes well.
I had to take 2ish months off this year due to injuries (hip and then broken toe) so we shall see how many miles the year holds. Definitely not as much as usual!
Oh yeah, you were out of commission for a while. Glad you’re back now, though!
I’m doing the Peloton streak challenge – 30 min/day in December — but also trying to do more than that to hit 25K minutes for the year. I did run > 500 miles. My outdoor cycling really slumped.
No virtual workout buddies—I think your date with Kim is just a bit too late for me to crash. 😉
Your Peloton streak challenge sounds like a good one. I’m at 430 walking miles for the year and don’t see how I can reach 500 with all the cycling I’m doing. Oh well! Edited to add: If I add in my 14.5 miles of hiking… 😉
Great job! And I love that you were able to get with Kim “on the fly” (quite literally), and get in that cycling session!
I am just continuing my run streak for the end of the year. Nothing major.
And yes, I did the Spiked Cider 5K this weekend. Due to the terrain it was way more walking than running, but that was ok. We had fun.
Jenn recently posted…Riding That Winter Wave
“On the fly,” I see what you did there. 😉
Glad you had fun at your race!
You are totally rocking the ride(s)! I need to peek at my YTD miles (for all categories). I haven’t tallied those numbers since October ((oops)). As you now, I totally love our virtual sessions, so the bonus Saturday session was extra sweet 😉
Thanks, Kim, and thanks for helping pound out a lot of those miles. 🙂
I love your ambition with the 5000 mile cycling goal! Good work!
Normally I would have some end-of-year goals but not this year since I’m behind after the foot injury and more, but it seems like at least I’ll be back on track strength-wise which was something I hoped for.
Thanks, Susanne! Congrats on getting your strength training back on track after your injuries.
That’s a fun goal! And it will be fun for us to follow along to see how it goes. Maybe you can convince Kim to keep you company more often! To answer your question- I’m now working on any year-end goals. I’ll just live vicariously through you!
Yes, I think Kim will be game to join me more often than just on Thursday mornings!
Wowsie!! That’s a lot of miles! I have great faith that you can do it! I didn’t think I could ride 99 by the end of the year, but you’ve got me rethinking that one. How long does it take you to ride 50 miles?
Lisa @ TechChick Adventures recently posted…Weekly Workouts – bright lights of the holiday
It takes me a little over 3 hours to ride 50 miles. You should try to get those 99 miles done if it doesn’t interfere with your marathon base training. It would be a fun end of year goal!