I have a mild obsession with tracking my workouts and overall movement. I am sure there are more obsessed people out there than me, but my wife would argue I am in a top tier. Back in November I realized 3 fitness goals I was tracking were all trending towards 2500.
For 2023 I ended up biking 2,518 miles. After retiring this summer I had much more time to be active, especially with biking. I was able to get out on 4 touring trips, which allowed me to log many more miles than prior years. Buying a new gravel bike also helped.
A couple years ago I heard a good goal would be to have Walking + Running Distance in the Health app on your iPhone to exceed the year number, so 2,023 miles for this year. I was able to log 2,567.
The hardest one for me to achieve was a complex point system I had developed over the years. Though easy for me to comprehend, I find it complicated to explain to others as I developed it over a couple decades. In general, this annual goal forces me to work out regularly, cross train, and brings some gamification to the workout routine. In the past I had an annual to run 1,000 miles, bike 1,000 miles and workout 100 times. The workout could be a 30 minute core routine, yoga or anything I deemed a solid physical activity which was preventing, or at least reducing, my running or biking. When Leelau came along I wanted to push myself to get out walking with her, especially after a work day spent inside an office. The goal became a point system based on running. So, running a mile was a point, biking 3 miles was a point, and working out or doing yoga for 30 minutes felt like an equivalent to running a mile, so a point. Adding the walking dimension took more thought. In the end, I felt one should move at least 3 miles a day, or 6,000+ steps. Therefore, I determined I would only get a point for miles moved exceeding a base of 3 miles, obviously excluding the run miles already accounted for.
The goal each year is 2,000, which I meet most years, but not all. For 2023 I was able to rack up 2,501 points. Barely made it, but it felt great to wake up new year’s eve morning with 2,494 points and head out on a 6 mile run and hit the 2500 mark.
