Day: December 31, 2023

Exercising: 2023 review

2023 is the fourth year in a row I’ve been exercising daily. This is a review post of my exercising year 2023, similar to the summaries I wrote for 2022, 2021 and 2020.

2023 was another good year where I got a lot of fulfillment out of exercising. I’ve worked out everyday except 3 days, discovered new sports, purchased a new e-mountain bike (the one I would have purchased last year if it had been available!)

Raw numbers

Collage of three screenshots tallying exercising

Highlights of 2023:

  • 488h of exercise (= 20 days)
  • 509 workouts (1.4/day)
  • 1716 km on feet (4.7/day)
  • Walked under 300 km
  • Ran under 70 km
  • Cycled nearly 2800 km (233/month)

Monthly challenges

This year again I earned all of the monthly challenges suggested by my Apple Watch. They are determined based on recent activities and are meant to either keep you at the same level or elevate you a bit, so that at the end of the year you have improved your fitness.

  • 14x 4.08 km
  • 14x 67 min exercise
  • 5x double “move”
  • 27x close 3 rings
  • 14x 564 kcal
  • 4x outdoor cycling
  • 4x double “move”
  • 14x 613 kcal
  • 14x walk/run 3.95 km
  • 14x 80 min exercise
  • 10x double “move”
  • 14x walk/run 3.93 km

New gear

Me on my new e-mountain bike doing the peace sign. There is motion blur around me.
Me riding my Nakamura eSummit 950s (picture by Daniel Dardailler)
Screenshot of my furthest cycling activity: 67 km around Sophia Antipolis, Grasse, Auribeau.

My furthest cycling this year was on 15 December: 67 km (which my Apple Watch recorded as 69 km).

I rode with DanielD and Pascale around Valbonne and then continued solo for more time on the bike and followed the canal as much as I could from Plascassier to Peymeinade, and then headed around Mount Peygros and down to Auribeau, Pégomas and back home.

69 km, 5h15, 13 km/h average, 1265 m elevation.

Aside: car vs. bike usage

I drove 2800 km in 2023 (less than 50km/week on average) and bought 150 liters of fuel (3 tanks).

This year, out-of-the-ordinary drives included going to see Isabelle for a few days last Summer in her husband’s house in Vaucluse, and driving to Marseilles with my brother so we could attend the funeral of our father’s sister.

Instead of my car I used my bike 55 times in 2023 (equivalent to once a week on average), covered 620 km and it took me 31 hours.

That includes cycling to the office the 8 times I went there this year (I usually work from home), and cycling back and forth the 5 days of a mandatory training in Grasse last November.

Activity map

Screenshot of the area map showing in orange my cycling tracks, in green my walking tracks and in yellow my running tracks

This map of the area shows my tracks:

  • Orange: cycling
  • Green: walking/hiking
  • Yellow: running

Repeating tracks are indicated by a more contrasted colour.

Year in sport 2023 (Strava)

Collage of my year in sport 2023 showing the 362 days I've been active: every day but two days at the end of February and one day mid March.
2023 year in sport: days active
Collage showing that my top workout types are 30% and 13% yoga, HIIT, functional strength, flexibility, 18% walking and hiking, 14% cycling and 8% weight lifting. Total time of 417h and 31 minutes. Time broken down per month with the most activities in August with 48h and 45 minutes. Illustration that I am among the top 2% most active on Strava this year.
2023 year in sport: workouts and times
Collage showing a card for my longest activity: 69 km by eMTB which is 57.6% longer than my average. Total distance of 3243 km and this is broken down per month with the month with the furthest distance covered being November with 547 km. Total elevation of 55,832 meters, broken down per month with the highest achieved in November with 8,776 meters.
2023 year in sport: longest activity, distance and elevation

More graphs

Collage of the 2023 average per day Exercise minutes bar chart and comparison with 2022: 80 vs 113 min/day
Health graphs: exercise minutes
Collage of the 2023 average per day energy burning bar chart and comparison with 2022: 618 vs 747 kcal/day
Health graphs: active energy
Collage of the 2023 average per day workouts time bar chart: 1h9. Another snippets shows that I walked on average 4.7 km/day in 2023 vs. 8 km/day in 2022. Finally the last snippet shows that today I took 3,300 steps whereas I usually take 5,600.
Health graphs: workouts, distance on feet, steps
Two graphs: the 2023 average per day workouts time bar chart: 1h9 and the 2023 average per day cycling distance: 34.4 km.
Health graphs: workouts and cycling distance
Two graphs: the bar charts for the move, exercise and stand goals which show that the bars aren't varying by a big margin. The other graph is the weight: average of 63.12 kg for the year with min around 62 and max around 65.
Health graphs: activity, weight
Two graphs: heart rate ranging from 33 to 173 in 2023. The other graph is the resting heart rate one and shows an average at 51 bpm with max at 53 and min at 47.
Health graphs: heart