stats – coralie's contemplations in markup

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

12 months of biking

Today marks 12 months of e-road cycling and e-mountain biking for me! and tomorrow will mark 12 months since I got my own eMTB (pictured below).

Dark grey electric mountain bike propped against a tree in the forest — Nakamura e-summit 950

3011 kilometers, shown in orange on the SportsTracker map!

Map of the area showing in various shades of orange the area I have covered on my eMTB. It goes as far as Fréjus and Roquebrune in the Var at the West, Mons, Caussols and Gréolières at the North and Saint-Laurent du Var at the East.

Most of it was recreational but a lot of it was a substitute to driving for errands and commute, or to meet people.

I think (*) I have driven fewer kilometers than I cycled in the last year, as a result.

I enjoy myself biking way more than anything else. I’m not very good at it but I don’t care. I’m not very bad at it either!

Biking makes me happy and I look happy on a bike. I selected from the last 12 months a few pictures of me (taken mostly by my co-biker, former colleague and friend Daniel) that I like in particular.

(*) estimate of 2700-2900 km driven.

Photo of smiling me by me as I am on a black electric mountain bike, wearing a blue helmet, sunglasses and a red tank top. There is another e-mtb visible next to me.

Photo of me smiling on my electric mountain bike as I stand on a flat area with gravel.

Exercising: 2022 review

2022 was the third year in a row after I started exercising daily. Before 2020, I was stubbornly against any form of exercise (I don’t even know why.) This is the review post of my exercising year 2022, following the review I wrote last year.

2022 was a good year. Not as impressive as 2021. I think I overdid it back then!

Raw numbers

Collage of two screens of the Fitness Stats app that crunched the numbers for energy: 273K, exercise time: 688h, steps: 3.6M, walking and running: 2955K, hiking: 130K, running: 146K, cycling: 1315K, yoga: 27h, elliptical: 67h, total workouts: 625

I covered 2955 km (1,836 miles) walking and running.

I cycled 1315 km (817 miles) in 4 months.

I exercised 688 hours.

I engaged in 625 workouts.

To put in perspective some of these tallies (generated by the excellent and free Fitness Stats iOS app):

In 2022 I walked or ran more than I drove! 2900 km (1,800 miles) vs. 2500 km (1,500 miles)
688 hours of exercise is equivalent to 28.6 days (roughly a month of February)
625 workouts (25 fewer than last year) mean that on average I engaged in almost two different activities per day

Burnout and anemia

I became aware a few years back that I have anemia. I had been giving blood four times a year (following the recommendation for women) until I was advised that however generous I wanted to be, it was better to donate twice per year. I was medicated the first time this was diagnosed but it was just a temporary fix. My body does not absorb iron very well. And since hemoglobin carries the precious oxygen to muscles, anemia leads to fatigue. Meh. I also burned out at work after Summer. So I gradually ramped down exercising to a gentler degree.

My Apple Watch is my sidekick

I respond very well to the daily coaching of my Apple Watch. I start my “activities” on it, launch from it the music, podcasts or audio-books that I listen to via my headphones (Apple AirPods Pro or Bose QC35, both of which have noise cancellation.) I heed its reminders, enter the monthly challenges, the limited edition challenges.

Monthly challenges

In 2022 again I earned all of the monthly challenges. 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.

366.7 km (11.8/d)
17x double move goal
31x close all rings
15x double move goal

3140 minutes (105/d)
23902 kcal (797/d)
31x close all rings
5x double move goals

22400 kcal (747/d)
14x 700 kcal
3x double move goals
5 walking workouts

Notes: The first challenges of each quarter were not easy and required extra effort. In addition to these three (January, May, September), June was also difficult because burning almost 800 kcal everyday of the month on average required intense sessions during the weekends in order to make up for the work week where it’s usually harder to fit longer workouts. The last three of the year were really easy and I welcomed the break!

The January 2023 challenge is to cover at least 4 kilometers a day 14 times.

New gear

I got myself a nice pedal assist mountain bike 😍 early September.

Smiling middle-aged woman wearing a bike helmet standing next to a dark grey mountain bike in a steep incline covered in dead leaves — Me next to my Nakamura eSummit 950 (picture by Daniel Dardailler)

Daniel asked me in the Spring if I might like to go biking with him once. To be honest, I wasn’t that chuffed and I said “sure, why not” but I didn’t think of it anymore until he asked again in the Summer. We finally went on the last day of August. It was A BLAST! We biked in the Esterel and I loved it so much that I bought my own e-mountain bike the same evening!

I bike as often as I can. With Daniel or not. To go places.

Screenshot of my longest and furthest cycling on 13 November: 6 hours, 96 km (60 miles), elevation gain of 1067 meters (3,500 ft). The map shows the round trip from home to Fréjus.

My longest and furthest cycling was on 13 November: 6 hours, 96 km (60 miles), elevation gain of 1067 meters (3,500 ft). I managed by saving as much battery as I could.

The advertised range of that e-bike is 80 km but in practice in the area it’s more accurate to plan circuits that do not exceed 50 km.

The part that was actual mountain biking was a small 9-kilometer area which I covered in less than 30 minutes! But going there was fun (and challenging) and going back along the coast was really beautiful. Great memory!

Aside: Even less use of my car

Since my teenage boy started high school in Cannes and takes the train I no longer have to drive him. I drove under 2500 km (1,500 miles) in 2022 and refueled only 3 times (180 liters).

I have continued walking, running (and now cycling) to places, to run errands, instead of driving which I do basically for grocery shopping.

Graphs

Screenshot of the Health app: Exercise Minutes, with daily average of 113 minutes in 2022. — Daily average of exercise in 2022: 113 minutes (January peaked at 156 minutes per day on average)

Screenshot of the Health app: active energy, with daily average of 747 kcal in 2022. — Daily average of active energy in 2022: 747 kcal (January peaked at 925 kcal per day on average)

Screenshot of the Health app: steps, with daily average of 9817 steps in 2022. — Daily average steps in 2022: 9,817 (January peaked at 16,712 steps per day on average)

Screenshot of the Health app: running and walking distance, with daily average of 8 km in 2022. — Daily average running and walking distance in 2022: 8 km (January peaked at 14.3 km per day on average)

Screenshot of the Health app: cycling distance, with daily average of 31.5 km in 2022. — Daily average cycling in 2022: 31.5 km per day (August is misleading because I biked about 40 km on one day that month)

Screenshot of the Health app: activity. — Activity graphs in 2022: move, exercise (both fluctuated), stand (steady at 19)

Screenshot of the Health app: weight, with daily average of 63,12 kilos in 2022. — Weight graph for 2022: 63.12 kg on average, slight decrease

Strava’s year in sport

One of the perks of being a paying subscriber of the sports tracking app Strava is the yearly report. See below.

Strava year in sport 2022 for Coralie Mercier — cover

363 days active, missing one day in May and one day in December. — cover

Exercising: 2021 review

When I last wrote about exercising I found the totals quite unbelievable. I look back at those today with a smile, because the ones I now have 9 months later are even more unbelievable. So I’ll check back here in a year to see how relative this all is.

My Apple Watch is my coach

This wearable wonder of computing makes it very easy to stay on top of sports. The reminders can be annoying but useful and I noticed that I got those only when I slacked (hint, hint), which does not happen frequently. That’s how driven I am.

Monthly challenges

In 2021 I earned each of the monthly challenges, which are determined based on recent past progress 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. I wonder how big they can be after a while.

10x double move goal
180.9 km (6.5/d)
17x double move goal
30x close all rings

19x double move goals
349.5 km (11.7/d)
3695 minutes (120/d)
26700 kcal (861/d)

4220 minutes (140/d)
318.4 km (10.2/d)
27500 kcal (917/d)
4770 minutes (153/d)

Apparently there is a point after which every challenge rotates between kil(ometers), min(utes) and (k)cal.

In 2020 I earned all monthly challenges but one, which I decided not to go for (24100 kcal, or 717/d) because I knew I could not earn it even if it was the month of August.

The January 2022 challenge is to walk or run 366.7 km (11.8/d). I’m not particularly up for it but I want to do it anyway. I miss the easy challenges though.

New gear

Photo of me in the mirror wearing blue running tights, a blue sweater, and flip-flops.

I now rotate between 7 pairs of running shoes. I have also invested in some proper running outfits for chilly weather. It is to note that all of the sweaters I got were from the Men’s section. Not out of peculiarity but really because the colours are less flashy and the sizes fit me better because I have long arms.

My sidekick: Gizmo

Point of view: my dog, a yellow labrador, sitting on the ground and looking like he's smiling. My red running shoes and black leggings are visible

Gizmo is now 8 years old. He happily prances along and I’m very glad he’s with me. We both get our share of daily exercise, fresh air and adventures, and it gives me greater security to be accompanied by a muscular yellow Labrador. When it’s not too cold and we are next to a river he gets to swim too (but not in the sea because the sound of the ebb and flow scares him.)

Long gone are the days when he would lag at the end of the leash after running only 3 or 4 kilometers. We now go for 5K jogs once a week or twice, come back walking, and it’s perfectly fine. Or we just walk. Sometimes for two to three hours on the weekends, and on average for an hour and a half everyday.

Graphs

Daily average of exercise in 2021: 116 minutes (December peaked at 164 minutes per day on average)

Daily average of active energy in 2021: 773 kcal (December peaked at 996 kcal per day on average)

Daily average steps in 2021: 12340 (August peaked at 15859 steps per day on average)

Daily average running and walking distance in 2021: 10.2 km (August peaked at 13.4 km per day on average)

Activity graphs in 2021: move, exercise (both going up), stand (steady at 19)

Tallies of fitness and exercising metrics for the year 2021

Notes on the graphs

According to those tallies (generated by the excellent and free Fitness Stats iPhone app), my 2021 in sport can be broken down as follows:

711 hours of exercise (= 29.6 days, so a twelfth of the year)
3746 kilometers walked/run (whereas I drove a bit over 5000 km with my car)
… of which I ran 226 (average of 4K every week)
103 hours on the elliptical (this is equivalent to watching 123 typical TV series episodes, and guess what: that’s exactly what I did while on the elliptical)
650 workouts (on average I did almost two different activities everyday)

From an addiction to another

2021 is when I stopped smoking. I made up my mind in January or February and my strategy was to ramp up exercising, pick up an electronic cigarette, gauge if that was going to work, and carry on with the routine without smoking. That happened in May. I have not smoked since then. Woohoo!

But ramping up exercising meant that I burned more calories and therefore needed to up my food intake. Stopping smoking made me more hungry too, so I had two reasons to eat bigger portions.

I remember starting to eat as much and then a little more than my teenage boy! (Who abandoned basketball during the first year of the pandemic, and now more or less refuses to walk or hike with me even every now and then.)

I gained a lot of muscles apparently

I was a bit dismayed when I saw my weight ramp up slowly but very very steadily. It has now stabilized after 8 months or so, sometime in September.

However, my clothes continue to fit me so that means that I lost fat and gained (6 kilos of) muscles.

Weight graph for 2021: 62.42 kg on average (current trend is 63-64 kg)

Strava’s year in sport

One of the perks of being a paying subscriber of the sports tracking app Strava is the yearly report. See below.

Aside: I used to complain a lot about how that app was geared towards triathletes only. They fixed almost all the things I complained about and now it celebrates and motivates every kind of athletes, not just those who cycle, run and swim.