persistent pursuit
the doldrums of winter can significantly reduce my motivation to get geared up and get out the door for a run. one way that i keep myself engaged is to track the miles i’ve accumulated. granted, over the years the means for tracking have shifted from paper to electronic but the intent remains the same. keeping a record holds me accountable for my actions; or at times inaction.
earlier this week i finished a rather ordinary morning constitutional which pushed my running odometer past 35,000 miles. no medal was placed around my neck. no trophy was handed to me. i simply walked into the house, greeted my family, got cleaned up and headed to work. most of the time, running is like that…rather ordinary, which is alright.
jan 1 – 10 miles
jan 2 – 5 miles
jan 3 – 16.2 miles (indoors, avg pace 7:48/mile)
jan 4 – 5 miles
jan 5 – 7 miles
jan 6 – off
jan 7 – 5 miles
jan 8 – 7 miles
jan 9 – 7 miles (rolled 35,000 miles)
jan 10 – 6 miles
MTD & YTD – 68.2 miles (9/10 days)
Odometer – 35,006 miles
year end
that’s all folks. my year ends with 2,213 miles logged, which is a new best. along the way, i tallied 314 days of running out of the 366 days in the year, which is also a new best. doing a bit of math, on average i ran six out of every seven days and covered a bit more than seven miles each day that i ran.
looking forward, i’m within one hundred clicks of 35,000 miles on my odometer and hopefully i’ll line up for a snowshoe race this winter. beyond that, it’ll be interesting to see what the new year brings.
recent training
dec 19 – 5.25 miles
dec 20 – off
dec 21 – 5 miles
dec 22 – 6.25 miles
dec 23 – 7 miles
dec 24 – 7 miles
dec 25 – off
dec 26 – 7.25 miles
dec 27 – 8 miles
dec 28 – 5 miles (snowshoeing)
dec 29 – 6 miles (snowshoeing)
dec 30 – 7 miles (snowshoeing)
dec 31 – off
MTD – 176 miles (27/31 days)
YTD – 2,213 miles (314/366 days)
Odometer – 34,939 miles
forward progress
with thirteen days left in 2012, i’m fifty three miles short of surpassing my personal best for miles logged in a year. upon further review, i figured out that my existing best (2,202 miles) was set in a leap year as well (2004).
for the most part, i’ve been sticking with easy five mile runs but i did have the chance to get in some longer efforts which i averaged 8:20-8:25 per mile.
a quick check on my odometer suggests i’ll be rolling past thirty five thousand miles in early January. hopefully we’ll get some snow so i can pass that milestone while running in the woods with my snowshoes.
recent training
dec 01 – 6.25 miles
dec 02 – 9 miles
dec 03 – 5 miles
dec 04 – 5 miles
dec 05 – 5 miles
dec 06 – 5 miles
dec 07 – 5 miles
dec 08 – 9 miles
dec 09 – off
dec 10 – 13 miles
dec 11 – 5 miles
dec 12 – 5 miles
dec 13 – 5 miles
dec 14 – 5 miles
dec 15 – 14 miles
dec 16 – 6 miles
dec 17 – 5 miles
dec 18 – 5 miles
MTD – 112.25 miles (17/18 days)
YTD – 2150 miles (304/353 days)
Odometer – 34,875 miles
gimme five
more often than not, i’ve opted for an easy five mile run this past month. i’m fortunate enough to have a locker room at work and have been making use of it over the noon hour to run in the warmer temps versus opting for an early morning constitutional.
the one remaining goal that i have in 2012 is to accumulate more miles than i had in 2004 when i mustered 2,202 miles. with 31 days remaining, i stand 166 miles short of meeting that mark. 2012 is a leap year and due to that one extra day i might have to append an asterisk when all is said and done.
recent training
nov 16 – 5 miles
nov 17 – 8 miles
nov 18 – 8 miles
nov 19 – 6 miles
nov 20 – 5 miles
nov 21 – 5 miles
nov 22 – 8 miles
nov 23 – 12 miles <-- passed 2,000 miles for 2012
nov 24 - 6 miles
nov 25 - 3 miles
nov 26 - 7 miles
nov 27 - off
nov 28 - 5 miles
nov 29 - 5 miles
nov 30 - 5 miles
MTD – 59 miles (25/30 days)
YTD – 2037.5 miles (287/335 days)
Odometer – 34,763 miles
remain resilient
after bettering my personal record for fifty clicks on the road by more than seven and a half minutes, i really had no problem taking a few days off from running. it had been more than six years since i had broken a PR and i was really pleased to update my listing of personal records. (especially after turning forty this summer!!)
two weeks after racing my legs are finally starting to come around, although i’m keeping the training pace easy. six days before the 50K i strained something in my upper left quad which seems to be healing up as well. i’m also sporting a blackened big toe nail on my left foot from my racing effort. one nice side effect from the lighter training load is that my right achilles isn’t as sore these days.
looking forward, i’m on track to pass two thousand miles for the year by the end of november. as far as how often i’ve been running, i’ve already exceeded my record for frequency (267 days – 2006) and should be well north of three hundred days by new years eve. if i can begin ramping up my miles in the coming weeks, i may be able to take aim at exceeding my best miles for a year (2202 miles – 2004) as well.
one thing that i will have to put on my list of goals for 2013 will be to run my first “beer mile” as it just didn’t happen. it’s always nice to have something to look forward to.
recent training
Oct 19 – off
Oct 20 – 7 miles
Oct 21 – 5 miles
Oct 22 – 5 miles
Oct 23 – off
Oct 24 – 5 miles
Oct 25 – 5 miles
Oct 26 – off
Oct 27 – 31.1 miles (50K) in 4:03:02 (New PR!!)
Oct 28 – off
Oct 29 – off
Oct 30 – off
Oct 31 – 4 miles
** October – 157.5 miles (21/31 days) **
Nov 1 – 5 miles
Nov 2 – 5 miles
Nov 3 – 6 miles
Nov 4 – off
Nov 5 – off
Nov 6 – 5 miles
Nov 7 – 5 miles
Nov 8 – 5 miles
Nov 9 – 5 miles
Nov 10 – 8 miles
Nov 11 – off
Nov 12 – off
Nov 13 – 5 miles
Nov 14 – 5 miles
Nov 15 – 5 miles
MTD – 59 miles (11/15 days)
YTD – 1,949.5 miles (273/320 days)
Odometer – 34,675 miles