It’s hard to believe that it has been 16 months since my last post on running. I’m sure the suspense has been killing you since then! What has changed? What stayed the same?
In my last post, I focused on my recovery from a serious injury: a partial left achilles tear. Each time I tried to ramp up, given my pre-injury expectations for myself, I pushed too hard. I had quite a few small injuries, and quite a few empty spots on the graph. My biggest question was: “Can I find a running schedule that will work long-term?”
Happily, the answer seems to be yes.
After over a year of fully on or fully off running, I finally figured out how to avoid longer breaks. I also figured out how to be content with minimal or no improvement. I focused on how I felt during the run, with no external goal. No need to constantly increase my distance numbers. No need to change my pace. But changes did happen naturally.
Before we dig into the natural changes in my running since September 2014, let’s cover some the empty and sparse spots that did persist:
I think this is a clear improvement over the previous months. Just one long break, and no running injuries.
There was no clear trend on my run distances over the course of the year, but there was a clear trend in pace. I’ve generally been trending downward since March 2013. A nice surprise. Evidence that I’m doing something right.
Minutes per mile | Runs | Total miles | Total time, hours | |
---|---|---|---|---|
2013 | 8:42 | 44 | 69 | 10 |
2014 | 8:55 | 76 | 102 | 15:10 |
2015 | 7:34 | 76 | 127 | 16 |
No matter how you slice it, I’m feeling good about 2015. The key really seems to be to relax. If numbers go down in 2016, I’m fine with that. In that vein, I’m taking a break from working out right now, while most are out on the streets in force due to their New Year’s Resolutions.
One thing is for sure: I’ll keep collecting the data and running in my sandals.
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