2010: Running Year in Review

This year my annual running year in review comes after almost two months of severely reduced mileage due to an ITB injury. It is hard not to focus on my current injury but it certainly does not define the year for me. Instead, I’ll focus on having set new personal bests in the 10km and the marathon (I’m now only 49 seconds away from crossing the elusive 4 hour marathon mark!) and running my first ever 25km trail race. More important that personal time goals were the two races in which I got to pace friends. There is something incredibly rewarding about getting to help someone run their best race on that day.

Looking forward to 2011 I have the Disney Goofy challenge this weekend. I’m only committing the running the half marathon, the marathon will be a game time decision based on how my ITB feels. After that I will likely spend a few months focusing on cross training and babying my ITB. Then I hope to do my first Sprint triathlon in June and maybe a few 10kms or half marathons along the way. I can only assume that in Fall 2011 I’ll make yet another attempt at the sub four hour marathon! To wrap things up I can not resist including this picture of my friend Alice and I. I think it best expresses the joy I feel when running.

2009: Running Year in Review

While 2009 was very much a year of change for me, running was a reassuring constant in my life. I ran a total of 1255.3 miles or 2020.2 km last year which just a bit more than I ran in 2008. Part of me wishes I’d taken a break in December and hit 2009 km right on the dot!

Highlights of the year included bidding farewell to Seattle with a personal best in the Rock n Roll half marathon and then showing Ontario I was back by running a personal best in the Toronto Marathon alongside my good friend Douglas. All told I set four personal bests and won my first ever age group award. That will be a record that’s hard to repeat.

As for 2010, I’ve already committed to two half marathons and a 10K in the spring. I’m also looking forward to another fall marathon where I hope to finally come in on the short side of four hours. Finally I’m toying with the idea of running a 25K trail race in the fall. There’s lots to look forward to and many miles more to run!

2008: Running Year in Review

It’s time for my annual review of the running year past. We’ll start with the numbers. My total 2008 running mileage (including races) was 1224.3 miles / 1970.3 km which averages out to 23.3 miles / 37.5 km per week. My biggest Monday to Sunday training week was 39.3 miles which occurred two weeks before the Seattle Marathon. That week actually overlapped with 41.3 miles done over the seven days running from Wednesday to Thursday. I was fairly consistent with my training. The only zero mileage weeks occurred while I was on vacation in Scotland and Spain and sightseeing was a far greater priority than running.

My year was divided into three main training cycles. First for the Vancouver Half Marathon, second for my 30 on 30 birthday run and third for the Seattle Marathon. I ran five official races (2 5Ks, 2 half and 1 marathon) although only Vancouver and Seattle were what I would consider “A” races while the rest were hard training runs. That’s part of the reason I only set one personal best in 2008 (4:10:19 in the marathon). Next year I’d like to better my 10K and half marathon personal bests.

Finally I have an update on my virtual run across Canada. As of today I am situated on Highway 20 a few kilometers to the west of the town of Montmagny, Quebec. That puts me about 5,021 km along the 7,821 km route. To be honest, I’m not completely sure what the exact route that distance applies to but I plan to figure it out as I go along.

2007: Running Year in Review

I’m a bit late in putting together this summary but I couldn’t let the opportunity to post more graphs pass me by! Above is a graph of my 2007 running mileage by week. My total running mileage (including races) was 1149.6 miles / 1850.1 km which averages out to 22.1 miles / 35.6 km per week. I had set the goal of exceeding 1000 miles this year and I achieved that on November 10 with lots of time to spare. The biggest week I did was 38.8 miles three weeks prior to the Ottawa marathon. The week of the marathon was a close second coming in at 38.5 miles.

Running my first marathon was definitely my biggest running achievement of 2007. I couldn’t have asked for anything better than getting to go home to Ottawa and having the support of Mom, Dad, Alli and Matt out on the course. The marathon (4:25:13) aside it was also a really good year for racing shorter distances. I set new personal bests in the 5K – 23:19, 12K – 1:00:48 and half marathon – 1:55:33 then 1:51:59. I think the WAVA graph below shows a nice progression in my race times. What’s interesting is that my 5K times appear to out of whack with the rest of my race times. I guess I’m good at pushing hard over short distances.

So there’s not much more to say. Runningwise I rocked 2007 and I’m looking forward to good things in 2008.

2006: Running year in review

My memorable moments of 2006 included a few running moments (completing the Vancouver and Seattle half marathons) but I felt that since running was such a big part of my life in 2006 it deserved its own summary post. Plus it was an excuse to make some graphs …

The above graph shows my total running mileage for 2006. I ran a total of 752 miles / 1210 km over the year. My average weekly mileage (including races) was 14.5 miles / 23.3 km and the average for all non-zero weeks was 17.3 miles / 27.9 km. My maximum weekly mileage was 26 in the two weeks prior to the Seattle half marathon. I think it’s interesting that the weekly mileage graph very clearly shows the year’s three training cycles: Vancouver, Torchlight and Seattle.

I ran a total of 6 races in 2006: 2 5K’s, 1 8K, 1 10K and 2 half marathons. Amazingly, every race was a new PB. That’s part of the fun of being new to this sport – improvement comes more easily in the beginning. Below are my “age graded”/WAVA percentage race results. According to this metric my 23:56 in the Shoreline 5K last August was my best result of the year. I have to say that I’m more proud of my 1:59:56 in the Seattle half marathon though.

Racing aside, I learned a lot about running during 2006 and what sort of training works for me. I’m happiest running 3-4 days a week and cross training another 1-2 days. I’ve learned that while I might take a women’s size 9.5 in casual shoes I need a men’s size 9.5 in running shoes to keep me from getting a blister on the end of my left second toe. I’ve also learned that running in the morning works best for me and that oatmeal is the perfect pre-run food.

I was mostly injury free during 2006 although at the end of year I developed a set of tight hip flexors and a tight left piriformis muscle. Yes, apparently I hold my tension in my butt! So my sports medicine doctor perscribed a set of relaxation exercises and I’m much improved. This is something I’m going to have to keep working at during 2007: the year of the marathon.