The 2017 1000-mile challenge
I'm deliberately keeping this short, but I think challenges are quite important. As I've been running for a few years I've always measured my growing success/capability by annual mileage. A few years ago I'd aimed to run 681.2 miles in a year - simply that equates to a half marathon (13.1 miles) every week (although most definitely, back then, all in one go). 3-4 times running maybe 4 miles a time and job done! In the event I did manage to beat it.
Wind forward to 2016 and the numbers are higher - that year I'd started with a target for 800. That seemed like a lot, but possible. What changes in 2016 was the creation of a running club in Hook where I live. It took off in the autumn and I got involved at the tail end of October...
In essence two things changed. Firstly I was running with other people (all of whom were either a good laugh, or good runners, or both) and that really puts a different complexion on running as an activity. I like running solo - still do, but it does take more effort to go out sometimes, or keep to a pace - in short it competes with social activities for your time. Running in a group is, of course, a social activity.
Secondly I was running more; in part because I would never, never in a million years (at that point) get up at 7am on a Sunday to go out for an 8am run (for one thing I didn't like morning runs, but also - in the absence of company or an arrange time slot why would you?). So there was an extra run slotted into the week - even on a 6 mile run that would elevate the run rate (sorry 😀 ) by 25 odd miles a month. The reality is that the runs were often longer, and the friendships means that even the midweek runs became more frequent and longer too... suddenly, almost overnight, a 9 mile run went from being exceptional to normal.
2016 ended with a total of 864, the last quarter of the year held about a third of the mileage. The scene though was set for 2017...
An obvious target would be 900 - stretch out a bit from the previous years tally, and who doesn't like nice round numbers?
But the mileage stayed high, even climbed higher... so 900 seemed, well trivial.
January 2017 came in at 120 miles, beating the previous highest month (Nov 2016) by 12.
February was only 109 (still my second highest month ever) and March came in at 124. By this point a separate target had entered the fray - running a half marathon a month (Blog post here).
The mileage build up therefore included half marathon distance runs not just every 6 months or so, but every month at a minimum and in reality something at or close to ahold marathon distance most weeks.
Leaving the race schedule along for a minute the target of 900 was soon clearly a waste of time. A facebook group geared towards running 1000 miles became an interesting anchor, so 1000 it was. Even that was looking extremely comfortable when 500 miles went past in the first week of May.
The second big factor (on top of the regular half marathon races) was the "lets do a marathon" idea. My initial resistance to the idea of doing a marathon was largely based on not wanting to have to shoulder the burden of the training... but when I ran 163 miles in May (40 a week) that suddenly seems like it wasn't such a big deal. The whole marathon training story is best kept for a separate post, but what the training plan did mean was a further, almost insane, lift in mileage even beyond the previously increased level as the summer dawned.
Marathon training meant July and August had both been 200+ mile months. Sure enough August saw the 1000 mile target fall and the running kept on. Although the back end of September saw a taper down to October 8th - Marathon day - it was well over 100, as was October, and then November too.
Christmas time in December meant that there was even more time available for running and some of my very best friends to spend time with pounding the roads. December finished at just under 200 :-)
Overall the year finished with a total of 1959 - frustrating close to 2000! A target I'd never have imagined setting myself, but one I could easily have reached had I slotted in a couple of extra 10 milers in January-March.
The final tally reads as follows:
Jan 120.3 Apr 142.3 Jul 231.5 Oct 155.0
Feb 109.8 May 163.0 Aug 215.4 Nov 168.5
It was some year, and 2018 - with a place in the London marathon - looks set to break the 2000 record!
Wind forward to 2016 and the numbers are higher - that year I'd started with a target for 800. That seemed like a lot, but possible. What changes in 2016 was the creation of a running club in Hook where I live. It took off in the autumn and I got involved at the tail end of October...
In essence two things changed. Firstly I was running with other people (all of whom were either a good laugh, or good runners, or both) and that really puts a different complexion on running as an activity. I like running solo - still do, but it does take more effort to go out sometimes, or keep to a pace - in short it competes with social activities for your time. Running in a group is, of course, a social activity.
Secondly I was running more; in part because I would never, never in a million years (at that point) get up at 7am on a Sunday to go out for an 8am run (for one thing I didn't like morning runs, but also - in the absence of company or an arrange time slot why would you?). So there was an extra run slotted into the week - even on a 6 mile run that would elevate the run rate (sorry 😀 ) by 25 odd miles a month. The reality is that the runs were often longer, and the friendships means that even the midweek runs became more frequent and longer too... suddenly, almost overnight, a 9 mile run went from being exceptional to normal.
2016 ended with a total of 864, the last quarter of the year held about a third of the mileage. The scene though was set for 2017...
An obvious target would be 900 - stretch out a bit from the previous years tally, and who doesn't like nice round numbers?
But the mileage stayed high, even climbed higher... so 900 seemed, well trivial.
January 2017 came in at 120 miles, beating the previous highest month (Nov 2016) by 12.
February was only 109 (still my second highest month ever) and March came in at 124. By this point a separate target had entered the fray - running a half marathon a month (Blog post here).
The mileage build up therefore included half marathon distance runs not just every 6 months or so, but every month at a minimum and in reality something at or close to ahold marathon distance most weeks.
Leaving the race schedule along for a minute the target of 900 was soon clearly a waste of time. A facebook group geared towards running 1000 miles became an interesting anchor, so 1000 it was. Even that was looking extremely comfortable when 500 miles went past in the first week of May.
The second big factor (on top of the regular half marathon races) was the "lets do a marathon" idea. My initial resistance to the idea of doing a marathon was largely based on not wanting to have to shoulder the burden of the training... but when I ran 163 miles in May (40 a week) that suddenly seems like it wasn't such a big deal. The whole marathon training story is best kept for a separate post, but what the training plan did mean was a further, almost insane, lift in mileage even beyond the previously increased level as the summer dawned.
Marathon training meant July and August had both been 200+ mile months. Sure enough August saw the 1000 mile target fall and the running kept on. Although the back end of September saw a taper down to October 8th - Marathon day - it was well over 100, as was October, and then November too.
Christmas time in December meant that there was even more time available for running and some of my very best friends to spend time with pounding the roads. December finished at just under 200 :-)
Overall the year finished with a total of 1959 - frustrating close to 2000! A target I'd never have imagined setting myself, but one I could easily have reached had I slotted in a couple of extra 10 milers in January-March.
The final tally reads as follows:
Jan 120.3 Apr 142.3 Jul 231.5 Oct 155.0
Feb 109.8 May 163.0 Aug 215.4 Nov 168.5
Mar 124.0 Jun 170.1 Sep 167.6 Dec 196.8
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