Running 1000 miles in a year

After-work run at Preston, Herts

Today I ran up my 1000th mile this year -yipee!  Here it is in numbers:

Number of runs: 170
Shortest run: 0.7 miles (late for church)
Longest run: 26.2 miles (MK Marathon)
Height gained: 32,178ft
Time taken: 143h 59m
Weight loss or gain: I lost a little in the Spring and then ended up 4lbs heavier!
Outlay: One pair of running shoes (these really need replacing after 600 miles)
Detergent: Several bottles of Halo anti smelly detergent for washing my running gear

Why did I do this?
Quite simply I need a challenge, without any kind of a challenge I am inclined to "tick over" and drift.  So having some kind of goal, something to aim for, keeps me going and gives me some kind of self imposed accountability.  Mind you, I did mention this challenge to a number of friends, knowing they'd check up on me to make sure I hadn't wimped out. This also helped keep me on track.

Although 1000 miles sounds quite a long way, it's actually no big deal when you have 365 days to do it in.  Actually most novice runners could do it I reckon, it's averaging just under 3 miles a day and put like that makes it sound very achievable.  I tended to have one longish run each week, say 10 or 11 miles and then two or three shorter runs on weekdays.  These shorter runs were often after work and around Stevenage.

The highlights

• Getting ahead in January.  I ran a lot last Christmas, every day in fact.  This put me into a good position to spur me on.  
• Training for the MK Marathon as this was a target within the overall target.  I improved my previous time and although I'm no notable runner, I was pretty chuffed to come comfortably under 4 hours.
• Another race, arguably my favourite race, is the Ridgeway Run in October and I always enjoy this regardless of my time.  It's a perfect time of year for a run through some wonderful countryside.
• Running in new places this year.  This includes around the pretty Hertfordshire lanes around Preston, Whitwell and so on.  A real highlight was running in Germany on our holiday there in Bremen and the one run I had as we passed through Hamburg. I also ran a little in Yorkshire.
• Getting the course record for running up Bison Hill.
• Having running as an on-going stress buster through some difficult times at work this year.  As you will have seen from the previous posts (and others dotted through the year) there has been a horrible restructure which I survived by the skin of my teeth - and then decided to quit having got a better job elsewhere!
• Having some "me" time every time I ran.  This is an opportunity to be alone with my thoughts which sometimes was about problem solving, thinking things through and most of all, being thankful for all of God's blessings

The low points

• Getting a really bad cold in December and not running for almost two weeks.  This followed a flu jab which I'm starting to regret ever having in the first place.
• Picking up an injury in the weeks before the MK Marathon.  This was self inflicted through over training and increasing my mileage too quickly
• Not logging a couple of runs but this is no big deal
• Although I run reasonably well (cruising at 8:30 minute/mile) my core strength and above waist tone is not very good: I need better all-round fitness and this in turn will make me into a better runner, cyclist and so on.

Otherwise.....

Running 1000 miles in 2015 has been a fantastic thing to do.  Having said that, it hasn't been too difficult and any difficulty has been maintaining the discipline of doing it.  Having Strava on my iPhone was the key, keeping a log of my runs and having the weekly totals shown has been very helpful.

I have loved this, it's been a really good challenge to do.  I think what has been especially good is that it has kept me going through the year and it hasn't been about training for one big event.  It's about on-going fitness and I have been blessed with excellent health once again this year, for which I am extremely thankful for.

Related:
Dealing with smelly technical fabric
MK Marathon
Bison Hill
The best run in 2015
Ridgeway Run - tattooed legs and heavy feet

1,000 mile update

I have mentioned once twice before that I am aiming to run 1,000 miles in 2015.  Now is a good time to review the position to see if I'm on track.

Once or twice I have actually wondered whether I am doing the right thing but, on the whole, I do believe it's good for me.  So now we have reached the end of August and I have run sufficient miles, pro rata, for this two-thirds point in the year.  These are the detailed stats from Strava:

Total miles for 2015: 708 (this is 42 miles ahead)
Separate runs: 126
Time: 103 hrs, 25 mins
Elevation gain: 22,280 feet

My longest run was the MK Marathon in May at the usual 26.2 miles.   The training for that was not ideal, moreover a bit disjointed and therefore injury prone (unusual for me!).  My shortest weekly mileage was about 10 miles against a target average of 19 miles.  In fact I remember having a few of those low mileage weeks earlier this year but thankfully I have caught up and over taken myself a little.

A number of the runs have been post work gentle runs of 3 or 4 miles.  Although this doesn't sound much, each one is valid and counts.  Each one of these short runs helps balance the longer runs at weekends.  I am enjoying the discipline of being accountable to myself, for making sure I keep it up.

I mentioned injuries.  In brief, I managed to pull a calf muscle while [over] training for the marathon.  To compensate I altered my running form a bit which helped solve that injury and now I seem to have transferred the problem to my left hip.  It's not too bad, providing I don't over run too much and have adequate rest after a long run, or a high mileage week.

I will blog again about the benefits of having a distance target like this as this is the first time I have done this.  I like it, it's working well.