Since late July of 2023 I have been consistently running longer and more than at any point in my life. I’ve dabbled in running in the past, cross-country in high school, a 5k here or there, but nothing too serious. However, this time around I decided take a more methodical approach… And I’ve seen some great results (for me) so far.
Training
My training has been a journey of slow, steady, but occasionally inconsistent improvement. I initially began by running a single mile several times a week, and quickly growing to longer runs of 2 miles. After several months I then increased to 3 miles being my longest run. These runs were 3-4 times per week of varying lengths around my neighborhood. This was my typical running experience from years past and I did this for about 3 months.
A typical schedule would look something like this:
| Day of the Week | Distance |
|---|---|
| Mon | 1 mile |
| Wed | 2 miles |
| Thu | 1 mile |
| Sat | 3 miles |
The next, most significant change in my running plan was the introduction of long runs. These are done on days where I have more free time, usually Saturdays. They initially started at 5 miles, and gradually have increased in distance. Typically adding a mile once every 2-3 weeks.
| Day of the Week | Distance |
|---|---|
| Mon | 2 miles |
| Tues | 2 miles |
| Wed | 3 miles |
| Thu | 3 mile |
| Sat | 6 miles |
This change helped me boost my total mileage each week and improve my endurance. One thing that I do realize in retrospect is that I increased my overall mileage too quickly which did lead to some knee strain. I went from running between 7-8 miles a week to around 16. General running advice is to increase no more than 10% each week which I’ve tried to adhere to more closely. After backing off my mileage for a week or two I recovered and was able to continue running.
2023 Results
My total mileage for the year of 2023 was 255 miles. My average split per mile was 11:11 and my total time spent running was 47 hours. I was, overall, happy with the results. But I felt like I could do more. I set a goal for myself to do the following:
- Keep running consistently
- Run at least 800 miles in 2024
- Run a half-marathon
2024 Progress
Beginning at the start of the year I’ve adopted some of the lower heart-rate training principles from MAF. I attempt to keep my heart rate below my aerobic threshold during runs, which is around 145 bpm for me. This has allowed me to run longer distances at an easier perceived effort. It has also assisted in preventing further injury issues. The benefits of this I’ve found is that I’ve been able to keep my heart rate lower, while running at a faster pace. My average pace is higher (11:50) than 2023, but my heart rate for it is lower. I’ve also seen this bore out in races where I can run further at faster paces.
My weekly training schedule now looks something like this:
| Day of the Week | Distance | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Mon | 3 miles | Heart Rate |
| Tues | 4 miles | Heart Rate |
| Wed | 6 miles | Heart Rate |
| Thu | 3 mile | Pace |
| Sat | 10 miles | Long Run |
We are close to 1/3 of the way through the year and I’ve made meaningful progress on my goals. Here is where I currently stand:
- Keep running consistently
So far this year I have run a total of 70 days and logged a total distance of 327 miles. I’ve been able to stay consistent with running 3-4 times per week with a long run on Saturdays. My average weekly mileage has been around 20 miles although I’ve had a few lower mileage weeks due to cold and illness that skew that lower.
- Run at least 800 miles in 2024
I’ve been well ahead of schedule and revised this goal to be to run more than 1000 miles in 2024. This should be relatively attainable if I continue running at least 21 miles per week on average.
- Run a half-marathon
On April 21st I completed my first half-marathon, the Drake Road Races half, with a time of 02:22:23. For an average pace of 10:53 min/mi. Overall, I am happy with these results. My planned time was for 02:25:00 which I did even better than that. My overall place is still relatively low for my age group, which is something I’d like to improve.
I’ve also signed up for an additional half-marathon in Oct 2024, so I’ll be able to compare the results and see how much I was able to improve over an additional 6 months of training.
