Running stats reviewed........

I came across the chart below when I was looking through my running info. It kind of looked to me like a tough ultra course with all of the ups and downs, then I remembered what it really was.Turns out it is a plot of my weekly mileage for the year, it just happens to be week 50 of our calendar year.

Notice that week to week consistency has not been my strong point. It's probably my biggest issue in weight reduction, getting faster and basic improvement. Of course it could be the fact that I follow no specific training program that leads me to this inconsistency. I use the fear based training program, fear being the pain I might need to endure if I don't get runs in ahead of a longer event. One thing I can't forget is that this past year was all about getting back into a consistent pattern of running and that the goal was to avoid major injury. I have had a few nicks to work through during this past year but the pain of my knees and foot are manageable just mentally tiring. So overall I am pleased with what I accomplished so do I now set my goal for 2009 to push harder for time improvements? Maybe, but not at the cost of additional injury or losing the joy of running.

As I continued to glance through my data, I noticed a few trends (this data goes through this Sunday so I am including this weekends runs).

Total days of running
145 (that means 203 days that I didn't run)

Which day during the week do I run?
Monday - 10
Tuesday - 16
Wednesday - 17
Thursday - 14
Friday - 10
Saturday - 40
Sunday - 38

78 runs on weekends 67 during the week

Stats wise - this means that I have run on 78% of the available weekend days and only 27% of the available work week days. Pretty much confirms my comments above, I know what I need to get better at, will I be willing to do it?

Of the 10 Sundays I did not run 3 were after marathons or longer, 3 were due to sickness or not feeling good, 4 are for a variety of other reasons. Are running on Mondays and Fridays my least favorite days to run? Maybe but part of this is intentional, taking a day off after long runs explains Mondays and resting the day before races explains a few Fridays. I do think it's safe to say that I need to get in more weekday runs.

So in analyzing my approach to running, I have yet again concluded I need to improve on consistency and to start focusing on training with a purpose.

So in looking at next years calendar, Run Toto Run is 10 weeks away, McNaughton is 18 weeks and Chippewa 20 weeks. To do the first two events with manageable pain would require me to get going now, where as Chippewa, I could wait until late January. As 10 weeks to a 50k seems about right and 18 weeks to a 50 miler should work out fine.

So where does this lead me, well, this weekend I need to make my decision to add some additional early season races or rule them out and then to commit to a training program that gets me there..................