I’ve made some quite lofty goals for myself in running over many years, mostly involving trying to reach 1000 miles or run every day for a whole year. This year, I’ve done the same thing in both areas, hoping that a return from injury and going back to my running club on a regular basis would get me going and knowing that with the first two days of the year being running days would get me going.
Whilst I’m slightly behind on my target for the annual mileage at the end of the first month, having logged around 70 miles against a target of just under 85 miles, at this early stage this isn’t an issue. For the remaining months of the year, it would require an increase in my daily target mileage of just 0.04 miles, which is easy enough to catch up.
I’ve had a couple of events which have helped keep me going, as I signed up to help on my running club’s beginner’s course, so I’m committed to running with someone two or three times a week. As they follow a similarly increasing running volume in a run/walk plan, this also means I’m getting to ease myself back into running fairly slowly, which might not be a bad idea as I gave myself an injury in the Summer by increasing my mileage from nowhere far too quickly.
Whilst I suspect I’ve done the same here, the purchase of a p hone holder, which has meant I’ve not carried a phone in my hand seems to have balanced me out a little. I was running tense, largely due to fear of falling again having broken my collarbone last year and not holding my phone, as well as not using it to play Pokémon on the run, which was the cause of my fall, seems to have cleared some of the fear of falling and has meant I can run beyond 2 miles without pulling my left calf, which was the issue I was having last Summer.
3 of my runs every week are helping me get ahead of the mileage, as the club runs and parkun mean I’m covering over 3 miles at least 3 times a week, against a daily target of 2.73 miles (or 2.77 miles as it will have to become). Most of my runs during the week have been shorter ones, usually between 1.03 miles and 1.7 miles, with only one really exceeding 2 miles and this is something I need to work at to avoid falling further behind, although I’m not great at pushing myself when I’m out on my own and some days in the bas weather have already felt like a chore or an obligation rather than a pleasure, so there is some attitude adjustment required.
But I have reached 70 miles, which is around 55 miles further than I ran last January, so that’s a start. I’ve also clocked my fastest parkrun time in around 4 months, without feeling particularly like I’d gone too hard, so that provides some encouragement, as does being a few pounds lighter than I started the year. I may not have quite remained on target for mileage, but I think that all things considered, this has been a very successful first month of my running year.
sohoblack 