I could wax poetic (or is it pathetic?) about the details, but instead I will present the data (1):
- Total mileage
- 3/17/20 - 3/17/21: 1275 miles
- 3/17/19 - 3/17/20: 883 miles
- Days running
- 3/17/20 - 3/17/21: 285 days
- 3/17/19 - 3/17/20: 184 days
There are other interesting statistics from my logs but I think those two details represent the most compelling combination of simplicity and explanation - I increased my mileage by almost 50% while decreasing my rest days by over half. The pair is bolstered by the fact that I didn't suffer from any serious injuries during the year, so in addition to demonstrating improvement the metrics also hint at sustainability. At my age, this shift into a long-term thought pattern is likely the most important accomplishment of all, as I understand athleticism tends to peak between the ages of 27 and 33 before entering a gradual, irreversible decline. I've always been a little reckless with my mileage, perhaps living up to that old adage of finding the wall by crashing into it, and I suspect I was in danger of soon looking back, with regret, and saying - you know, I wish I'd made a change a year ago; I'm glad I did.
I bring up this topic today not just because it's been a year, but also as March is always when I plan ahead for my running. The start of daylight savings time and the weather turning the final corner of winter have historically been the two main reasons for this timing; now I also have the milestone of the pandemic response, which enabled last year's success. In my mind, the general goal for the coming year is to consolidate my process so that I can rely on running as my fitness foundation for the next three or four decades. But I am off to a slow start - after a short winter break, I've struggled to find consistency in my routine, with a variety of minor strains making it impossible to string together two good days of running. This is OK for now, but I won't keep this up for another four years, never mind four decades; let's say my new year of running is stumbling out of the starting blocks.
There were a few possible reasons for my problems coming out of the winter break. One idea was that I didn't take a long enough rest, which I could have overlooked in these troubled times - the pandemic has left many of us running on empty for a few months, and we may require a longer recharge than we did in easier times. I also wondered if there was a lingering effect from the vaccine, which hit me harder than anyone else I've communicated with regarding the second dose. Then there are the endless tiny details, any of which could be adding up to create a problem with my routine - sneakers just about to wear out, an undetected but relevant dehydration, the simple fact of age, bad karma, the emerging "long COVID" effect from an asymptomatic infection, God's will, air quality, those damn Canadian geese, the excuses go on and on.
Those reasons all remain among the plausible explanations, but for now I'm working on one main hypothesis - I came back too strong. This, too, is something I dug out of my running data. I looked back to my first month of the pandemic and discovered that I strung together multiple short runs (easy jogs of less than three miles) on back-to-back days: five occasions of two consecutive days and one outrageous streak of four straight days. I was surprised by this discovery because in my mind I had alternated short runs with longer runs for the duration of the past year, in fact I'd thought I'd done so for my entire life, but the data tells a different story, a true story, debunking a certain myth I'd long held about my training routine; the data reminded me that I had made a change last year. This detail puts my past month into perspective - I have had three occasions of back-to-back short runs, with each instance feeling like a defeat rather than a critical part of my training regimen. I hope that by increasing the number of these consecutive short days over the next four weeks (two pairs per week) I can return to the new course I discovered a year ago.
I think this process of using data to help optimize day-to-day routines is a priceless tool, particularly in this time when many of us are drained of the energy we need to pull ourselves out of our ruts. When there is little impetus for experimentation or no time to waste figuring it out, it helps to have the conclusions of a dataset to recommend a clear direction. The challenging aspect of using data is that we often don't have it, or cannot organize it into a useful structure. I acknowledge that I am fortunate to have these details about my workouts at my disposal so that I can recalibrate my training plan as needed without having to guess at the underlying cause of each problem.
But I should also give myself credit because my habit of tracking this detail has me in this position today, where I can ask myself "what did I do last year?" and get an honestly reply. The data, like so many other things about our lives, will not arrange itself into anything useful, will not comply with our barked commands, will not reveal relevant information simply because we wish it so; we must move our own feet, one in front of the other, to get where we want to go, and only we can pick up our own feet. This year, life has happened to us rather than because of us, which makes it all the harder to fight the defeatism that creeps in when the days blend together and everything reinforces the feeling of being stuck. I think you know what I mean, these days, when we all run on empty. But if something must become different, there is no better time to start than now, a small step or two just to see what happens, and maybe make this the last time we return to the familiar lament - I wish I'd made a change a year ago; you'll be glad you did.
Footnotes / coming attractions
1) The more accurate version of this line is "I will wax poetic..."; please accept my advance apology.
