15 Races, 129 Race Miles
This is a typical number for me in a healthy year, particularly because I tend to run a lot of 5Ks in the summer. Here's the breakdown:
- 7 x 5K: New Year's, Semper Fi, Firecracker, Leesburg, Great American, Dulles Runway, Turkey Trot
- 3 x 10K: Pancake Run, Pike's Peek, Fall Classic
- 1 x 10-mile: Cherry Blossom
- 2 x Half marathon: Columbus, Indy Monumental
- 2 x Marathon: Sugarloaf, CIM
I should also mention my DNF at the Shamrock marathon. I got over that pretty quickly and moved on.
3.5 Personal Records
- I set a PR in the Cherry Blossom 10-miler by 30 seconds, in 1:09:54. This was my first sub-70 so it was a big deal.
- Later in the year, I set a PR in the Columbus half by 29 seconds in 1:31:55.
- Just 3 weeks later, I set another half marathon PR at Indy Monumental in 1:30:58. My half marathon PR pace is now faster than my 10-miler PR pace, so I un-officially set a PR there too.
- The 0.5 of a PR is the official/unofficial debate from my Turkey Trot 5K. My chip time of 19:55 was a PR by 3 seconds, but they removed it from the results and used my gun time of 20:00 as the official time. My takeaway was that I got myself in the 5K PR shape while marathon training, which is awesome!
2,695 Miles logged
I set a new record for most miles ever logged in one year! I took 28 days off total, and my longest streak was 122 days in a row.
My highest weekly mileage was 81 when I was training for Shamrock. I ran 37 track workouts and 14 runs that were 16 miles or longer (not including the marathons).
Looking at the yearly mileage graph, I'm happy to see that at the age of 41, my body is allowing me to do more training than ever. Not shown on this graph is the strength training I did. I followed a program from June to October, stopping once my mileage became really high and intense.
In terms of weather, my coldest run was 10 degrees Fahrenheit, when I drove into Arlington to find a non-icy surface. I bought a treadmill later in the year, so I might never run in 10 degrees again! I avoided the heat as much as possible, and my hottest run was 73 degrees-- the Leesburg 5K. The Sugarloaf Marathon wins the prize for the rainiest, with rain pouring down in what felt like buckets for the last 10 miles.
12 U.S. States and 6 Countries
I also set a record this year for the number of places I've visited and run in. I was able to combine two of my business trips with races!
States:
- Virginia (hometown)
Oslo, Norway - Arizona (business trip + race)
- Maryland (race)
- New York (mini-vacation)
- Washington DC (2 races)
- Maine (race)
- Texas (business trip)
- Massachusetts (business trip)
- Ohio (race)
- Indiana (business trip + race)
- Rhode Island (business trip)
- California (race)
Countries:
- The USA
- Mexico
- Denmark
- Germany
- Sweden
- Norway
New Running Gear
I acquired a lot of new running gear and tools this year that have really helped with my training.
- Garmin Forerunner 245 (after trying the 45 but not finding it precise enough)
- NordicTrack Treadmill
- RapidReboot recovery boots (Thank you, RapidReboot)
- Aftershokz headphones (Thank you, Aftershokz)
- Nike Vaporfly Next %, x 2 pairs!
- Lots of clothing from Tracksmith and rabbit
My Book
Finally, my book, Boston Bound, is still going strong. This year it sold about 500 copies, which is amazing for being its 3rd year in print, and I didn't do much to promote it.
Previous Years in Review
I'm running a New Year's Day 5K tomorrow, and I'm excited to see how it goes. Happy New Year to all my blog readers!
A marvelous and phenomenal year you logged Liz the Zebra! And a thorough analysis and synthesis of the results, as your nature and as you always provide! Well since you doing a 5k New Year's Day I suspect you won't be partying and up too late celebrating tonight. Good luck and best wishes Tommorrow and all next year! You be chasing a Unicorn next April! Bless ya!
ReplyDeleteLove the zebra socks and Vaporfly Next% (although I've yet to run in my pair of them for obvious reasons.) I've head the next version will be called the Alpha fly or something on those lines, the shoes Kipchoge broke 2 in I believe is the next version out.
ReplyDeleteBut another phenomenal running year and continued success. We know you PR'd that 5K too but hey you got New Years Day to do that too if you're ready to give that a whirl!! It's always fun to follow my running friends and you doing this blog makes it much easier to know what you're up too (given I use ZERO social media hence can't look there.)
Have a great enjoyable last few hours of this decade and keep up the spirit, you are amazing and have many years of incredible running left in you!! It all begins tomorrow!!!
Strong year - and I think not being sick had so much to do with it. That's why I agree with your decisions to buy a treadmill and, for the most part, avoid hard racing in heat. Now that you know what your triggers are, you can be so much more healthy by avoiding them. You had a great year of racing, and I expect more PRs in 2020!
ReplyDeleteYou are amazing!
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