Monday, December 10, 2012

2nd Straight 3,000 Mile Year ... RAWKFIST!!!

After what I've considered a fairly mediocre running year ... today I finally have a reason for RAWKFIST!!!  I just hit 3,000 miles ran for the second year in a row ... and I feel great!  Yep, after pounding out another 5.3 million footsteps in 2012, I'm injury free and feel about as good as a 44 year old  man can feel!

The 3,000 mile thing started last year when I basically just wanted to find out if I could do it.  By the end of the year I was exhausted and didn't think I was gonna make it, but I held on and ended with 3,005 miles ran in 2011.  However my ankles, hips, and hamstrings were really beginning to show some signs of tendinitis ... which is why I decided to change my foot strike from a heel strike to a midfoot strike (more on that later).

At the beginning of 2012 I really began focusing on the new strike in earnest, basically training my feet to land in a totally different way than they had all their life.  When you make this change, you really have to decrease your mileage to give your legs time to adjust.  So there were a few  months early in the year where my mileage was a little lower than normal.  But in the summer after I got the hang of it, I really picked up the mileage pace with several 90-100 mile weeks, averaging about 85 miles per week from July to September.  But during the last two months, I've really tapered off quite a bit again.

Actually, if you figure about 36 inches per foot step while running, 3,000 miles is about 5,280,000 footsteps.  Almost 5.3 million ... that's crazy when you think about it!  And it comes out to about 8.5 miles per day, or about 58 miles per week.  Following are the month-by-month totals:

January    February    March     April     May     June      July      August     September     October     November    December
   204          207         244        198      248       302       395         363             352              246             146               96     

What's in store for 2013 ... I dunno.  Sitting here today I can tell you that I still feel really good, even after all those miles.  I could probably stretch it to 3,500 without much work at all, and honestly I could see doing 4,000 if I really set it as a goal ... but I just don't know what the point would be.  I'll be training for my first 50 mile race next year, so I'm sure the miles will add up automatically, but I don't have a specific goal in mind.  For now though, it's just kinda cool to have over 6,000 miles in less than two years ...  and still be walking without a limp.  Rawkfist!!!
... be great today!

22 comments:

  1. Wow, look at July: you almost hit 400! That's impressive. I could probably use your advice on changing foot strike. If I ever get back running I may need to examine my heel striking tendencies.
    I'd love to hit 3000 miles in a year. I don't even know if I've ever gotten to 2000.

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  2. DANG, YOU ARE JUST RUNNING YOUR WAY AROUND THE GALAXY. THAT IS SOME STELLAR MILEAGE. CHEERS. 5000 IN 13?

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  3. Somewhat impressed, although I was hoping for somewhere around 3025 miles to be honest.

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  4. Wow, awesome year - congrats on the mileage!

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  5. Awesome work! The very epitome of commitment and fortitude, plus another 3,000miles of great blogging.

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  6. that is some very impressive mileage, and here I was thinking I was badass for having over 1500 miles this year. NICE JOB!

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  7. Wow! That's crazy. I am just over 2,000 for the year. I can imagine how much time you are putting into it. Well done!

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  8. That's mighty impressive. Congrats!

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  9. That's awesome you accomplished your goal :). That builds confidence and with it there's no place you can't go. The 50 miler won't necessarily mean you need to ramp up your mileage, but rather run smartly and yeah, those long SLOW miles are now going to be important - ha. Exactly what you hate :). Any chance you want to come to Colorado and run the Leadville Silver Rush 50-miler with me???

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  10. That is fantastic, well done! Doing that at the pace you run is really awesome. I'm hoping for a really great 2013 running year.

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  11. Pretty dang awesome Jim! I am excited that you are going to do a 50 miler next year. I think you will do excellent at that distance and can't wait to follow your training.

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  12. Congrats, Jim! That's a lot of miles--you earned your rawkfest.

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  13. that is a lot of steps....seriously...congratulations!

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