Well as we move into 2019 I completed my tenth year of recording my runs on the good old fashioned Excel spreadsheet. Thanks to Excel I can see I ran 3031 times for a total of 43,299 kilometres. Wow, didn’t feel that long ? The Earth’s circumference is 40,075km so I have actually ran around the earth, albeit it took me 10 years and I rarely left Western Australia.  That is a lot of fun and for the most part it has been fun. Of course there has been struggles at times but ultimately I always came out of any slump better than when I went in so always seem to improve; albeit the PB’s are harder to come by these days.

Right some points from the table below :-

• PB’s were a lot easier in the “early days” of my running career when I probably ran less and also with less idea of what I was doing but I ‘m a big believer in the old adage that most runners have around 7 years of PB’s, independent of when they start running, before they plateau and ultimately start to slow.  2011 and 2013 show this to be true. (in 2012 I had the first of my many calf tears and my Father passed, away so my running was limited)
• The foundation for my running career was built on three Comrades campaigns in 2008-2010. ( http://www.comrades.com ) This is where I ran, a lot, training in the Perth hills  for the Comrades ultra-marathon, my first taste of Lydiard or Maffetone training before I had even heard of them. Lots of distance and slow and steady. I say ‘a lot’ , at the time it was a huge step up from previous adventures but looking back nothing to what I run now. In those days there was no training log, GPS watches and Strava was a twinkle in somebodies eye….. (Please note there was to be a fourth campaign but No1 Wife put her foot down and as, luckily, this doesn’t happen often when it does I know to listen. She is probably still smarting from my promise of a new dining room table and chairs I offered her to let me go the first time. Must get to that one day?)
• There was a “second coming” in 2016 when, with the aid of Raf and his team from the Running Centre ( http://therunningcentre.com.au/)  I was put on a program to work towards breaking two hours and forty minutes for the marathon in the later part of 2015. Ultimately a small stress fracture put pay to that but I used what Raf taught me to run amok in 2016 and race every other weekend. This was probably my best years running and I achieved some great times I thought were well beyond me.
• 2017 and 2018 have been destroyed by injury at a time I was beginning to gain momentum from a Stella 2016 season. In ’17 it was a calf tear and ’18 the dreaded Plantar Fasciitis.
• 2013-2016 I increased the weekly mileage annually and the results came thick and fast. The double days and running slower to race faster was the main contributor to some great races in this period. It’s a pity 2017 and 2018 were hampered by injury as these years were probably my last chance to get some solid times before I eventually slow; which I’m assuming is anytime soon unfortunately.
• Big believer in racing as much as you can. Nothing aids improvement more than putting yourself in the pain box, in the fetal position. as much as possible. We run to race, if not other people than ourselves; this is why we do what we do, to test ourselves against either what we once were or what we are to become.
• Can I run 6000k in 2019 and not get injured and if so would I be able to replicate previous years results ? This is the big question of 2019. Personally I don’t think I can as running in your early fifties you run the tightrope of picking up injuries and regressing or avoiding injuries, with less distance, and maintaining a certain standard; without improving.
• I’m running more in my fifties than I have ever ran before and still loving it. This is due to running more times a week but also slower than I previously ran, on average. Race times, I’m holding steady at the moment.
• Can I make it one more time around this planet we all live on ? Hell yeah….although it may take longer than 10 years this time round. !

There is also a separate worksheet detailing my marathon and ultra times which may be of use to my many readers of this blog; well Mum can print it off and show her friends. ? This table shows that with perseverance and good old fashioned hard work you can achieve your running dreams. I remember running my first sub3 in 2009 and the euphoria of that moment will go with me to the grave. It was my 11th marathon and I always said I’d retire when I ran my first sub 3, never quite got to that retirement thing and don’t intend to anytime soon.  This table also shows, combined with the table above, that running improvement needs time and consistency. That is the most important factor in my opinion, consistency. Of course you’ll improve quickly at the start of your running career as you build the cardio engine but to continually improve you need to just keep running, as much as you can.  The table above is fed by my daily table for each year where I record every run; this morphs into a weekly total and then 52 of these and hey presto you have an annual table. ( Please note my table pales into insignificance next to Jon’s but he is an accountant by trade and has an Excel Spreadsheet  that Bill Gates would be proud of, cocooned in pivot table heaven. As well as distance he records who he ran with, time of day , temperature, how he felt etc. etc… it really is a think of beauty. )

These days of course we have Strava and Training Peaks, amongst others, and the digital world has taken over but I’m still a big believer in the old fashioned method of Excel (or even notebooks) when you can easily look back at previous years and see what worked and what you did to aid in your assault on your next running goal. When it comes to running historical data is gold, sometimes looking back can help you look forward. (I must write these motivational lines down , although I probably just did of course?) So even if you have Strava (because as we all know if it wasn’t on Strava it didn’t happen!) a manual spreadsheet is still worth keeping, plus it’s always good to know when you have finally ran the circumference of the planet you currently live on. !

Finally manage to get some kudos from Feedspot.com with recognition for my blog , making the top 10 Australian Running blogs, a debut at number 6. Happy with that but of course will make every effort to get a podium in the near future, nothing beats a podium. https://blog.feedspot.com/australian_running_blogs/

Right so that was 10 years of running, gone in the blink of an eye, best part is I hope to have at least another 10 years to add to the table above so I’d better get my skates on,  ( only figuratively speaking of course, unless there is a skating option on Strava?) I’m off for a run, you don’t get round the world twice blogging you know. !

Finally…as I have said many times you need friends to share in your journey and I have some great examples. So as well as concentrating on the running reach out to fellow runners and suffer(?) / enjoy the journey together… when it comes to running you really do need friends….

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