Happy New Year! Can you believe it is 2014? Speaking of that … no, I was not confused when I wrote today’s title. For Workout Wednesday today, I want to share a glimpse into my year of running in 2013 … which involved hitting an all-time high of 2000 miles! 
You’d be hard-pressed to look at my Instagram feed and not know that I was a runner. I’m guessing that 40% of my pictures are made up of food, 20% of random other stuff … and 40% of my post-run “glow” (OK, sweat), my legs and running shoes, or my post-run Garmin totals. All things that I never thought I’d share in a public forum! But, what can I say, blogging (and social media) does crazy things, so I’m about to share another glimpse of something I usually consider personal … some of my running statistics!
Setting the Goal
First, here’s a secret … I’m a numbers-oriented, goal-driven person, and when I set my mind to something, you’d better believe I accomplish it. But I also really (really!!) believe in listening to your body. So, I actually DON’T focus on a total yearly goal for most of the year. Each January 1st, I’ll come up with an arbitrary total that I’d like to hit the following year (last year it was just “more than I did in 2012,” which was 1771). And while I may have that in mind from time to time, I also have no idea what the year will bring in terms of races, injuries (knock on wood!), illness, work, time off of running, additional cross-training activities, and other things that may impact my total mileage. But when December 1st rolls around, I get antsy, start looking at my totals, what my training has in store for the next few weeks, and I come up with a fun number that I want to hit for the year. This involves a little finagling of the training plan, and some extra attention to the Garmin, but I love it! Side note: If you do want to set a yearly goal, I would recommend choosing 75-80% of your “comfortable” weekly mileage now, and multiplying by 52. This will leave some wiggle room for all of those things above, and you may even end up exceeding your goal!
Here’s a funny Facebook flashback with my 2011 total of 1733 miles (a huge jump from my very busy 2010, when I got in 1190 miles!). One of my good friends reminded me that it is quite strange to actually keep track of all of this in the comments. Hey, I’ll admit that I’m a bit of a dork when it comes to things like this. But really, I think most runners are! 
Making it Fun
Once I tally up my mileage for the year, I like to play a little game with myself. (At this point, you already think I’m strange, so I’m laying it all out there!). I use my total mileage to see where I “could have run” that year. For 2013, I started going north, because I thought it would be fun to visit some of my Canadian friends and blog friends! But Toronto was too close (1,372 miles), and once you get too far north in Canada … well, there just aren’t a whole lot of landmarks! Then I got thinking that the beach sounded pretty nice, so I decided to go south. I wound up on the beach … in Playas Negras, El Salvador! (And yes, I did check out Google Images to make sure that’s where I wanted to visit :)). 
(picture source)
Noticing the Trends 
Trust me, I analyze the wazoo out of this stuff, and I’ll spare you the details, but here are some highlights:
- Lowest mileage month: June, 143.5 miles
- Lowest mileage week (no injuries, knock on wood!): July 29th-August 4th, 20.4 miles
- Highest mileage month: December, 214.6 miles
- Highest mileage week: December 23rd-29th, 54.2 miles (hey, vacation is nice!)
- Average weekly mileage: 38.5
- Average daily mileage: 5.5 (misleading, since I very, very rarely run 7 days per week!)
- Number of races: 4 5Ks (with a 22:04 PR!), 2 10Ks, 1 15K, 1 20K, 7 half marathons (with a 1:39:37 PR!)
- Lots of cross-training, especially yoga and body-weight workouts during higher running times, and biking during the summer!
What’s Next?
Well … good question! You may notice a little spike in my December mileage … I’m taking a cautious approach to marathon training, because although I’d really like to run another one, I don’t ever want running to become less-than-fun, and weekly super-long-runs tend to do that. So, I told myself that I’d start training, and play it by ear throughout the training. But, for now, I’m still loving the run, and still thinking about running my 5th marathon on March 1st!
I certainly plan on running several more half marathons, but the only one I have on my schedule is the ZOOMA Texas Half Marathon in Austin on April 12th, 2014. It is sure to be a BLAST! I’ve mentioned it once before, but I’m an Ambassador for this race, and I’ve been loving everything I’m learning about it. ZOOMA really aims to put on a fun, well-organized, inclusive event, and I’ve heard such great things about their races. Remember … if you want to register, please use my 10% off discount code, which is TXAMB8. (And if you register, please let me know! I know my code has been used, but I don’t know who you are, and I’d love to meet you!) 
Here’s to a wonderful 2014, full of fitness, health, and happiness!!!
So tell me in the comments … Do you have any dorky fitness secrets to share? If you’re a runner, do you total your mileage? How was your New Year’s Eve?
All these numbers gave me a headache…haha but I love this nerdy quality about you- and I say that in the nicest way possible. 2000 miles, wow. That is inspirational! Here’s to seeing some amazing stuff for The Lyon’s Share in 2014!
Oh Arman … I will get you to like stats one way or another :). Maybe I should add that to my 2014 Resolutions! Haha!
PHENOMENAL!!! I would love to hit 2000 this year, but I don’t know if my body will agree or not. I figure I am going to continue focusing on all the things that have kept me injury free and hope that also means a few more miles 🙂
Thank you, Amanda! I completely agree that staying injury free is a FAR more important goal than any number of miles. Here’s to an injury-free 2014 for both of us!
Congratulations on hitting your goal. 2000 is definitely something to be proud of – esp. with no injuries.=)
Thanks, Jessie! It’s been a good year! I really hope for another injury-free year in 2014!
I love how as runners we are all such numbers geeks. Good thing technology allows us to keep track of such data! Congrats on all your accomplishments. I love how you see how far your miles would take you. 🙂 Austin….hmm, I’ve been meaning to visit Austin…
Tonya, Austin is an amazing city, and the race will be so fun! Seriously, would love to meet you there. Let me know if you want more info on the race!
I was looking at doing the Austin 10/20. Have you heard of that one? http://www.austin1020.com/
Tonya, I’ve never heard of that one, but it looks amazing! The 8-mile Turkey Trot in Dallas is my all-time favorite racing distance, so I bet the 10-mile would be great, too! I hope you go for it!!!
This is amazing! I would honestly love to run even one mile at this point. GOT to stop getting hurt! I think it’s cute that you pick a running destination. The beach in El Salvador looks beautiful, and I’ve heard that vacationing there is pretty cheap, so you wouldn’t even have to carry much money with you! Because, you know, running with a huge wallet would get old – quick! 😉
Amy, you’ll get there! Your persistence to your recovery is so important, and you WILL get back to running – I just know it! Slow and steady is truly the key – once you start running, do not think that you can just pick up your previous weekly mileage, but do a gradual build! You’ve got this!
YOU HIT THE Y2K!! LMFAO! Remember when it was 1999 and people were so worried we were all going to die – ah h ah ha ha! Yeahhhhh no!
You’re a crazy girl! However… I have an idea for you? Why don’t you run your booty on over to LA and visit ME!!! – yes? Brilliant idea? I THINK SO!
I would love to visit you in LA, Gigi! Maybe next year my route will take me that way. YES, I remember Y2K – everyone kind of thought it was crazy, but no one knew enough to not be at least a little worried. Funny memories!
Definitely used to track my mileage but can’t say I ever even got close to 2000! In terms of fitness, but goal this year is to not be injured! Hopefully that will mean a bit of running but I’m not banking on it. Thankfully you’ve got both of our mileage covered 😉 Happy New Year my beautiful and strong friend! xo
I am really hoping you get through 2014 un-injured, too, Davida, but as I’ve said so many times, I really admire your determination to find what works for YOUR body. You are discovering such wonderful things! Happy New Year!
2000 miles! Wow, congratulation on the mileage/milestone (see what I did there…). Don’t worry, I don’t think your strange, I always do this & it’s good to know that there’s someone else like me out there, thanks for sharing! I love how you see where you could’ve ended up! Makes me think of Forrest Gump. Happy new year!
Haha, Forrest Gump! That made me laugh. If you’re strange, I’m strange too – but totaling mileage makes me feel accomplished and is fun! Hope you have a wonderful year of running!
I love all the number crunching, I’m absolutely all in with you! I used to set more mileage goals, but found that races are the biggest motivation for me. But I like your approach for adjusting and figuring a goal at the end of the year. Very fun!
Thanks, Heather! It’s amazing how many number-crunching nerds come “out of the closet” in the blog world :).
Awesome running Year!! I love numbers as well and was going to count them up but decided not to this year because I was afraid I would get disappointed since the injury set me back a bit! I do want to tally and count it up during 2014 and I want to stay injury free! Let’s see how it goes! HAPPY NEW YEAR MEGAN!
Sara, I think you’re so smart for knowing that it would be dangerous for you to total up mileage this year. I am confident that you will be injury-free in 2014, as you’re doing so well in your recovery! Congrats and Happy New Year!
Congrats on a great year in running! I use an excel sheet to track all of my running. It sums up the weeks, months, and year, and I also have a section that keeps track of my different shoe mileage. Not only that, but I also use the garmin connect website and daily mile. I didn’t really think about my yearly mileage until a few days ago, or maybe I would have tried to reach a certain milestone.
Happy New Year!
Lisa, your Excel spreadsheet sounds so similar to mine! It’s not fancy, but I love it! I use Garmin Connect occasionally, but honestly I just prefer my own spreadsheet. Next December, I challenge you to find a fun milestone to close out the year!
2000!! Congrats! I hit a little over 1000 this year, it’s my all time high as well. I did the same as you, check out last years numbers and shoot for an attainable goal.
Congrats on your 1000, girl! Hope 2014 will be full of new PRs for both of us :).
First off, congrats on the milestone! Amazing year – and no injuries is critical!
Also, I absolutely love this post! My degrees are in optical engineering and statistics, so I overthink numbers AND physics on a regular basis! 🙂
It is funny, I never totaled my miles before last year – so for 23 years I would just run ~4 or 5 days per week for 30-60 minutes without every checking pace or mileage or anything else. But that has to do with the childhood issues I harbored around slowness (being made fun of by gym teachers and off-hand comments from parents including your own will do this).
But when I started running ‘for real’ in 2012 I got a Garmin and then ‘math brain’ went into overload! I did ~1975 miles in 2012, and my goal for 2013 was >2000. WhichI totally nailed as well! I really don’t do too many weird things … well, that really isn’t true since the other day I did yet another run with four watches, two heart monitors, a cell phone and a foot pod. 🙂
For New Years, Lisa and I failed to manage to cringe our way through ‘We are the Millers’, but it worked out OK as we switched over to normal New Years junk TV! Our older son went to a party and then had a sleepover with a few friends.
Our younger son had a party at a friends house just down the road – but it was disappointing because of the 10 kids invited, half couldn’t attend, then one by one they declined until it was going to be three of them … and the third (typically unreliable from a challenging home environment) didn’t show. So he and the girl played music (she plays sax, he piano) and hung for a few hours and then he came home. Really felt for the girl – they are such nice people.
Hope you had a good time!
Thank you so much, Michael! And yes, I’m 3 days late on comments and “catching up” again … but it’s slow progress that counts, right? At least it’s not 2 weeks this time!! You are being humble on saying you nailed your goal … you exceeded 3000!!!!! That is truly amazing. So sad about your son’s friend’s party – I used to hate when that happened (to me or others) in high school. Hope she wasn’t too bummed – still so nice of your son to go over!
Thanks – I spent about 10 minutes talking to the girl and her mom, they are so sweet. She was disappointed, but at the same time I think it allowed a bit of normalcy for everyone.
And I did notice the flurry – but I also noted that I have been doing the exact same thing – replied to 3 days of comments tonight myself!