29th RUNNING YEAR
I think most people will say “good riddance” to 2017, but as far as running and triathlon went for me, it was a pretty good year. As is the custom, I like to wrap it up with a year end summary.
2017 – RUNNING REVIEW
I wrapped up my third straight year of a running streak, managing at least a mile every day. There weren’t too many issues in maintaining my streak. Even the post-Ironman mile was no big deal the day after the race and a 4 hour car ride home from Louisville, Kentucky. I really felt like I could do 2 or even 3 miles that day, but I didn’t push it. Maintaining a streak takes some discipline to know when not to overdo it, and so I played it safe with just a mile.
I finished the year with 1682 total miles, 142 miles less than last year. Even so, it’s still pretty impressive to me. After 29 years of running, this brings my yearly average to 812 miles per year. So I have done approximately double the miles this year than my annual average, which is increasing every year.
One item of note is my average pace this year was 8:35 min/mile, which exceeds last year’s 8:47 min/mile average. Not sure why that is, because it wasn’t intentional, but I will take it. I have learned somewhat through training for Ironman and marathons that long, slow distance with occasional speed work thrown in is probably a better training method for performance than the constant tempo runs at faster paces that used to be my bread and butter.
Speaking of the running streak, last year I mentioned in my wrap-up that I might give up the running streak in 2017, but it didn’t happen. The main reason for stopping the streak at the end of 2016 was injury, mainly to my foot. But I managed to train through it fine. The reason this year for the consideration is basically the same. I’m pretty sore after another long season, and I just don’t think I have anything left to prove with keeping the streak going. At 54 years old, it’s not like I’m going to set a longevity record for streaking. I would have had to have started that in my teens probably. And with two big marathons on the calendar for next year, I think that I might benefit from having some rest days after tough or long workouts. If I do end the streak, I’ll write up a blog about how I felt it affected me. The original goal was to last a year – mission accomplished. I think year two of the streak I saw the benefits, and this past year I’m starting to see some diminishing returns with it.
BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMENT
My biggest accomplishment for 2017 was making the cut for the 2018 Boston Marathon! Of course I actually qualified for the race in 2016, but I had to wait until April to apply and then wait to see where the ax would fall for the cutoff to get in. I had a -4:51 BQ cushion, so I wasn’t really too worried about it even after missing the cut for the 2017 race by 28 seconds. When I got the email I was relieved. So, basically being patient and waiting was my biggest running accomplishment. Funny.
2017 RUNNING STATS
- 1682 TOTAL MILES – 32 MILES PER WEEK / 140 MILES PER MONTH
- 365 TOTAL RUNS – 7 RUNS PER WEEK / 30.4 RUNS PER MONTH
- 240 TOTAL HOURS – 4.6 HOURS PER WEEK / 20 HOURS PER MONTH
LIFETIME RUNNING STATS
- 23,549 TOTAL MILES – 812 MILES PER YEAR
- 4340 TOTAL RUNS – 149 RUNS PER YEAR
- 3124 TOTAL HOURS – 107 HOURS PER YEAR (Nearly 130 days spent running over 29 years!)
2017 TRIATHLON REVIEW
I had a pretty great year with triathlons in 2017. In all, I took on three races, finishing on the podium at Manteno, Illinois and once again qualifying for the USAT Nationals. I think that is my second time qualifying for nationals, and is always a big feather in my cap. The race will be held in Cleveland in 2018, and I will not attend seeing that I am already committed to the Boston Marathon in April, and the Chicago Marathon in October. Some day I hope to attend, especially if it is a little closer to home.
The ET Batavia Triathlon is becoming a favorite for me, and I did well this year, but did not place in my age group. I’ve already signed up for it again.
My big “A” race this year was 2017 Ironman Louisville. I had big expectations for this race and I put in a lot of hard work to achieve my goals. I PR’d every discipline this time around, lowering my Ironman personal record to 11 hours, 46 minutes, 55 seconds. The finish was awesome, but once again pales in comparison to the fun and experiences I had with my buddies training for and racing Ironman Lou. Lots of great memories.
2017 TRIATHLON RELATED STATS
- 119,174 TOTAL YARDS SWIMMING (67.7 MILES)
- 3308 TOTAL MILES BIKING
- 1682 TOTAL MILES RUNNING
2017 RACES
I did six total races in 2017 and had fun in them all. Here’s a brief recap with a link to the race reports for each.
- SUMMERTIME STRIDE 5K: 20:57 / 10th overall / 1st in age group – 2017 Summertime Stride 5K Race Report
- ET BATAVIA TRIATHLON: 1:19:01 / 37th overall / 4th in age group – 2017 ET Batavia Triathlon Race Report
- SHORT RUN ON A LONG DAY 5K: 20:45 / 16th overall / 3rd in age group – Short Run on a Long Day 2017 Race Recap
- MANTENO SPRINT TRIATHLON: 1:02:40 / 9th overall / 1st in age group – 2017 Manteno Sprint Triathlon Race Report
- IRONMAN LOUISVILLE: 11:46:55 / 600th overall / 43rd in age group – Ironman Louisville 2017 Race Recap
- HOT CIDER HUSTLE 8 MILE: 56:33 / 5th overall / 1st in age group – Hot Cider Hustle Race Report
GOALS FOR 2018
I’m looking forward to running my first Boston Marathon. I plan on following a 16 week beginner training plan for it, as I don’t really have any real desire to do this race as fast as possible. I kind of want to take my time and enjoy every step. The plan, although labeled as a beginner plan, has plenty of mileage and work in it for me to do well.
I’m already signed up for the Chicago Marathon in October and the ET Batavia Tri in June. In talking with my Gunner teammates, there’s a strong possibility they will be back at the Chicago Triathlon in August, and I am planning to join them this time. I’ve skipped it the past few years.
I ran two miles on January 1, 2018, so the streak is alive as I wrap this report up. But we will see. If I do decide to let the streak die, I will do so when the marathon training plan has rest days, and I’ll probably throw in some cycling or weight workout on those days.
That’s it for 2017! Thanks for reading.
an amazing run 