It's hard to believe another year has come and gone. Each time around the sun seems to be more fleeting than the previous one. 2015 seemed to be the year I did a lot, but it felt like a little.
The year started off with a pleasantly surprising 100k run, where I posted a huge PR for the 100k distance. During that same race I also set personal bests for the 50k and 50 mile distances. In addition, my 100k time was good enough to qualify me for the legendary Spartathlon Ultramrathon. I also served as a pace leader for 6 marathons and 3 half marathons, as well as finally qualifying myself for the Boston Marathon. Here and there I snuck in a few small trail races, but I still consider myself semi-retired from ultras and still retired from 100 milers. Yes, the 100k was an ultra, but in terms of races that could take 12-24+ hours, I am still mostly retired. Lastly, I volunteered at quite a few local road races and ultras and was forced to say farewell to one of my favorite races that traveled down the OBX.
In terms of total running, I finished 2015 with 3,127 miles, which is a new one year distance PR and also marks roughly 30,000 lifetime running miles. To be honest, this isn't really a PR I wanted to obtain, simply because I found myself running out of pure boredom much more than I would have liked. I'd honestly rather have a more active local social life and "only" run 2,000 miles per year. So, I guess I made lemonade out of lemons and figured running bored was better than sitting around. Anyway, 3,127 miles tops the 3,122 miles I ran in 2013 and the 3,100 miles from 2010. The strange thing is that it didn't feel like I ran nearly as much, and yet I still ran the most I ever have in one year. I can partially attribute this to a much more efficient and balanced approach to running, where in previous years my mileage would vary from 10 miles a week to over 110 any given time of the year. Needless to say, that approach didn't work.
My highest one week mileage total in 2015 was 95.6, but included a 100k race. In regular training weeks my mileage never went above 85.1, which was a peak build up week for the 100k race I just mentioned. The next highest output week was 76.1 miles, which again was a build up week for fall marathon training. My three lowest mileage weeks were 40, 41, and 42 miles respectively which were either recovery weeks, or taper weeks. The remaining bulk of my yearly mileage came from consistent weeks in the 55-65 mile range, and another dozen weeks in the 65-75 mile range. No real extremes in terms of super low or super high mileage weeks.
I guess I should also point out that about 90% of my total yearly mileage was on paved roads, which meant it required significantly less time to obtain my distances. In other years, the opposite was true when I spent about 90% of my time on trails, but often running a pace 1-2 minutes per mile slower than what I run now. If you factor that 2,700 of my miles in 2015 were run at a pace at least 1 minute per mile faster than in 2013 and 2010, I actually ran about 40 less hours in 2015, but covered more distance. So, I did in fact run more with less. Another common theme from last year. I will also conclude that 3,000 miles per year nearing 35 years of age is probably going to be the high end of what I can do without diminishing returns. While I felt pretty good and fresh up until my 3,000 mile mark in 2015, without fail I started feeling a noticeable physical burn out as I continued pushing my end of year mileage in an effort to break my previous PR.
So, what does 2016 have in store? Well, I probably won't run 3,000 mile again, and honestly I don't want to. I'd love to cut a few minutes off my marathon time, maybe get down to a 3:05, and secure a 2017 Boston Marathon entry. I don't really like being on the bubble for not getting accepted, but I'm not sure how much time and effort I really want to spend training again. It's hard work if you do it right. I'm also entertaining the idea of doing Spartathlon in 2016 or 2017, but there is no way on earth I want to put my body through the damaging training needed to get through Spartathlon's 153 mile course. Still, I can't deny how amazing it would be to represent the US in another country and raise the American flag across the finish line to the statue of Leonidas. It's all still a bit too early to know. I don't foresee doing any 100 milers, though I will likely show up to a few small trail races to get my fix of dirt and trees. If anything, hopefully 2016 will bring some fresh new adventures, life closer to mountains, and an item or two crossed off the bucket list.
Happy trails 2015 and cheers to an exciting 2016.
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