If you follow me on Instagram, you've may have seen this already, but it was SO long winded, I think it fit better as it's own individual blog.
I finally sat down an looked through my running data since June 2014 (I've since gone in an added data from November 2013, so the graph is more complete, but that will be another topic for another day) and the chart was a little alarming. Kind of all over the place. You immediately notice 3 peaks and 3 valleys. So I decided to go back go through my running journey so far to see what events were happening to cause the spikes and the lows. Here's what I found: October 2014: Ran my first ½ and continued running, but at a much lower mileage. At that point I wasn't training for a specific event, just logging a few miles here and there. 2015: I decided to run 1,000 miles in 2015 (so stupid looking back). Going from 352 miles for 2014 to 1,000 in 2015? I was basically begging for an injury jumping up my mileage so far. To hit 1,000 miles, the average would be about 80 miles per month. So, what do I do? Add an extra 14 on top of that for 94 miles in January AND those miles include way to many speed workouts. I was averaging 4 runs a week, and some weeks 3/4 runs included some sort of speed work. The speed work really kicked in in February and March. As you can see, a little less mileage in February and even less in March. At this point, I was doing 2+ workouts a day, not really stretching properly and not listening to my body. Something had to give, and unfortunately, it was my body. See that space with no running? Stress fracture #1. I've got a high pain tolerance and knew something was seriously wrong when I couldn't even walk normally. No running for over 6 weeks. I think when all was said and done I wasn't able to run for a little over 6 weeks. 48 consecutive days with no running. I swore I'd come back better and faster after I was recovered from this. So, once I was cleared, I decided I wanted to run a second half marathon in 2015 and began building my mileage back up. Again, you can clearly see the peak. I cautiously returned to running, and once I felt comfortable, I spiked my mileage yet again. I came away with a 5+ minute half marathon PR in November. After that, I struggled with IT band issues which kept my mileage low. April 2016: I decided to become a St. Jude hero and run the NY marathon to raise money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Again, you can see a sharp jump where my mileage increases. I was more focused on trying to run a full marthon under 4 hours that I threw caution to the wind. I should have known better. See the second gap? You guessed it, stress fracture #2. Devastating and ultimately caused me to not be able to run the NY marathon. I raised over $3,000 for St. Jude, so not all was lost. But not being able to cross that finish line to celebrate my fundraising efforts really hurt. This time, I swore to myself it would be different. My goal coming back from this injury was to listen to my body. This time, I didn’t jump from 10 miles in one month to 30 the next month like I had in May to June 2015 or go from 11 miles in April 2016 to 37 miles in May 2016. Or even from 23 miles in December 2014 to 93 miles in January 2015. Reaching those jumps in mileage makes me cringe. I cannot continue this cycle! So, I kept it slow. Since January, my mileage has only increased by a few miles each month. For 7 months, I’ve slowly been building. The 2nd longest streak of months with consistent increase of miles & training? 5! This is my transformation. I think *knock on wood* I’ve finally got this figured out. I listen to my body better and take rest days when I feel I need them. Some transformations are physical or a number on the scale, but mine is brought to you by data. Data that I created through blood, sweat and tears. xoxo, RunWilk
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