2019 Training Review and BB100

I’m a month early in reviewing 2019’s training, but since I’m now starting a taper for my final race of the year, it’s time!

I ended 2018 having logged the fewest miles I’d ever run in a calendar year, since taking up this sport.  But I’d also just turned 40, and used the milestone birthday to turn the tide.

As I prepare to run the Brazos Bend 100 on December 7th, here is my final moving average chart.


2019

The blue line looks back 13 weeks, and is a bit volatile - I think what it best reflects is that, week-to-week, it’s really hard to be consistent and motivated for an entire year!  I don’t think I missed a single run in the first 3 months of 2019, so that’s where it peaks (minus that one time I ran 200 miles in a weekend!).  I’m ending up at only 56.7 miles/week for the most recent 3 months; some of that low number is a slow recovery from Bigfoot, some is time off for a nagging Achilles, and some is just lack of motivation!

The green line looks back 26 weeks, or ~6 months.  It peaked halfway through the year, as I was more dedicated January through June, averaging ~71 miles per week for the first half of 2019.  Now, I’m at 62.6 for the most recent 26 weeks.  That decline probably can’t all be blamed on my slow Bigfoot recovery - I just lost some steam this second half of the year.  While it’s not ideal, 62 is ok for that metric - I can definitely race any distance from here; getting to 70 would be optimal, but probably more of a mental boost than a physiological boost.

The red line, of course, makes me happiest.  It means that in the past 1 year, through all ups and downs, I still averaged 64 miles/week.  It’s the hardest line to move (took 11 months to move it from 35 to 64), and represents what is probably most important in distance / ultra running- general consistency over time.  I’m on track to run ~3400 miles for 2019, which would be right up there with my biggest years ever.

For the Brazos Bend 100  which is also the 100-mile-trail National Championship in 2019, my main goal is to qualify for the Desert Solstice Invitational to run the 24-hour race, around this time next year.  So for the first time ever in a trail race, I’ll probably be racing the clock more than my competitors.  Fingers crossed for cold, dry weather, but this is Houston we’re talking about..

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