As we reach the end of 2007 - my first full 12 months of serious running I can look back and see what I did over the past 12 months (btw, Sharon has done a similar ‘summary’ of her year)…
My total mileage was just over 1320, with an average weekly mileage of 25.5. Now, this average isn’t a true representation as I had a few months with low mileage at the start of the year. Here’s a month by month breakdown:
- Jan:31, Feb:53, Mar:97, Apr:127, May:124, Jun:90, Jul:130, Aug:163, Sep:138, Oct:118, Nov:109, Dec:141.
At the start of the year I was suffering pain in my hip, which was resolved by going to a decent physio (and not just the sort that want to throw ultrasound at everything or try and operate!) who actually looked at my movement, mobility. June was a low month because we were on holiday for a couple of weeks, and although I did run around 40 miles in the two weeks, I did plenty of cycling and sailing - good cross training.
The peak in August can be explained by the “holiday” to Club La Santa in Lanzarote. I then cut down my mileage in October/November because of more aches and pains and stepped it up again in December, where we leave this year and head into 2008. I aim to have a weekly mileage of 30-40 miles which is about as much as I can handle right now.
Now, races… and there’s over 80 of them! I believe I ran 40 x Bushy Park Time Trials (I must add not racing them every time), 3 x Richmond Park Time Trials, 6 x 10k’s (Chichester, Sutton, Bognor, Elmbridge, Lanzarote and Brighton), 3 x 10 miles (Thames Towpath Ten, Dorking and Cabbage Patch 10) and 3 x half marathons (Richmond, Lanzarote and Bedford). A few other road races were held with the main ones being:
04 Feb: Chichester 10k (43:32) 15 Apr: Thames Towpath 10m (67:36) 06 May: Sutton 10k (39:45) 13 May: Richmond Half Marathon 13.1m (89:08) 20 May: Bognor 10k (39:27) 03 Jun: Dorking 10m (68:29) 01 Jul: Harry Hawkes 8m (52:53) 15 Jul: Elmbridge 10k (38:57) 27 Jul: ‘Wedding Day’ 7k (27:03) 12 Aug: Belgrave 5k (18:15) 18 Aug: Club La Santa 10k (39:28) 21 Aug: Club La Santa Half Marathon 13.1m (91:24) 08 Sep: Surrey Road Relay 2.9m (17:35) 14 Oct: Cabbage Patch 10m (63:08) 18 Nov: Brighton 10k (39:22) 09 Dec: Bedford Half Marathon 13.1m (87:42) 26 Dec: Cabbage Patch 4 (23:08)
On top of these road races, there were a few cross country races as well - many of which held in the beautiful Richmond Park. We’re so fortunate to live only three miles away from this place.
In addition to these running only events, throw in an aquathlon, duathlon, and a few triathlons and this has certainly kept me busy!
Hmn, high’s and lows race wise…. I love the Bognor 10k - partly because my parents live near the town and because I know the course really well having grown up in the part of the country. Seeing lots of people you know cheering you on certainly helps and I got a 10k personal best time here (which I bettered a few weeks later). The worst has to be the Cabbage Patch 10 race in October - although I got a great time, I ran the race badly and did not enjoy being overtaken by so many people in the second half. I made amends in the Bedford Half Marathon a few weeks later and had a much better run then and ended the year with a half marathon personal best.
Prizes…. I’ve yet to win any prizes (unlike Sharon who’s doing brilliantly) although the nearest I got was 3rd place in the Cabbage Patch 4 race held just after Christmas. This is right up there as one of my top races and I was really pleased with my run and position that day.
Looking forward to 2008 I have a couple of big races planned that require lots of training and I’ll write about them soon…