Posted by Nearly five weeks ago, I ran an uneventful 3.6 miles on a gusty Wednesday, Dec 30, 2020, following a rest day. I’ve run every day since.
Today is Sunday, January 31. There’s several inches of snow on the ground here in the DC area. I just finished up my latest Sunday long run, which makes 33 consecutive days of at least 3 miles a day. More than any stretch I’ve done before. Most of my runs have been pretty easy, ranging from a quick jog around the neighborhood up to a moderate Zone 2 effort along the C&O Canal Towpath.
Why? My friend, star triathlete, and IM Florida 2017 champion, Elyse Gallegos, once told me her secret: Run every day for 25 min. Coach Robbie preaches consistency over big workouts and rarely schedules days off from training. Lately, I’ve been looking for a way to improve my performance and thought this could be a way there. Mostly I’m just trying to be like Elyse.
How did I set my mind to it? I started by trying to running every day for a week. Once I accomplished that, I tried it again. Now we’re at over four weeks and counting.
Was it difficult? Not really. To be fair, I was in a good place to do this. I’ve been training continuously for the past four years. My home life is relatively stable after a tumultuous 2020. This past fall, I’d been running consistently 4 to 5 times per week. I’ve been lucky to stay injury free though I deal with joint soreness and back stiffness per usual. I wouldn’t recommend going from couch to every day though.
Has it been worth it? Yes. First and foremost, it’s something I can be proud of. This is positive reinforcement which I wrote about this yesterday in Feedback Loops. It gives me momentum to build on given I don’t stretch too far beyond my limits and remain injury free.
Am I faster? Too soon to tell, but probably not yet. More than anything, I feel stronger. I have noticed, at least anecdotally, that starting and finishing my runs feels easier. This despite not having given myself a proper break to recover and allow my body heal and rebuild fully. It may take some time for me to reap the benefits of this work.
I’m interested to keep this going in February. Let’s see if I can do it. But I won’t get ahead of myself.
Out and Back 