2012, that's a wrap

Getting the numbers out the way first:

In 2012 I ran 2712 miles.

This works out at a weekly average of a fraction over 52 miles (84km).

(For comparison in 2011 I managed 3183 miles for an average of 61 mpw).

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The lower mileage this year was not a conscious decision, but one that was made vaguely early on and stored in the back of my mind.

 

Running is not a linear progression consisting of more miles and faster times year on year. It is more like a series of efforts interspersed with rests. This applies on a micro level, day by day, and scales up nicely to apply to week on week, month on month and year on year.

 

After 2011, which had been a big jump from 2010 (47 to 61 mpw), I felt consolidation was needed in 2013, rather than trying to continue to forge ahead. I decided to focus on improving the quality of the mileage rather than pushing out big numbers for the sake of a nicely shaped graph. In a sense I guess you could say 2012 was a recovery year after 2011.

 

Did I achieve this? I feel like I did and I am satisfied with the year. In terms of cold, hard, reportable facts I don’t have a glut of personal bests to show for 2012.

 

The synchronization between fitness and races wasn’t quite aligned this year for whatever reason, and I had periods of top fitness with no race results to show for it. Conversely I had lots of races where I arrived, again, for a variety of reasons in less than ideal shape. Some would say that is how running goes. And they’d be right. This is one of the many unique aspects that make our sport great. Getting yourself into shape at the right time is a combination of science, art, and experience. I intend to work on that in 2013. An easy first step would be to schedule in more frequent racing, which I plan on doing.

 

 

 

Races

I recorded two Personal Bests in 2012.

Both PBs were in the first quarter of the year. The first was the Droitwich Half Marathon, where I had no intention of chasing a time but was aiming for a controlled hard effort. Funny how these things work out. Anyway I felt great and managed to take 10 seconds off my PB with a 77:26.

 

The second PB came in April where, in unseasonable conditions (cold and rainy); I ran 4hr14 at the Two Oceans Ultramarathon (56km) in Cape Town. I was targeting a silver medal (given to all finishers under 4 hours) and was on course for the first third of the race. I went through halfway in 1hr56 which may sound right for a 4hr00 target but the second half of the race is incredibly hilly and more time is needed in the bag before hitting the big climbs. Still, I’m pleased with the 4hr14 which takes 3 minutes off my time from 2011.

 

That was it as far as personal bests went in 2012. The best times I achieved in each race distance for the year are below.

 

2012 Best times:-

Distance	Time	Date	Race	Notes
1500m	4:35	30 May	BMC 1500m
3000m	9:43	11 July	Birmingham Uni Open
5km	16:41	15 September	Cannon Hill parkrun
10km	36:34	9 September	Lichfield 10k	Total Rubbish! I ran 35 minutes a number of times in solo time trials. But races are what count.
13.1 miles	1:17:26	4 March	Droitwich Half Marathon	PB by 10 seconds
20 miles	2:09:10	18 March	Ashby 20 Mile Road Race	Not a race effort. Trying to practice target marathon pace.
56km	4:14:26	7 April	Two Oceans Ultramarathon	PB by 3 minutes
Non Standard Distances
3 miles	16:39	12 May	National Masters Road Relays
5.1km	16:54	13 October	National Six Stage Road Relays
6 miles	34:52	31 July	Roon the Watter, Scotland	Won the race

 

The most surprising result was the half because, as mentioned above, I hadn’t gone in with the intention of racing.

 

The best race performance was probably the National Six Stage. 16:54 for 5.1k is pretty much as fast as it gets for me and was one of the few occasions this year when my fitness aligned with a race.

 

Thanks to everyone who was around to support (and share) the racing and training experiences. Many miles, many hours logged on the road, track and mud, and much nonsense talked.

 

As always, a special mention to my incredible better half, Bec, and our two girls who support me 100%.

 

Ok. With that, 2012 is out of the way. Enjoy all 2013 brings.

 

Keep running dudes.

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