I hit 30,000 lifetime running miles a couple weeks back. More specifically, 30k from when my current training log started back in 2012. I had done some (undocumented) running before that, however guess it was quite a bit less than 1,000 total so we can ignore those miles for the sake of simplicity.
- 10,000 miles – 2,050 days
- 20,000 miles – 3,572 days
- 30,000 miles – 4,954 days
The math whizzes will notice that it’s taking me fewer and fewer days to cross each 10k threshold. From 2,050 days to 1,522 to only 1,382 days for the last 10K. This translates to round annual mileage of 1,800 per year to 2,300 for the second 10K to about 2,700. I’m now running north of 3,000 miles a year so I would guess the next 10,000 miles will take me even fewer days to reach.
I’ve managed to do this without incurring any injuries. Or maybe it’s more correct to say that I’ve been able to accumulate all these miles because I haven’t been injured. I believe the secret to my success has been super low intensity training. As in every day low intensity. I’m talking walking the hills on all of my runs whether it’s a 20 mile long run or a random weekday 5. One of my mottos is Speed Kills so workouts is a four letter word in my dictionary. Am I ignoring easy fitness gains? Oh, most assuredly. I have no doubt that I could quickly drop my 5K or marathon times by 10-20% if I spent a month or two ramping up my intensity a couple times per week. And this is something I may end up doing at some point. But while I spend a lot of time analyzing my paces, this is for academic or informational purposes only. I’m not interested in shaving time off my paces. This was a focus early on in my running journey, however it did not lead to happiness or enjoyment. For me, it’s all about the distances covered rather than the time it takes to cover them. Having a good time more so than having a good time if you catch my meaning.