Monthly (and yearly) mileage, a lecture

With the recently completed calendar year, for the first time in more than a decade I have taken stock of my “training” – I use “training” in quotes, because the majority of that training consisted of walking. And I’m not a particularly fast walker – on average, about 3.5 miles per hour. That’s not a leisurely stroll, but it’s also not a purposeful power walk. It’s basically … what I do. During the pandemic, I started keeping track of my walking mileage, thanks to a rather outdated but still functioning Garmin watch. I had a lot more time on my hands than normal. I walked a LOT. And yes, if you follow me on Strava, you know that I still do a little bit of running as well – usually about three times per week. Add it all up (Garmin’s pretty good that way) and I logged more than 2,000 miles. On Garmin-tracked walks and runs, the total was 2,087. Add in another 100 or so miles on the treadmill (where I don’t use the Garmin watch) and on the Square Track in McCann (before the pandemic, I was regularly doing two-hour walks in the predawn darkness in there), also where my watch is pretty much useless, and the total is probably around 2,200 miles. This is merely informational. I walked. A lot. And ran about the same as most years, maybe a little more if you consider longish weekend runs that were usually not part of my routine until recently.

So, it got me to thinking about my old-runner self, when I obsessively logged my miles and even more obsessively had running streaks – the longest of which stretched a mind-numbing 13.25 years. Back in the day, especially the early years of my running streaks, I tried to average between 150-200 miles a month, with a yearly goal of at least 2,000 miles. This got me to thinking about an often overlooked, but extremely important, metric in a sport that is cluttered with them. Actually, two metrics: Monthly mileage and yearly mileage. But mostly, monthly mileage. Again. Like most things these days, there is a glut of information. Information overload, you could say. There’s a lot of noise out there, and sometimes you have to sift through for the signals. It’s rare for me to do a lecture-like coaching post, but allow me to do just that today. Today’s sermon is directed at all distance runners – but specifically those post-collegians out there still “chasing it,” aiming for fast marathon times or really at any other distance. Here’s my message: Start paying attention to your monthly mileage, which in turn will lead to your yearly mileage. All the noise out there is centered around weekly mileage. Weekly mileage boils down to a random assemblage of seven consecutive days; it’s a useful but somewhat limited metric. Monthly mileage is better at tracking trends and makes you more accountable to keep going, even on days and weeks when you just don’t feel like it.

What’s the best workout to do? How much core should I be doing? What about lifting? Body weight exercises? What type of shoes should I switch to, should I buy? Lightweight trainers for workouts? What kind of workouts are the top runners doing; maybe I should incorporate that? Should I be doing VO2Max, fartlek, tempo, long runs? Should I start a keto diet or intermittent fasting or go paleo? What about yoga, Pilates, dynamic stretching, drills, planks, pushups, pullups, OrangeTheory, spin class … on and on and on! Now, you might snicker at me: Old man is bitter, old man has lost his mind. No, and no. Most of the items mentioned in this paragraph are important, can be important, or can be worked into your overall training regimen. My 10-page training manifesto, after all, is titled “The Little Things” … so I get it and I believe in a holistic approach to training. But I sometimes send snarky texts to our 20-something alums who are out there planning time trials, workouts, hard tempos – or my personal pet peeve: getting on the TRACK for God’s sake, when their goal is to run a fast marathon. And you know what I tell them? Again, in a snarky way? Just run more. How about a few 70-mile weeks already? What you do within them, or when you are not running, your fancy Strava segments … I don’t care. Just run more.

So again, to that cohort: Start focusing on your monthly mileage. All the other stuff in the previous paragraph? Do some of it, whatever you think makes you better. But! If you are training for a half marathon, marathon or other race of length, let nothing get in the way of your monthly mileage. All that other stuff, while important, is supplemental. Your monthly mileage should be front and center. Aim for 200 miles per month at a minimum. If you are in a build-up phase, maybe even 250 or 300 miles per month, maybe more. Even in your “down” phases, aim for 150-200 miles per month. Avoid lengthy breaks from training. You need to be powering through your running shoes at an alarming rate. You want to run fast marathons? You need to run a lot, for many months and many years. Ask Elizabeth Wasserman. You know her, our Fast Forever Fox who made it to the 2020 Olympic Trials in the marathon. Elizabeth did high mileage when she was at Marist, usually the longest long runs and the longest tempo workouts. But all those damn seasons and races got in her way, cluttered up her weeks for what she really needed and craved. After she graduated, she graduated all right … to 100-mile weeks. Hard, long weeks of training. Please note that Elizabeth made this a self-discovery. We are not taking any credit for her miraculous ascent in our sport. And it really wasn’t miraculous. It’s about as tedious as the slow, methodical erosion of the rubber at the bottom of your Hokas or whatever sneakers you wear. Monthly mileage. Grind it out. Month by month, year by year. Next time you feel a hankering to head to the track and relive those workouts we used to do at Vassar or at Spackenkill … go ahead and do it if you must, but not at the expense of the grind. End of lecture. Now go run.