My Mileage May Vary
(Just take me to the damn logs.)
Not that I think anyone will look through all this stuff, but for bored officeworkers and others, here are year-by-year recaps of my training and racing from when I was kinda half-decently okay. I suppose I'll eventually get around to more recent years, when the only reason to read such stuff would be for the potential how-not-to-do-it lessons.
Although I've been running since March 1, 1979, and began keeping a log sometime the following year, my extant records date only to Oct. 30, 1988. A week before that, I moved back in with my parents after dropping out of a Ph.D. program. During a particularly melodramatic afternoon, I threw out three large garbage cans full of collected mementos, my training logs included. To this day, they're the only things I've ever regretted discarding.
I'm posting these mainly to provide what should be unneeded evidence of the value of mileage. Not that I ever ran high, high mileage for years on end—I averaged 73 miles per week in the 90s—but here's one person's proof that a decent amount of consistency will help get you closer to your potential. That's another way of saying that I know tons of people whose PRs should be better than mine, but because they got tired during an 80-mile week back in the Eisenhower administration, they've convinced themselves that topping out at 60 per week is the best way to reach their goals.
Below are my PRs upon graduation from high school and college, plus my lifetime best. I offer the two earlier versions to show that, despite running more than my scholastic contemporaries, I sucked. (And at the extremes, I have always sucked.) But I briefly got pretty good by plugging away. So can you.
High School
(Graduated in 1982)College
(Graduated in 1986)Life
(Year achieved below)200 meters Probably 32.something Probably 31.something 30.2 (1990) 400 meters No faster than 65 61.9 61.9 (1983) 800 meters/Half mile 2:19 (800) 2:13 (half mile) 2:06.6 (half mile, 1989) Mile or equivalent 4:47 (1600 meters) 4:40 (mile) 4:11.1 (1500 meters, 1990) 2 miles or equivalent 10:16 (3200 meters) 9:55 (3200 meters) 9:31 (2 miles, 1992) 5K ? 16:00 (track) 14:57 road (1992)/15:04 track (1991) 5 miles I know I broke 28:00 senior year 25:high 24:35 (1992) 10K (all road) 34:high 31:58 30:48 (1992) 10 miles 59:mid 55:15 51:01 (1992) Half marathon 1:18:mid 1:13:low 1:08:40 (1991) 20 miles 2:05 1:54:40 1:52:36 (1991) Marathon 2:49:55 2:43:46 2:43:46 (alas, 1984) Biggest Week 88 101 186 (2000)