My wife had dinner with her girlfriends the other night and was telling them how I was celebrating my one year anniversary of my juggling and running streak. They were floored.
“What does he do when there’s bad weather?” they asked.
“He runs,” she responded.
“How about when he’s sick?”
“He runs.”
“And when he doesn’t feel like it?”
“Still runs.”
Then they ask, “Where does he find the time?”
To which my wife replied, “It really doesn’t take that much time.”
She’s right. A quick look at my stats shows it only requires 31 minutes a day.
Running Streak Stats
Streak began: 11/18/2008
After 1 year…
Miles = 1382
Avg per day = 3.79 miles
Time = 183 hours, 45 min
Avg per day = 30 min
Average speed = 7:58 / mile
Longest run (time) = 4:07:43
Shortest run (time) = 11:35
Longest run (dist) = 26.2 mi
Shortest run (dist) = 1.3 mi
Highest weight = 202 lb
Lowest weight = 188 lb
Average = 193 lb
Finished reading 9 books including…
Red Badge of Courage
In Defense of Food
Atlas Shrugged
Moby Dick
This I Believe
Of Mice and Men
I am America
Marry Shelley’s Frankenstein
Brave New World
Tips for keeping a running streak going
But enough about the details of the streak, how about tips on how you do it. Here are some of the things I’ve learned that can keep you going.
1. Set a goal – My goal for the streak is 1001 days. But smaller goals like 60 days or 30 days work too.
2. Write down your progress every day – Before you start, set up a system for tracking your miles / workouts. I use a spreadsheet like this one.
3. Plan your runs – While you don’t have to know exactly when you’re going to run, you should think about it in the morning and have a vague idea. This is especially important on days when you get out of your normal routine such as when you travel.
4. Put on your running clothes – If you feel unmotivated, just change into your running clothes anyway. Walk around in them. Go outside and start walking. Soon, you’ll be running.
5. Take “break” days – No need to run 10 miles every day. You need days to recover and running for only 1 mile is the minimum. My personal minimum is 1.5 miles.
6. Tell people about your goal – When you tell people about your goals it helps motivate you not to let them down because you know they’ll ask you about it the next time they see you. But use this one with caution. You don’t want to bore people by talking about yourself too much.
7. Listen to a book – A good book can grab your interest and make you want to know how it will turn out. If you only listen to the book while you run, it’ll give you extra motivation. This can be better than music because you’ll continually want to know what happens next.
8. Try a new route – You can get burned out running the same routes every day. So, mix it up. Take a different path.
9. Run with a purpose – Sometimes you just don’t feel like doing a formal workout. That’s ok, make your run have a point. For example, run to the store or the post office or the bank. You could even walk home if you like.
10. Schedule a race – Nothing gives your running more purpose than having to train for an upcoming race. Make it a 5K or a 10K if you don’t feel like running a marathon.
There you have it.
Do you have tips that keep you running every day? Leave some suggestions below.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Great tips and I think I have used just about all of them over the last year!
I turn on my running playlist, crank it up, put my hair into a ponytail… and I’m out the door!! Seriously, music is my secret. I procrastinated when I trained for my first marathon in 2000. It would be 10:00 p.m. and I still hadn’t done my run for the day…. Ugh! I didn’t have an ipod then. Now I do. Three years of playlist bliss. Before that, believe it or not, I carried cds in a discman. Thank God for technology! It makes my running *so* much more fun! The louder, the nastier, the faster, the better I run! And once in a while, I listen to classical or chanting–if they’re emotion evoking. That’s the key. It’s gotta pump me up!
@Michelle – do you listen to music during races? I generally do listen to something while I’m doing a race but the last one I went headphone-free. I know it would’ve been nice to have something around mile 11-13 and miles 15-18 where the crowd support in the Philly marathon was minimal.