At the end of 2018, I began thinking about increasing my running mileage safely.
During the years 2017 & 2018 I completed 1055 and 1001 miles, respectively.
It's been a long road back from the issues with Lyme Disease and a Brain Tumor. These totals were a far cry from my best running years, but pretty awesome considering some of the yearly totals between 2010 and 2017.
I wanted to run more distance, and somehow manage to avoid injury.
A few running friends mentioned that runner's were setting a goal of 2020 miles for the year 2020. That would be way too much for me, especially when considering my injury history.
I decided, or hoped, to cover increases in running mileage over a five-year period, coving the years 2019 through 2023. This would be my age 56 through 60 years.
If I was struggling with injuries, and basically getting to 1000-miles per year, I needed to be sensible. I also knew that I wasn't going to get near 2020-miles in a single year anytime soon, or at all possibly.
I came up with the following plan, contingent on staying very healthy and not missing large gaps of running time:
- 2019 - Running at Age 56 up until December Birthdate - - 1200-miles
- 2020 - Running at Age 57 up until December Birthdate - - 1275-miles
- 2021 - Running at Age 58 up until December Birthdate - - 1350-miles
- 2022 - Running at Age 59 up until December Birthdate - - 1425-miles
- 2023 - Running at Age 60 up until December Birthdate - - 1500-miles
I couldn't increase too much too soon, I needed to ramp-up gradually over several years. 1500-miles seemed like a nice, round, goal. Especially to do it during my age 60 running year.
So, here I am approaching the middle of the five-year plan. I have accomplished the following for the first two-years:
- 2019 - 1200-Miles
- 2020 - 1300-Miles
While I had some difficulty in 2019 with injury, 2020 went much better.
Missed Time in 2019:
- most of 3.5 weeks when the basement flooded (January 24th - February 14th)
- pretty much 2 weeks with the calf muscle issue #1 (April 10th - April 24th)
- almost a full month with the calf muscle issue #2 (June 1st - early July)
Missed Time in 2020:
- Only 6-Miles during the week of February 10th thru 16th (Flu / Fever)
- Short 12.4-Miles during the week of February 17th thru 23rd (Flu, lingering symptoms)
All being said, I have Hope, and some confidence, that I can continue working my miles upward.