Can I Run Every Single Day For A Year?

• Posted: June 30, 2008
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• Author: Shéamus
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• Filed under: Workouts
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• Tags: 30 Minute Days

This is the first post on iRun365.com. For more background information about what this blog is all about, who the author is, the location of the posts about days 1-28 and what in blue blazes is going on around here, please read The Challenge.

Today I ran a fairly brisk 30 minutes. It was very hot, certainly for England - probably around 25C, and two or three degrees hotter out of the shade. The wind remains pretty strong, but it’s not as fierce as it was last week.

Currently, I am running a fixed loop route that starts about 30 seconds from my house, goes alongside the promenade on the beach to my Alli Drive-a-like turnaround point, back along the promenade to another turnaround point, and then back to where I started. All-told, according to Google Maps it’s about 4 miles, but that seems a little generous to me as I don’t think I’m clipping off 7:30s quite yet. I’m conservatively estimating I’m running about 8min/mile at the moment, so that means my 30-minute route is about 3.75 miles.

This is my second week of 30-minute runs. I’ve built up to this point in the last four weeks fairly slowly:

Week #1 - Seven days of 20 minute runs
Week #2 - Seven days of 22 minute runs
Week #3 - Seven days of 25 minute runs
Week #4 - Seven days of 30 minute runs

This is week #5. I’ll do another seven days of 30-minute runs, and then raise my total time to 40 minutes next week (i.e., week #6). I will then maintain that for four consecutive weeks before looking to raise it to one hour (60-minutes each day) starting on week #10. I figure that’s a big enough base to move up at that point.

My goal is to be averaging one hour per day from that point forward. The key word there is average - I plan to break it up a bit by having a longer ‘Sunday run’ and possible a couple of 30-45 minute runs over the course of the week. This will both keep it interesting and allow my body to recover.

Thus far, I’ve logged 709 minutes, or 7 hours 49 minutes. Assuming an 8-minute mile, this equates to approximately 88.6 miles in the bag. Looking to the year ahead, this is how it should all work out numerically:

That total mile number looks a little scary right now.

I’ve taken some liberties here, assuming my pace will improve at week #6 and week #10. I’m comfortable with the idea of a 7:30/mile pace as this equates to a marathon time of less than three hours and thirty minutes - breaking that is a personal goal, certainly the first time out.

This number is certainly not fixed in stone - as said in The Challenge, the goal here is to log a minimum of 20 minutes each and every day of the year. Ideally I’d like to be averaging 60 mins/day from week ten onwards, through week 52, but it pays to be realistic. Some days I’m going to struggle to squeeze in a 20-minute run; others, I might run for 90-120 minutes, and we haven’t factored in race days at all.

I will be buying a Garmin Forerunner 50 watch soon, which will enable me to more accurately track my workouts. Expect lots (and lots) of detailed statistics as soon as that arrives.

Each new week, incidentally, starts on a Monday.

Things should, hopefully, run pretty smoothly until August 1 - the tail-end of week #9 - because on that day I fly to Mississippi for a three-week family holiday. I love the States, and I love to eat, but that’s a dangerous combination for this dedicated runner. Even the morning of the flight itself presents a potential pitfall - I’ve already assumed I’m going to have to get up very early indeed, pre-flight, to get my run in for the day, as I imagine I’m going to be far too exhausted and jet-lagged once we’ve landed in MS. Those three weeks are going to be a challenge, and one that is going to involve lots of careful planning on my part.

Day 30 comes up tomorrow. Can’t wait!

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