I first began to run on January 16th, 2016. I know the exact date because it was it in the high 60’s, and a neighborhood bar I ran past had the Packers NFC Championship game on. Google did the rest.
That was four and a half years ago, and I’ve been running ever since.
In that time, I’ve done two main things to develop the habit:
- Run in the mornings, before I can talk myself out of it
- Sign up for races that hold me to a fixed training schedule
Beyond that, I’ve let the habit develop on its own. I don’t have any strict rules – I don’t run everyday, or run at a certain pace – but I do ensure that it always feels fun. If running becomes a drag, then it’s no longer worth doing. At least that’s how the thinking goes.
Over those four and a half years I’ve developed a lot of narratives around my running. Sometimes I think I’m barely running at all. Other times I think I’m particularly fast, or particularly slow. Sometimes I feel lazy and other times I feel like a hardo.
Fortunately, as anyone who’s been in my bedroom will know, I have been tracking my running on wall calendars since 2018, which looks like this:
This means I have two and a half years of daily running data to play around with, which I’ve summarized below. This isn’t to gloat (my mile times are average for my body type and naturally low heart rate) but instead to show that consistent habits produce consistent results.
This is the first time I’ve looked at the data sequentially, and it’s clear that my internal narrative is disconnected from reality. My volume isn’t down this year, as I had thought, but is on track to exceed my previous two year mileage totals. I’ve increased my daily average distance, and my pace has stayed roughly the same throughout. There are some pretty clear trends here, as well as relatively consistent practices.
But here’s the thing: Digging through the file, you’d see that the day-to-day is extremely messy. Some weeks I run seven days in a row; others I skip out on entirely. Sometimes my paces are lethargic, other times they’re snappy. During some periods I switch over to biking, only to give it up after a few days.
With my running, as with anything, it is easy to get caught up in individual moments – “I’ve been so slow lately,” or “I’ve been so lazy.” But that’s almost never the full story. And even if it is, consistent practices produce consistent results. I run the most in the spring and early fall, and the least in the month after a big race, or in November. My pace fluctuates by day, but is basically in the high seven, low eight minute range, pulled in either direction by fast treadmill runs and slow trail runs. I’m very slowly increasing my overall mileage, a natural result of building up endurance and the mental tolerance to run long distances.
This all makes me think: Where else am I missing the big picture? It can be hard to take a bird’s eye view, but often I think the larger story can’t be captured in the details. Maybe you feel a coworker has been disrespecting you, or that you’re not calling your parents enough. Maybe you think you’ve been a bad friend. Take the time, in those moments, to reflect on the data. Whether it’s in an excel spreadsheet or memories in your head, there is a reality out there that doesn’t always correlate with what we tell ourselves.
Question your internal narratives. There may be trends you’re missing.