I wrote back in August about the power of data in producing consistent running habits. I was particularly interested in the disconnect between the perception about my running in 2020 – I’m running far less than I usually do – and the reality, which was quite clearly the opposite. I was writing at the end of the summer, but I went on to surpass my total mileage total from any previous year by almost 300 miles. It was a good example of how misleading our minds can be when we’re stuck in the present.
I’ve refreshed that tracking as we move into 2021, and I’ve added a simple column for each year: a count of the number of runs I did. Because in the case of how many times I’m running, instead of pure volume, I give myself much more credit than I deserve. I imagine myself taking, at most, one rest day per week, but until last year I was averaging much more than that. In 2018 and 2019 I ran two out of three days! Way less than I had thought.
See below for the numbers:
Tracking too much of anything can become compulsive, and probably dangerous, but at reasonable levels it’s a great tool for measuring progress and reality. Numbers don’t lie, as much as you’d like them to.
Here’s another example:
I have an impossible time developing any sort of consistent workout routine beyond running. Right now I’m doing 75 kettlebell swings, three times a week, and then trying for somewhere between 50 and 100 pushups every day. As you can see from the crude tracker I have taped to my desk, I’m not doing a great job at that second one. Half the days I’m not doing any pushups at all, despite the fact that I spend most of my day at my desk and the tracker stares back at me the whole time.
Without the tracker, however, I’d think I was doing something every day. The mind is funny that way. Even looking at it now I’m confused how I went from February 18th to the 21st without doing a single pushup. It certainly didn’t feel that way.