2009 in review

After dealing with the issues on the Nike Running log I have been using for 7 years, I was able to finally look over and log the rest of my 2009 runs this evening.
The final total mileage for 2009 was 3895.33 with 29 missed days of running. I usually run 10-13 miles each day so if I would have run those days I would have been well over 4000 miles for the year.
Monthly mileage average was 324.61 miles. Weekly average was about 74.91 miles a week.
I had a few setbacks early in the year that caused me to miss some time mainly in March. I came down with some really nasty case of a cold and had to take a full week off from running. Another setback for me started in late May when I decided to run a minimum of 80 miles a week for 12 weeks. I peaked at 96 miles and really felt that 12 weeks of running like I did really caused my speed to decline and my racing ability to also decline. I have learned that my magic number for mileage is about 80-85 miles a week of quality, hard running. I was doing a lot of junk miles and just felt slow and stagnant.
Racing wise, 2009 was a mixed bag. I ran 21 races and had some good and bad ones. I really can’t point at one specific race and say that it was better than my other ones. I again did some mile races this year which I really have enjoyed doing. I had 10 wins, 6 second place finishes, 1 third place finish, 2 fourth place finishes, one fifth place finish, one seventh place finish at my first ever duathlon and my worst finish of the year coming at the Pearl Street mile in a disappointing 8th place. One of the best races that I happened to remember was the November Nielson Challenge. Andy Rinne and I put together a challenge to see if we could get some guys together to finally break the 10 min barrier. Robby Young, Ryan Hafer and I did that and we are the only ones to have ever gone under 10 minutes for the 2 mile course.
I really don’t know how to look at the year in the grand scheme of things. I had high and low points and really felt that I didn’t get to race enough “big time” races. I am getting to that point in my life where I will not be running fast and need to find a sea level race in the next 2 years and see what I can do. I also need to be in top shape to do this. I would like to run the Desert Morning News 10k in Utah this year if everything works out. I think I could run in the 29’s there. I need to keep things more consistent this year and work on staying closer to 80 miles a week. I think 29 days of missed running is a lot, but already I have missed 2 this year! Just not enough time in the day with student teaching and capstone to attend. When I miss a day I ride some on the exercise bike to keep in top racing condition.
I hope that in 2010 I can possibly find a team to race for and continue to work towards meeting my running goals. First race of 2010 will be the Cross Country race in Boulder on the 24th of this month.