Consistency

There is something to be said for consistency. I just don't know what. I'll let you know when I find out.

I ran nearly every day in February, March,, April, and now early May. I think the only days I have taken off were ones that required a great deal of traveling. I used to make it a point to take one or two days off per week. Then came my year-long running streak, which was followed by (but surely not related to) my Achilles surgery. Now, I'm back at it.

This is not to say that I don't have some easy days. I do. Lots of them, and they are very easy. After finishing last week with a flurry of miles, I can guess that tomorrow will be such a day.

A flurry of mileage to complete the week? Yes, and I made it to 60 weekly miles for the first time in a year. It's hard to believe that I used to be consistent about doing 60, 70, and more miles each and every week. It was really hard to get back to this level, and the reason also has to do with consistency.

You see, I am still not doing long runs. I define a long run as 18 miles, and nowadays I can only make it up to 12. Twelve is itself an improvement since it wasn't long ago that the most I could do is ten. But without 18-20 milers, I used to consistently do a long run a week. But no longer. Now, I have to be all the more consistent with my medium-length runs and with not missing any days.

I am going to try to keep my weekly mileage up here consistently for at least a while. And I'm also going to try to get back to doing long runs. Consistently.

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