Streak

I follow a large number of people on Instagram and Facebook who have running streaks that span years.  One guy just had his second year anniversary of running at least three miles per day!  Man.  Three miles per day?  For two years?  Seriously.  That’s dedication!  And it’s just the kind of dedicated challenge that I like to give myself.  I keep thinking about my own streak, because you know as soon as I saw those other guys I wanted to go streaking myself!  I was sad that I failed to think of this plan in February as I thought the shortest month would be the month with the highest chance of successfully hitting my streak….  So this is what I’ve been thinking:

  • I want to have my own running streak.
  • I think I’ll start with a weeklong streak and see how that feels both for distance and consistency.
  • I think that I need to fulfill a two mile per day running minimum.  I can run more but not less.  Decent distance means something to me for the streak.  Two miles seems short, but with daily running I’m not sure I could endure too much more if I’m also planning on running further distances on the weekends for training purposes.
  • I’d like my official streak to last for an entire month.
  • Summer will work best since my Zumba crew will be more difficult to wrangle when school is out.
  • Eventually I’d like my streak to be about three miles per day.
  • I usually earn 3 miles each Zumba session…  Should I count Zumba as a ‘run’ or should I run a mile or two on top of that?

I think running daily would give me that strength of character that I always like to see evidence of in myself.  I have a tendency to think of myself in not the best light and having proof like this is definitely helpful.  I think running that far, daily, would show me that I’m capable of more an I realize.  I also think that daily running would do a lot for me, training-wise and I’d build a lot of endurance.

  
But then today happened.  And I know, we all have off days, but this was a tough one!  I don’t know what my problem was, but all the way around the loop, every one of those 27 minutes was awful.  I was pulling air like a beginner runner, my shins were tight, my calves were tight…  It was just not that great.  I could have sworn that Bradley was pulling me into running sub-ten minute miles with his fast pace, but when I looked at my timing I was running much, much slower.  Anyhow, I suppose that comes from taking those two weeks off and losing a little bit of my training.  Ah well, it’ll be back in no time, especially if I start trying to hit a bit of a streak!  🙂

4 Comments

  1. Deb

    You do you in the end because it is YOUR streak, but you could always say “cardio exercise streak” if you are not sure about adding Zumba miles and calling it a running streak. Then you wouldn’t have to ‘splain to people about how things that aren’t running convert to running miles. Plus, there is value in cross training so there’s that. I had a streak of 45 days during which I ran 5 or more miles a day minus maybe 4 days where I ran 3 miles. I am a teacher too, it was summer…it worked. Then, when I had that day that broke the streak I was worried about my endurance, just like you mentioned in your last post. Thought I was the only one!

  2. Paula

    I have read that rest days are important too. I recently allowed for 2 per week & run 4. I just started running a year ago & I was nervous about injury. Seems like every serious runner has experienced one. Now that I am over 50, I am looking to avoid them if possible. I just started this month & I can honestly say that my speed & endurance seem much better. I think it is great if you want to have a streak. I will be rooting for you.

  3. Oh my! I can’t imagine running daily for 2 years. I’m not sure that’s smart. The body needs a break. Even a month straight of running. . . I’d have to be very very dedicated to stretching. My hamstrings get so tight with running! Good luck on your streak!

    • Tamara

      I hear you! I keep wondering, though, and want to try… I wonder, though, if I might become acclimated to it, and that’s kind of why I want to try and why, if I do it, I will limit my miles so much during the experiment. I don’t think it would be smart to attempt any distance training miles, just the two miles per day for the most part. For perspective, I was thinking that if I had a physically demanding job, no one would ever tell me to worry about it. Instead they would just tell me that my body will adjust as I get more regular with it and might suggest additional training as preparation. I feel like the same can be said of running… That said, I know that when I hit two weeks with six days a week workouts I’m pretty spent! LOL!

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