Running Every Day

On Tuesday, I ran two miles. It was my third consecutive day of running. It's not quite the infancy of my running streak but rather the embryonic stage. Yeah, this egg just got fertilized.

From early October through late December, I ran every day. My streak reached 75 before I got sick on Dec. 23 and had to shut it down for three days. I piled up 499 miles over that stretch, an average of more than 6.5 miles a day.

When Jan. 1 came around I knew I had to start another streak. I wanted to do it right so I rested on Saturday, making New Year's Day the first day of my new streak.

I want this streak to last more than 75 days. I would like to see it hit triple digits. I was hoping the previous streak would hit the century mark but it fell short.

So why the fascination with running every day?

It worked for me. It made me a stronger, faster, more efficient runner. It helped tackle barriers and helped minimize some mental challenges. It helped me recover faster from both long runs and shorter, harder runs and it just kept me feeling fresh.

For me, rest days always seemed like a bit of a regression. I'd typically run long on Sundays, rest on Monday and when I'd go back and run Tuesday I always felt the long run at the beginning. So that Tuesday run was not necessarily a recovery run but it felt like it. And that always kind of felt like a setback, like I couldn't get into the rhythm I wanted to or needed to. But now, I recover on Mondays no matter the Sunday distance and I feel refreshed and ready to run hard on Tuesday. Also, running the day before a long run was something I didn't used to do often but now it helps keep the blood flowing and helps my legs start fresh on Sundays instead of it taking me some time to get the legs from feeling like lead.

Running every day helps me push through hard runs. With how strong my legs feel, I really do feel like I can get through any distance. Now, that will be tested on Sunday when I run 18 miles but so far during all of my tough runs I just reach down and draw strength from that and my legs respond.

Now, I'd always wanted to run 40 miles a week or more but found it difficult to get that in, but running every day helps me get to that number consistently. I had 10 consecutive weeks of at least 40 miles. In the 10 weeks before the start of that 10-week stretch, I had one week of 40-plus miles.

I've been eating miles like crazy lately and it's had nothing but a positive effect on me. On Wednesday I plan to run some and the streak will reach four days. Before too long it will hit double digits and the deeper it goes the more I will gain.