Training Analysis

I'm a numbers guy and I think that one reason I love training is that it gives me something to keep track of, analyze and strategize about. Sarah teases me that I make spreadsheets for everything (the exact number of times I've been to the temple, had personal scripture study this year, as well as the time, distance and weather conditions of each run in the last 12 months, including my weight each week). So now that I have been running regularly for 12 months, it's time to analyze the data!

In the last 12 months I've had 3 major training periods for each of the 3 races I've run. From Feb-May 2007 I trained for the Ottawa Half Marathon, from June-Aug for the Fayetteville 10k and from Oct 07-Feb08 for the Myrtle Beach Half Marathon. Unfortunately I haven't found my June-Aug training log since we moved, but I've beaten all those record anyway. This analysis will mostly be a comparison between the two half marathon training periods.

Total duration of training: Ottawa - 16 weeks (Feb 7-May 27), Myrtle Beach (MB) - 20 weeks (Oct 1 - Feb 16)
Total number of miles ran: Ottawa - 197.6, MB - 329
Average # miles per week: Ottawa - 12.35, MB - 16.5
Total times ran: Ottawa - 71, MB - 70 -
Average # times running per week: Ottawa - 4.44, MB - 3.5
Peak weekly mileage: Ottawa - 27.3 (44km, twice), MB - 27.4
Peak distance (other than race day): Ottawa - 12.4 (May 12th), MB - 13.1 (12/14, 1/11 & 2/1)
Coldest training run: Ottawa neg 24C (-11F), MB 26F (-3C)
Hottest training run: Ottawa 25C (78F), MB 93F (34C) (doesn't factor in humidity)
Change in weight: Ottawa - from 197 - 185, MB - from 187 - 180.

Records
5k (3.1 miles): Ottawa - 29:00, MB - 25:27
10k (6.2 miles): Ottawa - 64:00, MB - 54:04

It's hard to compare times between the two training periods because I ran distances in Ottawa based on KM while I now run based on miles. I've thought it will be interesting to compare times for each distance during the last four months, from the fastest time I ran a particular distance compared to the first time I ran it.

5k (3.1 miles): 30:33 on Oct 1st --> 25:27 on Dec 18th.
5 miles: 53:02 on Oct 6th --> 43:53 on Dec 17th
10k (6.2 miles): 1:09 on Oct 20th --> 54:04 on Jan 28th
8 miles: 1:30:18 on Nov 3 --> 1:17:12 on Jan 17
9 miles 1:30:54 on Nov 17 --> 1:24:36 on Feb 11

For the "record" (bad pun), since I've been busy with school I've only run twice since Myrtle Beach, but beat personal records both times. On Monday I ran a 25:19 5k, at an 8:08 pace. On Wednesday I ran a 53:49 10k, an 8:40 pace. It's a good start to my 2 month training for Raleigh and 9 months until Richmond.