2024 in Running
17 Jan 2025Unlike earlier years, I had no considered running goals for 2024. I went in with a half baked plan to hit 2024km for for the calendar year, maybe via 3+ outings/week averaging ~40km/week. Like previous years, I valued consistency and habit building over distance or time PBs.
Sadly, it played out very differently. My cumulative distance chart flattens out several times, all due to injury - each seemingly unrelated, but maybe they tell a story of overuse or lacking strength.
The three main plateaus are a left calf (soleus) strain, a lower back injury (from poor form at the gym during strength work, no less), and a mystery left hip strain that’s probably Iliopsoas Tendinopathy or Bursitis. There were also some niggly right achilles issues early in the year that I ran through.
The result was also my first drop in yearly aggregate distance in 8 years:
Despite all that I hit a couple of new PBs in the injury free parts of the year
Parkrun’s gamification continues to help get me out the door and stretching the legs. I walked or ran 37 over the year, volunteered a few times, and passed the 100 walk/runs milestone. Merri Creek Running Club provided excellent motivation to get up early once a week, and the Coburg Harriers middle distance group added some friendly intervals to my training schedule. Shout out to the folks at reload physio for supporting me through a injury prone year too.
On the gear front, I upgraded to a Garmin forerunner 265. It’s fine. It has a fancy colour screen that needs to turn itself off to save battery - if I had my time again, I might go the 255 to get most of the 265 features but with an old fashioned always on MIP black and white screen. I still use my phone for music and podcasts, Jabra Elite 4 Active’s, a flip belt, and various Vivo Barefoot shoes. I have started to dabble in alternative shoes to see what I think - a pair of Altra Lone Peak 7s. The jury is still out, but I don’t hate ‘em.
2025 goals: if I can get on top of these injuries, cover 2025Km (169km/month, 38.9km/week). This feels ambitious and I’m not sure I’ll hit it, particularly as the weeks tick over with this hip issue and I’ll need to rebuild my weekly distance slowly. Let’s See. I’ve optimistically signed up for Melbourne marathon in October as well 😬