Below is my data and chart...the first valleys are all fulls, then the major decline in 2021 is because I had a baby in October of 2020. LOL.
| Date | Distance | Vdot |
| 11/16/2016 | Half | 37.9 |
| 1/14/2017 | 5K | 41.1 |
| 1/28/2017 | Half | 37.9 |
| 2/4/2017 | 5K | 42.1 |
| 6/11/2017 | Half | 37.9 |
| 11/4/2017 | Full | 33.1 |
| 4/5/2018 | Half | 41 |
| 11/25/2018 | Half | 38.6 |
| 12/8/2018 | Full | 36.4 |
| 6/8/2019 | Half | 40.9 |
| 8/17/2019 | 5K | 41.6 |
| 9/2/2019 | 10K | 40.7 |
| 10/26/2019 | 5K | 41.4 |
| 12/14/2019 | Half | 41.6 |
| 12/21/2019 | 5K | 43.1 |
| 1/18/2020 | 5K | 41.9 |
| 3/7/2020 | Full | 38 |
| 2/5/2021 | 5K | 37.1 |
| 2/20/2021 | 5K | 37.1 |
| 2/27/2021 | 5K | 37.1 |
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Thanks for sharing. So overall a 14% gain in 4 years time.
-It appears things clicked for you in Fall 2019, but there's also that HM in April 2018. What was the biggest change before and during that time?
-What would you estimate to be your career mileage to this point?
@DopeyBadger forgot to answer career mileage. completely having to guess in the beginning it was probably 750 miles a year (15 miles a week for 50 weeks) i would say from 1998 to 2009. Then I started doing Goofy so i would expect my mileage went up so i am guessing closer to 1000 miles a year. I would say from 2010 to 2016. Mileage definitely increased in 2016. i also got my first garmin in Feb 2016.
2016 | 1116.6 |
2017 | 1319 |
2018 | 1733 |
2019 | 1482 |
2020 | 1824 |
I definitely increased mileage. I also added in 2016 biking and swimming. Though right now i am back to straight running and hiking. Hiking was added in 2018 and really helped my running.
So thats 13250 miles through 2015, plus another 7500 from 2016-2020. So a total of around 20,750 miles. And you started your peak around 13250 miles and have continued it for another 7500 miles afterwards.
2017 I was pregnant and had a baby, but somehow ran over 1000 miles that year. According to my charts, I've run 1140.4 total miles from 2012-2015. I've completed about 7100 career miles by the end of 2019, 8827mi by the end of last year. I'll be over 10,000 miles by the end of this year. 2019 was the year I really trained hard since I had 2 very specific goals. 2020+ I've mostly done easy/long paced miles.
% gain from first recorded run: 53.7%. From first race only 6.4%!
I'd say the half in 2019 I raced at my training vs the full, where I ran conservatively given it was my first marathon. I doubt I'll ever train or race like that again. Now I run for fun again. So given the theory that there's a plateau or even a decline after 7500-10,000 mi, my data will prove that. However, if I trained hard again given that I have a marathon under my belt, I believe I can increase my vdot for the marathon distance.
Definitely bit of an odd duck given you went a little over 3 years between starting to run and running your first race. So your first race to peak at 6.4% is probably a little misleading. It's obviously somewhere between the 54% from your first run and 6% from your first race.
So I'm not sure about that theory about career miles. There's so much hidden in the data (how hard are you training during those miles? etc) and I would hate for anyone to think they would plateau after 7500-10000 miles. Broadly, as the miles pile on - you have to balance running with your career and family and the ever present ticking of the clock. But one can always point to the elite runners and their career miles or make the case for someone who runs a lot but not training properly or athletes who are running PR's in their late 30s-40s. However I really can't imagine putting in the training to get my VDOT much more over 48.
I think
@garneska's data is a good example of that. As she said, she didn't train all that rigourously for the first 17 years. She accumulated 13250 miles during that timeframe. Although when she did begin to train more rigorously her VDOT did respond with an increase. And she has been able to maintain that increased VDOT with the increase in training. And as
@GreatLakes data shows, when the volume stays roughly the same but the intensity drops off, then you could start to see a decline in VDOT. Although, the potential fitness is still there with a reintroduction of intensity and volume. It will be interesting to see over the years how these graphs potentially change.
What's been more interesting to me is the relative consistency people are seeing with their first race to peak comparison. Their genetic predisposition fitness level and their training response.
The graph obviously needs more data. But anecdotally we come from a variety of training backgrounds and modalities. Some training for 4 years and others for 22 years. Some hitting their peak in 4000 miles or less and others at 13000 miles. But thus far there does seem to be something about that 20-40% gain area. There are certainly a few with lesser response, and me out at 74%, but by in large that's where many seem to be ending up. But the data is obviously too small to make any grand conclusions from. Interesting nonetheless. And given how far outside everyone else I sit, I've got to believe I am at least getting close to max potential. Doesn't mean I'm going to be stopping anytime soon, but rather having a realistic outlook moving forward.
I will have to think about a mile time trial at some point. Since it's so short, is there anything in particular you would suggest in terms of a taper before or recovery after?
Not really needed in either direction. The recovery from a mile is mostly done within a day or two. And there's no real taper for the mile in terms of volume. In fact, you may actually find you do better in a mile time trial after a week or two of strides. Just to re-remind yourself of a quick candence. Making that neurological connection needed. Obviously with mile specific training you'd probably do even better, but the goal really is just to see if there is a staggering difference between what you race in the 5k through marathon and what your mile time is.
So, I should have more carefully stated about tennis in 2020. The first three months of 2020 and about 6 weeks in the summer were at about the same level as 2013. The rest of 2020 was only about 25 - 30% that much. In particular, the ~10 weeks leading up to my last marathon on Nov. 8, 2020 had much reduced tennis. You may remember that during that time I was having a really hard time getting my LRs done. And the marathon still went very badly.
Ahh that's right. Hmm, still at a loss then. A bit of a conundrum to go from 2 day per week running to 5 day per week running and see minimal change in fitness. I guess maybe everything you did pre starting to run contributed to that increase that everyone else is seeing prior. Kind of like how
@dis_or_dat has that 3 year gap at the start, but we can see based on first run that her gains were likely more than 6%.
So, I should have more carefully stated about tennis in 2020. The first three months of 2020 and about 6 weeks in the summer were at about the same level as 2013. The rest of 2020 was only about 25 - 30% that much. In particular, the ~10 weeks leading up to my last marathon on Nov. 8, 2020 had much reduced tennis. You may remember that during that time I was having a really hard time getting my LRs done. And the marathon still went very badly.
Am I exercising too much? Hard to say. Maybe. But there's nothing I want to cut back on, especially not in the non-running activities.
And at the end of the day, we do this for enjoyment. So if you want to continue with the activities you do, then by all means continue to do them.
My late-April 10-mile trail race may be a bit of a test of the "less exercise" hypothesis, because I am having much less tennis now (like one match per month!) for pandemic reasons. Although as the weather improves in the next couple weeks, I'll probably be able to play at least once/wk again. So I guess we'll see how the race goes, but comparing trail races to road races is a bit of apples and oranges.
Yea, trail to road is definitely a bit of a bridge in terms of making equivalency.
), but they are doing virtual. Right now in SE Michigan, the RunMichigan calendar is looking fairly light. I registered to do the Bill Roney 5k, put on by Hanson's, at the end of March. It is live.
