I love data analysis. Here’s a look at a snapshot of my week 17 volume and pace comparisons from three different 18 week training periods.

Notes:

  • The other two periods were 2003/2004–I’m much older now.
  • I’m down 20-25 pounds now from where I was for the other two periods.
  • I’m running 3 days/week now instead of 4 back then
  • In 2004 I pretty much stopped training at the end of the program…only 50 miles of running the last month, and that included two 20s. That doesn’t come into play here, but explains the different performance on race day between 2003 and 2004.

I don’t plan on doing this often, but I’m hoping it puts me in a good frame of mind to set a PR.

Week 17 Comparison:

  • 2003: 16.35 miles @ 9:37 avg
  • 2004: 22 miles @ 9:33 avg
  • 2012: 20 miles @ 9:12 avg

I’m so glad that I know more than I knew then.