Run to Win

This week last year, I looked back at both my training, my health, and my writing. I think that this has helped me improve all three areas this year.

• I looked at the final numbers for 2006. Last year, I ran less than 1400 miles, held a pretty steady weight and wrote 560 articles. This year, I ran over 1800 miles and my weight had even less swing than last year. I wrote more this year, and I’ll talk about this year’s final numbers a little more in a couple of days.
• The first snow run finally came by this week last year. This year, the first snow run was weeks ago. Snow is great for building strength; this year, rather than dealing with traffic I have been seeking out the snow and taking to the trails.
• I finished the workout locations series of articles by explaining how planning workouts around vacations can be accomplished.
• One of the Coast to Coast runners, Chris Schauerman, made news thanks to his undergraduate research in nanotechnology and physics at RIT.
• I continued my animated series by showinghow to do a crooked arm lateral raise. I also suggested that you loosen your watch band when lifting weights to prevent cutting off your circulation.

This week last year was dominated by the news, with a review of the past year on the site.

• My series with Scott continued as he discussed working out at the park. It is kind of funny, but last year’s December topic was very closely related to this year’s December topic. We didn’t even do that on purpose!
• I discussed the most popular topics on the site throughout 2006, and discussed some trends about what had appeared on the site and what was likely to be popular in the coming year.
• Responding to the news, I asked whether men are subject to gender testing after Shanti Sounderajan failed a gender test despite having had it ruled out that she had a sex change operation. S/he had to give back a silver medal from the 800 meter race in the Asia Games.
• In other news, I tracked the career moves of Justin Gatlin as he went from a world record holder (removed due to a doping ban) to an NFL Prospect and then to a high school track coach.
• This week two years ago I wrote about:
  • I continued my animated series by demonstrating how to do a seated calf raise on a machine. I also suggested that you stroll about between sets when working out.
  • I pointed out that a healthy diet does not need to be expensive, and linked to a few cheap and healthy recipes that I had written about on the site.
  • I explained how I keep myself from losing focus after completing a goal.
  • I reviewed The Quotable Runner.

2006 has been a really busy year here at Run to Win. The website has really grown. I have written a total of about 750 articles so far, with around 900 comments and trackbacks on those articles. I have been taking a look at some of the most popular content over the past year, and some of it surprises me a little bit.

Based on total traffic throughout the year, my most popular topic that I wrote about is Dean Karnazes and his announcement to run 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days. His announcement back in April and the coverage this Autumn as he ran it drove quite a bit of traffic through the site, as did Sam Thompson’s 50 marathon feat which finished up as Dean was starting.

The next most popular article was just a one off workout tip that I wrote about eating before and after working out last March. I have touched on diet quite a few times this years, giving my views and offering advice; I even hit on some zany ideas like intuitive eating. None of those articles were nearly as popular, though, or had as much time to be popular.

My series of articles on The New Rules of Lifting was also extremely popular. I hope that a few people decided to pick up a copy of the book, because I have been using workouts from it all year and have been very happy with my results. It probably did not hurt that one of the book’s authors, Alwyn Cosgrove, responded to the review. I shared my thoughts on all 20 new rules of lifting for those that wanted a preview of the first half of the book. The best part was definately the workout plans, though.

The series of articles that I wrote about Marathon Preparation this Autumn did not really have time to get enough eyeballs on it to make it to my official list, but I have no doubt it will be one of my most popular topics over the coming year. The past 2 or 3 months have shown that the tips in this 9 article series is very much in demand.

After reviewing Coast to Coast, I held a contest for a free copy of the book. I was rooting for a friend of mine to win the free copy, but I didn’t rig the system so somebody that I did not know wound up winning. By coincidence, it was somebody that is currently going to RIT. I also discovered that a current teammate of mine had also done a relay from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean about 20 years ago. That was when I discovered that transcontinental relay record.

I was a little bit surprised that my series about shoe maintenance was not more popular. I wrote all 12 articles ahead of time and had them appear on this site while I was on my honeymoon. My video about how to keep your shoes tied, however, was also very popular. It was helped in part by being a part of a group writing project over at ProBlogger, as is this article, for that matter!

I am looking forward to 2007, and have a lot of plans on ways to improve this website and provide even more valuable content for you. Until then, enjoy your holidays, and check out a few more retrospectives and looks ahead over at the ProBlogger group writing project.