Show HN: Ten years of running every day, visualized

Show HN: Ten years of running every day, visualized(nodaysoff.run)

958 points by friggeri 312 days ago | 495 comments

Today marks ten years, 3653 consecutive days, of running at least one mile every day under the USRSA rules [1]. To celebrate, I built an interactive dashboard that turns a decade of GPX files into charts you can explore.

Running has truly changed my life: I've made lifelong friends, explored beautiful places, and more importantly invested into my own health and fitness, which I'm starting to see the positive benefits as I get older.

The stack is pretty simple: a NextJS app, with a Postgres database to keep all my running data, and all the stats are pre-computed and cached in Redis, so I effectively only hit the database once a day when a new run is ingested. On the fronted, I toyed with the idea of using D3 or pre-existing data viz libraries, but ended up rolling my own using SVGs directly, it gave me more control on the visualizations.

I used the Strava bulk export to pre-populate the database, and I'm using their webhook API to do incremental updates. I have to tap into OpenWeatherMap and OpenCageDate to enrich the running data a little bit.

Happy to answer anything about the stack, data pipeline, or how I stayed motivated for 10 years!

[1] https://www.runeveryday.com Run Streak Association rules: ≥ 1 mile per day

lbrito 308 days ago |

>I've run through stress fractures, heart procedures, flus and other physical ailments. I've run in frigid sub zero weather and in sweltering heat.

Respectfully, that sounds awful. Being sick sucks enough, the last thing I'd want or benefit from doing is physical activity during a flu.

friggeri 308 days ago | |

Having experienced them, those runs were surprisingly not awful. In such cases I’ll jog a very slow mile, paying really close attention to what my body tells me (if I can walk, I can shuffle a mile or so). If anything, the act of getting out of the house and accomplishing something has more than once given me a morale and energy boost while sick.

The actually awful runs I’ve had are more of the "type 2 fun" kind (running in the desert, grueling trail runs), or the occasional hungover run before I quit drinking.

WA 308 days ago | | |

Did you have the flu (influenza) or a cold? Because I had influenza once and couldn’t even walk from bed to the kitchen.

I’m asking, because in German, many people call a regular cold a flu here.

But the chance to catch real influenza is like once every 20 years or so.

What about COVID-19?

grantmuller 308 days ago | | |

In the ultra running community, it's common to do a 1 mile "test" when you're feeling awful. You start your run, and if it still feels awful after 1 mile you walk on back home and try again tomorrow. Do this until you can just keep going again.

pmg101 308 days ago | | |

It was interesting today to discover the concept of "type 2 fun".

I often wondered why people did these self-evidently unfun things, purportedly "for fun".

wobfan 308 days ago | | |

I heard so often that it's outright dangerous to run when you're sick. Does anyone with knowledge know whether this is true? The general vibes of this thread gives me the feelings that it's more like a inconvenience than straight up dangerous to your heart and everything, which is what I heard and believed up until now.

HexPhantom 308 days ago | | |

I've had those days where a 10-minute shuffle felt more restorative than a full night's sleep

Yossarrian22 308 days ago | | |

Did you not catch Covid? Even catching after getting the shots I still could barely move.

Imme_Play_5550 308 days ago | |

There is definitely such a thing as overtraining. I got my free testosterone down to 15 (reference range=35-155 pg/mL) and my total testosterone down to 96 (ref=250-1100 ng/dL). From histograms from various studies, I hit the 1-percentile of low testosterone as a 35yo male. That's... uh... not good.

This was due to a number of factors: excessive running (the equivalent of ~50-70mi/week), calorie restriction, and possibly carbohydrate restriction. Thankfully symptoms of low T (namely morning erections) resolved ~1month after ameliorating those 3 factors. (For anyone interested, look up "Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport".)

Mileage isn't my goal. Health is.

OP states "I've... invested into my own health", but I'm not convinced.

ropable 308 days ago | | |

While I don't disagree that "team no days off" is probably not the ideal way to promote long-term health, I'd assert that most of the adult population in first-world countries are far more at risk from a lack of sufficient physical activity than from overtraining. Not dismissing your own experience (it sounds pretty bad) and I assume from context that you worked yourself into that hole, but we need to be encouraging people to be doing more physical activity rather than less.

nasmorn 308 days ago | | |

But the daily mile is not what will push you into overtraining. It’s just 7 miles a week. Training hard in calorie restriction is IMO a horrible idea though. You would need to make sure to burn as little carbs as possible and not do any workouts. Basically dedicating a block to losing weight instead of improving your running. Might still get faster, weight is a factor in running

criddell 308 days ago | | |

Totally off-topic, but when did people start abbreviating testosterone to T? I noticed it a few years ago when TV commercials started airing promoting various snake oils to fix low T. But now I see it everywhere. Is it another idea that escaped body building forums?

HexPhantom 308 days ago | | |

I've also seen how easily well-meaning habits (running, dieting, etc.) can tip into something detrimental, especially when the metrics become the goal. There's a fine line between dedication and depletion.

vl 308 days ago | | |

But how would you loose weight without calorie restriction?

Maybe this amount of running was excessive, but how did you even run such distances with T so low? (Ie how did you recover?)

pomtato 308 days ago | | |

wait what? you get morning erections when on low testosterone?

mobiledev2014 308 days ago | |

The site is cool but as a runner this is not admirable and not something others should emulate. Interesting how few comments call that out but perhaps not surprising if your audience admires The Hustle

noah_buddy 308 days ago | | |

Respectfully, if this guy has been doing it for ten years, it’s obviously not so bad as you make it out to be. It’s not a grind set mentality, it’s just one guys choice to exercise in a certain manner.

I am a runner. I train at what is probably the 80th percentile for longer distances, so I am by no means an expert. But I do understand that if you are running 7 miles a week, most of the time, your body isn’t going to be that beat up, especially if you are taking it slow.

andyst 308 days ago | | |

I (still!) have an uncle who had a similar mindset, broke his leg half way through a race and only realised when he stopped at the end, that he couldnt walk any further

finally when they had to (successfully) defib him during a race, that shook him into assessing his health not running for the sake of running

There's a mindset with distance runners that I have seen over and over, just sometimes way too much of a generally good thing

ujkiolp 307 days ago | | |

as a runner, i love the site.

pimeys 308 days ago | |

My cousin played ice hockey when he was a teenager, and started playing again too soon after having a flu. That lead to a heart infection, and almost killed him. He never played ice hockey after that.

So yeah, please be careful when doing sports while sick.

fransje26 308 days ago | | |

Rule 0 of training as an athlete was: you do not train when sick

Rule 1 of training as an athlete was: you do not train for N extra days after N days of fever

You do not want a heart infection.

Keeping track of you morning resting heart rate will tell you exactly what is going on.

RamblingCTO 308 days ago | | |

I came here to say this, running while being sick is incredibly stupid, more so for men.

fifilura 308 days ago | |

It is only a mile and you can run really, really slow.

I am also a run-streaker (3 years by now). I am not proud of running when i have the flu. But I run really slow and only the required amount.

Effort comparable to going to the store to buy food and aspirin.

Imme_Play_5550 308 days ago | | |

Just gonna say, as a fellow excessive exerciser... exercise doesn't make you stronger. It's the recovery afterwards and the resulting growth/adaptation that makes you better.

Don't let rest feel like weakness. It’s where the real progress happens.

pinkmuffinere 308 days ago | | |

I don’t feel strongly on either side, but I do want to point out that “I am not proud of running when I have the flu” immediately suggests a course of action that could make you more proud. It seems that not-running when sick would make you happier? Is it really worth doing just for the completionism?

JKCalhoun 308 days ago | | |

If you "know better" are you a "run-streaker" because of some innate need to not break a streak? Is the streak the thing that keeps you motivated?

I can see how you might worry that if you take off one day when you are sick that somehow you'll start taking more and more "sick days" out of perhaps laziness. But I also feel like someone with such a level of dedication would not be in much danger of doing that.

kaffekaka 308 days ago | | |

I have also done a couple longish run streaks, but would have rested if ill.

Why do you run with the flu of you feel bad about it? What is the point of fulfilling the "rules" of run streaking?

For me the by far biggest positive effect of run streaking was that I knew every morning when I woke up that I would something i enjoy that day. The training is too low intensity and volume to really matter and doing it for the rules would have felt pointless.

jimbokun 308 days ago | |

I was more surprised the doctors even let him run after a heart procedure.

_Algernon_ 308 days ago | | |

It may come as a surprise to you, but doctors don't have any means of "letting" people do anything. They can, at most, advise.

afterburner 308 days ago | | |

Did he ask them?

mrbonner 308 days ago | |

Yeah I was in the camp of " tough it out" when I was younger. Now, I understand how and when to listen to my body and lrt it rest is as important as working out with it. When my body is under stress from illness there is no need to put more stress on it.

ourmandave 308 days ago | |

Worked with a guy who led the local running club and he'd run in nearly all weather. But even he admitted defeat after bundling up in heavy winter gear and doing a few blocks in -50F wind chill conditions.

WalterBright 308 days ago | |

I had an operation a while back, and had to give up running for 6 weeks (running increases blood pressure which can cause internal bleeding). I was climbing the walls waiting so I could step out and resume running.

One of the symptoms of the flu is aching joints. Running on aching joints may be damaging them, so I don't.

ujkiolp 308 days ago | |

then don’t? not for everyone and that’s why it’s an achievement

mmmlinux 306 days ago | |

Addiction.

zipping1549 308 days ago | |

It's honestly downright dangerous. I don't think anyone's going to _enjoy_ running after that.

PaulDavisThe1st 308 days ago | | |

The author sounds as though they still do.

musikele 308 days ago |

It'd be perfect if we can have a toggle to switch to metric system, like kilometers, meters, celsius for temperature, etc. I find it very hard to follow the numbers expressed in miles

navane 308 days ago | |

I know it's a dumb trick but it works for me: I use the Fibonacci sequence. 3 miles? 5 km. 8miles? 13km. 33 miles? 55km.

gus_massa 308 days ago | | |

My dumber version: Just multiply by 1.5. It's fine unless you are using a treasure map.

catoc 308 days ago | | |

Ha! That’s nice.

I never realized 1.609 miles/km is close to the golden ratio (1.618)

mnaimd 308 days ago | | |

Hey, this is very smart. The golden ratio... Wow!

DanielVZ 308 days ago | |

Fahrenheit is easy if you just forget trying to translate it to Celsius and just equate it to roughly:

- 0 = freezing

- 50 = mild

- 100 = Very hot (not burning just very hot)

stephen_g 308 days ago | | |

Yeah but Fahrenheit still feels super alien and unintuitive if you haven’t used it much. I have like three or four approximate values that I think I know what they feel like, but most of the time I really have to stop and think.

0_____0 308 days ago | | |

If you go for a run at 0C with a T-shirt you'll probably be OK. Gloves and ear coverings would be nice.

If you go for a run at 0F in a T-shirt, you won't be running for very long. That's like -18C.

Breza 301 days ago | | |

That's a great way to look at it. Fahrenheit is arguably aligned with how people perceive temperature. Zero is so cold that you probably should stay inside. One hundred is so hot that you should probably stay inside.

brudgers 308 days ago | | |

0 = freezing

“Frigid” would perhaps be less confusing “Freezing.”

tbassetto 308 days ago | |

I can somehow convert distances in my head, by pace is harder! If someone has a trick to quickly convert between minutes/mile and minutes/km please chime in.

mosquitobiten 308 days ago | | |

I always use minutes as percentages of hours to convert miles to km, 30min is 0.5 hours so following that 30miles=50km.

fivestones 308 days ago | | |

Yeah! Please do

david927 308 days ago |

A year ago, I started running a mile five days a week, and have slowly moved up distance and pace. I'm doing weight and resistance training as well and cut out most sugar and carbs, going high protein.

The result has been transformational. Resting heart rate is at 60, blood pressure down, my clothes don't fit me anymore, and best of all, I feel better and can concentrate more.

I wish I knew this in my teens. It's like a cheat code.

yihong0618 308 days ago |

Hi I record my running for almost 15 years

you can check https://yihong.run/

and also a repo: https://github.com/yihong0618/running_page

tomashubelbauer 308 days ago | |

The map on your page is incredibly cool to me! Is 2023 a bug or did you really run a single loop for the whole year? What I imagine running while on house arrest would be like :D (Just kidding, of course :))

nico_h 308 days ago | | |

Zoom way out, the usual area is a bit “south”.

bob1029 308 days ago |

Very impressive work.

I've been on an unbroken rowing streak (Concept2) since December last year. Half hour per day mandatory, no rest days. Typical distance rowed is 6.5-8km. There are days where I "take it easy" but I still force a minimum distance of 6.5km regardless of how long it takes. My rationale for using the C2 is the lower impact and the fact that it resides inside a climate controlled building. These factors help reduce the possibility of excuse making.

I found that taking even one day off is all it takes to throw my discipline into a death spiral. Making it a required thing no matter what changes the psychology and game theory. It has become entirely a background concern after day 90 or so. There are days where I have to row and then do hours of yard work. The first two weeks of Texas summer almost got to me. But, this too has become a background concern. I can wake up, row 30 minutes, landscape for 2 hours, and then write code or post on HN until the sun goes down. No naps, stimulants or motivational speeches required.

zdc1 308 days ago | |

A lot of the comments are raising how unsafe it is to be exercising through 10 years of life without a day off, but as someone who also tends to let a day off turn into a year off, I can appreciate the wisdom of slowing rather than stopping / having a slow day rather than an off day.

gh0stcat 308 days ago | | |

I really enjoy the philosophy of the 80/20 rule for running (Book from Matt Fitzgerald), which says that 80% of your training should be at level 2, where your heart rate is much lower. It's made it a lot easier to actually go run every day, as it doesn't leave me feeling exhausted and it changes the psychology from feeling like I need to run faster to actually needing to slow myself down, which is really transformative for me in particular. YMMV, pun intended.

RamblingCTO 308 days ago | | |

I don't think 1mi per day is dangerous by a longshot but pushing through injury and sickness is wildly dangerous. heart infection is a thing, especially for men

rixed 308 days ago |

I don't know what impress me the most: that you run every single day for 10 years, or that you manage to have a data point for each of those. Not a single day did you forget your phone/watch/wtv? Not a single data loss? Not a single account hijaking/locked out/revoken token? Do you have your personnal SRE team?

mminer237 308 days ago | |

It's all stored on Strava. You just push a button when you start running and when you stop. If it's habit, you notice pretty fast if you don't have your phone, especially if you listen to music or something when you run.

rixed 308 days ago | | |

I don't run as much, and never more than 1h, yet it happened several times to me that my phone battery died on me while running. (I'm obviously not carrying a powerbank with me, and my phone is many years old). It would also expect that Strava or the network would fail from time to time (no need to go as far as antarctica for that - I've been living in germany for less than a year and I have lost track already of how many times the 5G/4G network has been out of order for hours). I guess strava has a good networkless mode. Or maybe my experience with tech has been particularly bad and I'm an outlier?

epolanski 308 days ago | |

I keep track of my calories every day, every meal, every snack from a very long time. It's very rare to not have the phone or another device close when I'm eating or after the meal, even if offline I'll send a WhatsApp message to myself and it will be sent when im back online.

In the very rare occasions I don't have a phone I vividly remember what I've eaten and will record it later.

k__ 308 days ago | |

Neurotypicals, am I right? :')

rixed 308 days ago | | |

You are always the neurotypical of someone, I guess :)

jdefr89 308 days ago | |

Same.. I am surprised someone would remember the exact dates to when they started running consistently... Seems odd..

randlet 308 days ago | | |

A lot of runners (me included) are data nerds and record every runs date/time, distance, pace, weather, shoes worn, how we're feeling, temperature, elevation gain etc.

footy 308 days ago | | |

why? Give me 10 minutes and I could tell you the exact dates of each training program I've done since I was in University 18 years ago.

dirkc 308 days ago |

I'd like to congratulate you on all those 1 mile days - I opened the link expecting to go "yeah, this person is just extremely lucky that they're one of those people that can just run all the time with no issues".

But a 1 mile run mean you've put your shoes on, went outdoor, were active and it feels extremely doable for anyone. I'm wondering if I walk at least 1 mile each day, if not, I definitely should!

Thanks for the share!

Breza 301 days ago | |

I had a similar reaction. OP has only run a few marathons, and most of his runs aren't exactly setting a record-breaking pace. That's a refreshing change from social media influencers who make it seem like anyone can run a near-4 or tackle Cocodona. I'm training for my first ultra, and so much of the experience is mental. OP is an inspiration in developing mental toughness and dedication.

Tepix 308 days ago | |

He does run inside 13% of the time.

zparky 311 days ago |

just wanted to say the site looks awesome! I love the minimal black+white/grayscale and the fonts are just lovely. vis looks great too, I enjoyed poking around nearly all of the unique runs to look at the map and paces.

natnatenathan 308 days ago | |

I came to say this as well. I really like the design and all the fun statistics.

som 308 days ago | |

Agreed. Was wondering where the inspiration came for each chart choice?

friggeri 307 days ago | | |

I wanted something minimalist but high contrast, and enough variety so charts would not be repetitive. I have a thing for data visualization, so I pulled inspiration from the pile of books I have on my bookshelf.

zug_zug 308 days ago |

I'd be curious to see long-term improvements, like resting heartrate over time, or heartrate @ 10 min mile over time.

nasmorn 310 days ago |

Impressive. I did streak running for 6 months nice and it was some of the most productive running in my life. Interestingly I have much higher yearly averages than you do but still consider daily streak running quite hard. Not being a morning runner myself might contribute since I get into a lot of close calls that way. My streak literally ended when my daughter went into the hospital and I couldn’t well just fuck off for a run any longer.

elcaro 308 days ago |

Under the "Countries Visited" section it says "been lucky to run on all seven continents, including antarctica!", but it doesn't look like they've been to Australia.

pinkmuffinere 308 days ago | |

Oh lol you’re right! Perhaps they ran in Australia before they started this ten-year streak? In that case it could still be true, but not show in the data

Edit: also, they pulled the data from strava. It’s possible they forgot to record their Australian run(s) in strava for some reason

xarope 308 days ago | |

wonder if I know this person, as I've also run on all seven continents, as well as the north pole (which is not a continent).

there aren't that many of us (that have run on antarctica, vs king george island).

friggeri 308 days ago | |

I haven’t been to Australia, but I’ve run in Hawaii, which is part of Oceania (broader than just Australia).

pedalpete 307 days ago | | |

Come to Australia! It's a great place to run!

Or NZ at the least. Hawaii isn't on the content. You've got only one continent to go before you can check that box.

I have 100% confidence you'll do it!

I ran every day for a year, and kinda wished I had kept going (though I only managed 3 continents in that year).

bigDinosaur 308 days ago | | |

Notably not on the tectonic plate Australia is on (which is mostly although not entirely just Australia in terms of land), though, if someone is going by that definition.

4gotunameagain 308 days ago | | |

Eh, that doesn't really count. Sounds like a good excuse for a trip ;)

soperj 307 days ago | |

there's also 8 continents now apparently.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zealandia

jmpavlec 308 days ago |

Something funky with your personal beats. It says your best 5k was in 35:35 but your best 10k was in 43:26. Not possible for those both to be true . I guess the 5k data is screwy since that is quite a slow 5k time.

Edit: seems maybe tht 5k is mislabeled, should be 5 miles... But that feels like a less standardized time.

wging 308 days ago | |

Just a labeling issue. If you click on the 5k you get a detail popup on the right that says 5 miles, which is much more in line with several of the other times.

5 miles is not that uncommon a race distance in the US; 8k is very close, but you can still find both. (There are much fewer 3-mile or 6-mile races, those are mostly all 5ks and 10ks.) Though it's unclear if it was an organized race.

edit: it probably wasn't an organized race, there's a separate "races" tab.

friggeri 308 days ago | |

Definitely a bug, will fix tomorrow, thanks for catching!

LeafItAlone 308 days ago | |

The label seems to be off. It’s 5 miles, not 5 kilometers. Based on the data below it and map.

grilledchickenw 308 days ago |

OP, what is that grid of geo-located countries called? It's beautiful, and I want to play with such a map. Is there a name for this?

friggeri 308 days ago | |

Those are called "tile grid maps", I got the template for the world one here: https://policyviz.com/2017/10/12/the-world-tile-grid-map/

HexPhantom 308 days ago |

Streak culture is motivating, but I always wonder where the line is between discipline and obsession. Still, there's something powerful about building a routine that becomes part of your identity

HeartStrings 308 days ago | |

Stop treating obsession like a bad thing. That’s the only way how you get at front page of hackernews.

jdefr89 308 days ago | | |

As someone with severe OCD my entire life... Trust me its a bad thing.

SketchySeaBeast 307 days ago | |

I've always found obsession to turn into resentment. For myself I need to give myself permission to take a day off and find a schedule that works for me.

Breza 301 days ago | | |

Different approaches work for different folks. When I was new to running, I had a good streak going for a long time. Now that I'm training for ultras, I focus on quality training, which can mean spending a Saturday playing with my daughter and not thinking about running. My focus has shifted to weekly mileage and Garmin-dictated training load.

ColinEberhardt 308 days ago |

That is very cool, thanks for sharing, and congratulations on an epic streak.

I'm also into running visualisation, and created the running report card:

https://run-report.com/

It visualises your year in running, with some fun narrative generated by GPT. Here's my report card:

https://run-report.com/8725202.html

steivan 308 days ago | |

Nice work. My first thought was whether I could get similar graphs for my own data — this run-report.com does exactly that. Clean design, and the GPT-generated summary is a nice touch. Thanks for sharing.

paulcole 308 days ago |

I love streaks like this.

My current bests are: 686 days for completing the New York Times Crossword and 582 days of 20+ minutes of Apple Fitness+ classes.

Plus 15,344 days without driving a car (I never learned) and without having alcohol or soda (just never had the interest). And 5,123 days since I've taken Ecstasy (tried it once).

Around 6,000 days since I last intentionally ate meat, but I couldn't tell you the exact date.

flexagoon 308 days ago | |

> Around 6,000 days since I last intentionally ate meat

What does "intentionally" mean? Are you sometimes accidentally tricked into eating meat?

paulcole 308 days ago | | |

I was pre-empting the ultra-clever HN commenter who might question whether I’d accidentally eaten meat as a byproduct of food production.

andrewrn 307 days ago |

I got hopelessly addicted to running in college, then got a knee cartilage injury and haven't consistently ran in 3 years. Absolutely soul-disfiguring for those who love to do long slow runs like yourself. Cool data and visualizations!

Unreal that you rolled your own svg's for this instead of using d3.js. That absolutely blows my mind, great work!

reactordev 308 days ago |

Having lived in Denver for a decade, I can say it’s definitely a run city. So many run groups. A guy I used to work with did ultra marathons of 100mi+. Insane. Good for you! I saw the flat irons green mountain run and immediately said “Hey, I know that place!!!”

I’m not going to run it but I’ve hiked up in there a bunch of times.

wvh 308 days ago |

I admire your dedication. I also like the spartan look of your site.

I'm a trail runner and I've been running over 18 years or so, not every day, but two or three times a week. Sickness or health, injury, birthdays, holidays, rain, snow, -30C. My last big run was around Christmas. After that I had about three months medical off-time. Now it's very hard to get back on track. I just had to cancel some summer running events. It's not just motivation, but general stiffness and musculoskeletal pains like shin splints and knee and ankle soreness. My guess is that at my (middle) age, you either do it or lose it.

I advise anybody to find something they like and stick with it. Vary it according to how your body feels, but always do something. Keep the body (and the brain) working.

jdkoeck 308 days ago | |

Have you tried getting back into cardio with a softer method like biking? Maybe that combined with some strength exercices could toughen up your body enough that you can start running again! Anyway, best wishes.

nathan_compton 308 days ago | |

Trail running has started to absolutely wreck my back. Part of the problem is that I can't wear shoes that have plastic in them because of an allergy. Advice?

nico_h 308 days ago | | |

There’s a movement called “barefoot shoes” / “barefoot running”. Very different gait from usual running and all the cushioning is in the muscles/ tendons. You can find some brands that have coton + rubber shoes (rubber is from a plant whereas plastic is from petroleum, don’t know if that works for you). And hemp or wool insoles. Probably not very durable but softer and more flexible than leather.

raffael_de 308 days ago |

I'd be interested in some knee cartilage statistics.

igouy 307 days ago | |

Stuff happens.

"Roger Federer says he was injured giving daughter bath"

https://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/15059810/roger-federe...

boguscoder 308 days ago |

Just from stats alone I assume op is from Colorado but ~4 years in a decade were split between NY and CA, that’s impressive level of traveling even ignoring all the rest of the even more impressive international trips. What do you do for living, man on the run:)?

DevX101 308 days ago |

Do you have longitudinal resting heart rate data? Would love to see how it changed over the years.

friggeri 308 days ago | |

I haven’t aggregated the trend over time, but my resting HR has definitely decreased, I’m roughly around 40bpm at the moment, down from ~60bpm 10 years ago.

LeonM 308 days ago | | |

> I’m roughly around 40bpm at the moment, down from ~60bpm 10 years ago

To put that into perspective for other readers: I've been running for about 10 years also, but typically 2x a week (10k mid-week, 15~20k weekend), I have no real data on my heart rate from when I started, but at rest I'm now typically at 60bpm.

I measure almost daily due to medication and having a minor heart defect, and I have noticed that if I skip a week of running, it'll slowly go up, averaging at ~62bpm, but when I train for a (half) marathon I typically increase my distance a bit and try to train every other day (~3x/week) then my heart rate a rest goes down a bit to be consistently below 60bpm (58bpm avg).

40bpm is very low, for non-athletes this would be considered dangerously low, but I guess daily running at OPs distance would classify OP as an athlete. Also keep in mind that heart rate differs per person, some people just naturally have a low heartbeat.

NoPicklez 308 days ago |

This is brilliant!

I'd like to see your average HR per pace marker to see how your running zones have changed at the same pace over time.

The average HR for a 10k you did at 5,50 per km did 6 years ago compared to now at the same pace.

ck2 308 days ago |

I've run for 40 years but not every day because of age/illness (covid will pretty much end your life)

I don't think you should be running through illness and stress fractures but I can't really criticize as I get the obsession

My personal joke is that I like to get my "10,000 steps a day" in all in the first hour

but this is actually the most amazing part to me:

     COUNTRIES VISITED
     been lucky to run on all seven continents, including antarctica!

rasen58 308 days ago |

Can you post a picture of what your body looks like? Curious if a person who runs every day has a very thin body or if you are more well built still

blackbear_ 308 days ago |

Congrats! How are your knees doing if I may ask and how did you take care of them?

I've only been running for a couple of years and already feeling troubles brewing in.

ultrarunner 308 days ago | |

The idea that running leads to knee damage is a pervasive myth.

pedro_caetano 308 days ago | | |

The focus is usually on the increased impact during running, but arguably when averaged over the time it is actually somewhat equivalent to walking, the 'air time' of each joint means you are effectively under no load with some form of decompression.

It is effectively a higher load with a lower duty cycle. versus walking with a lower load at about 50% duty cycle.

Joint 'damage' is a misnomer. Joint surfaces are under load/impact and friction while running, that is just biomechanics.

Other mechanical parts like bearings have a load capacity and lifetime. It is not a stretch to model the same for articular surfaces on your hips, knees, ankles.

rendaw 307 days ago | | |

I was curious so I looked

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/is-running-bad-for-your-k...

> Running does not cause arthritis, and when you rest, your body — and your knees — recover from the effects of running

> The type of surface you run on does matter because it changes the impact on your body

Okay, so if running does not cause arthritis, how can the type of surface matter wrt to causing arthritis?

Then they suggest a new myth, that running prevents arthritis.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/does-running-cause-arthr...

> Runners can get arthritis, but is running the cause?

This section ends with "While the answers are still not entirely clear, we're moving closer."

Then they have a large section on why it's hard to determine.

https://www.nm.org/healthbeat/healthy-tips/fitness/is-runnin...

> Knee and joint pain may be common complaints among runners

> More common sources of pain or injury in runners’ knees are iliotibial band syndrome (ITBS) and patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS), says Dr. Mayer.

So it doesn't sound like a myth, unless you restrict your definition of knee health to "osteoarthritis".

Each of these cited a number of studies. I know there's a lot of "these are professional researchers, of course they controlled for bias" and the studies said "we controlled for bias" but it wasn't clear how they controlled for bias or how it was effective.

For example, the one about marathon runners didn't analyze long term affects of marathon running, just whether the people who ran marathons at the time had arthritis (no: if you had arthritis you would probably quit running marathons). Another general meta study seemed similar (recreational runners have lower arthritis, but would you be a recreational runner if you had arthritis?) in addition to noting higher arthritis in long term (15 year) runners vs general population.

Helmut10001 308 days ago | | |

I agree, and I've heard the same. In my experience, knee problems always disappeared with moderate running. Of course, you have to allow yourself time to recover after running. But as far as I know, the science is that joint lubrication in your knees needs activity to function properly.

shepherdjerred 308 days ago | | |

How so?

friggeri 308 days ago | |

I’ve been lucky to never have any real knee issues. The only period I ended up with a little knee pain was because of a poor running shoe choice, and it resolved when I got properly fitted and changed shoes. Hope you figure out the source of your troubles!

alternatex 308 days ago | |

Do strength training, as in compound leg exercises once or twice a week. Squats, forward lunges, (and many more you can find online for knee strength). The healthiest approach to running is not just running, especially if you're over 30 :)

jamil7 308 days ago | |

It might be worth going to a sports physio that specialises in runners. I did this a year ago and fixed my overstriding and increased my cadence and no longer have random soreness or troubles in hips or knees etc.

can16358p 308 days ago |

Impressive.

A nice addition would be adding a switch for converting to non-American units though

llmthrow103 308 days ago |

Looks fantastic! I run somewhat regularly and enjoy it, but would never make it my primary form of exercise due to the high impact stress on the body and relatively high injury rate compared to other solo forms of exercise. What made you decide to make it your primary form of exercise, and to do it every day?

hopelite 308 days ago |

Congratulations. I just have one question; how do you run one day in each, Porto Rico, Hawaii, Austria, Sweden, let alone China?

In other words; what led to being in each of those places for only one day? I don’t understand how you, e.g., found yourself in Puerto Rico for only one day.

friggeri 308 days ago | |

Unfortunately my treadmill runs don’t have GPS data associated with them. Austria, PR and Hawaii were places where I ran mostly in the gym.

This being said, Sweden is a fun one: I was in Copenhagen for a few weeks and I thought it’d be fun to take the train to Malmo, do my long run, and then take the train back. All that to say, I’ve spent 3h30 in Sweden, 3h05 of which I was running.

Shanghai was an overnight layover.

yamatokaneko 311 days ago |

This is so cool! At what point did you start thinking about this project? Like, were you quietly working on it a year ago after every run, just waiting for this moment?

And hey, great run in Japan! (Tokyo here!) I love the map visualization too.

friggeri 311 days ago | |

I thought about it last week, was pretty quick to hack together!

I loved loved running in Japan, such a wonderful country

blarg1 308 days ago |

I started walking everyday 1-4km, and then switched to jogging 1-2.5 km everyday. It built up the muscles in my back so I no longer slouch, also fixed constipation issues I was having.

suralind 308 days ago |

What a dope website. I used to run every day for a ~year and every since I'm on a decline. Would really love to get into that habit again.

Antitoxic6185 308 days ago |

you seem to be leaking your access token for mapbox.com api?

'pk.eyJ1IjoiZnJpZ2dlcmkiLCJhIjoiY21jbHdmZmZmMGV3dTJpcHR5cWcwOHhzdyJ9.Z-XMMh_nFDjm8FUyB2tZ_w'

hotdogsalesman 308 days ago | |

pk usually means publishable key - should be fine

throwaway2037 308 days ago |

First, congrats on your self discipline.

Second: About running just one mile in a single day: Does have any physical benefit? (Yes, I know you run more than one mile on many days.) It would take more time to change in to/out of your clothes and shoes than run a mile. Plus it only burns 100 cals. Can you imagine someone writing here that they only swim 9 mins per day... Or bike 9 mins per day?

fivestones 307 days ago | |

Yes. It does have physical benefit.

Here’s a study called “Minimum amount of physical activity for reduced mortality and extended life expectancy: a prospective cohort study” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21846575/

From the abstract: “Compared with individuals in the inactive group, those in the low-volume activity group, who exercised for an average of 92 min per week (95% CI 71-112) or 15 min a day (SD 1·8), had a 14% reduced risk of all-cause mortality (0·86, 0·81-0·91), and had a 3 year longer life expectancy.”

Of course 1 mile a day is less than 15 minutes for most people, but that 92 min per week is just 13 minutes 9 seconds per day. I’m guessing with the long runs he’s over this when measured weekly.

There are other corroborating studies too.

Here’s from “Association between Bout Duration of Physical Activity and Health: Systematic Review” (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6527142/)

“Additional evidence was identified from cross-sectional and prospective studies to support that bouts of physical activity <10 minutes in duration are associated with a variety of health outcomes…The current evidence, from cross-sectional and prospective cohort studies, supports that physical activity of any bout duration is associated with improved health outcomes, which includes all-cause mortality.”

calcifer 308 days ago | |

> Does have any physical benefit?

Compared to what? Sitting on the couch, snacking on chips? Of course.

xenocratus 308 days ago | | |

Compared to letting your body fully rest during that day (perhaps in between longer runs).

joduplessis 308 days ago |

I'm not running so much anymore (foot injury) - but for the last 15 years I've spent an hour+ on the road or in the gym 5 - 6 (sometimes 7) days a week. Also through sickness, injury, etc. It's changed the way I view being alive and healthy - I actually consider it "chronic medication" :) Kudos to the OP though - that's some mad dedication.

brnaftr361 307 days ago |

I love this, kinda vindicated my behaviors. I won't run in thunderstorms and I have trouble justifying getting out once the temperature tips above 80. Looking at such a disciplined runner I see similar traits. Unfortunately these are both frequent occurances where I live.

Of course that may also just be due to locale.

no-reply 307 days ago |

Fascinating. I wonder if this is all run time or a mix of running+walking? I started running recently three days a week and this is my schedule-walk 5 mins , run 22 minutes, walk 5 minutes, another 22 min run, and then a final 5 min walk.

I cover about ~4 miles or so depending on my pace. I increase my running duration every other week by a few minutes.

shahzaibmushtaq 308 days ago |

You collected and logged all 3653 days of data through a device or manually by typing/saving it where initially (excel sheet) after each new run?

The details are astonishing.

Can you tell how you managed all of this so gracefully? Were you working on this idea from day 1? When did you buy this domain?

You even saved and displayed a few dozen live map coordinates as well from 2016 onwards.

import 308 days ago | |

Most of the well known GPS watches supports GPX exports.

dmazin 308 days ago | |

Strava and GPS watches and Apple Watch make this really easy, even back in 2015.

shahzaibmushtaq 307 days ago | | |

Thank you! I wanted to know from the author.

serial_dev 308 days ago |

I really appreciate the website, it's amazing!

How do the runs end up on the dashboard? Is that Apple Watch / Strava data that you automatically or manually export? How many different systems did you have to integrate? I assume you don't necessarily used the same app or watch to track your running ten years ago that you use today?

piyiotisk 307 days ago |

I am interested in your experience with nextjs vs vanillajs, html etc. the site seems simple enough that it could be done using just html etc. I have this dilemma, using vanillajs vs react. If you can share your thought process it would be awesome. Thanks and congrats on the 10 years of running!

Zaylan 308 days ago |

Running every day for ten years is impressive enough on its own. What really stands out to me is how you turned the whole thing into a structured, data-driven project. The way you blended life and tech feels genuinely inspiring. It's not just about running, it's about how you choose to spend your time.

_zagj 308 days ago |

> heart procedures

Do you have AFib, by any chance? Congratulations on your streak, regardless.

EDIT: in another comment, you mentioned:

> I needed a cardiac ablation a couple of years ago

So I guess that's a yes? Was that when you were averaging 5.3 miles daily that one year? For those unaware, there's a well-established link between excessive endurance exercise and AFib.

friggeri 308 days ago | |

Not AFib thankfully, I had a few sporadic SVTs while running (it’s however unclear whether exercise was the original cause, or if it was congenital and started manifesting while running).

Thankfully the ablation took care of them and I haven’t had an episode in a few years.

_zagj 307 days ago | | |

Thanks for your reply, and good luck with your streak and your SVT staying in remission.

aanet 307 days ago |

Well done! Very inspiring. And a lovely app too. Excellent visualizations. Though the low-contrast is a bit hard to read/see.

Do you also use Apple Watch (or other smartwatch) while running? If so, in your experience, do the run stats match up with Strava?? How different are they?

bix6 308 days ago |

Congrats! Why don’t you ever take a day off eg for recuperation or during some of the more serious issues you mention?

friggeri 308 days ago | |

Jogging a slow mile is pretty much "a day off" these days

jimlawruk 308 days ago |

Great job. The website is well done, too. I had a streak of about 400+ days several years ago which I ended the day after a marathon. Today I take off when I am sick or the day after a long race. The morning coffee doesn't taste right unless I run beforehand. :)

igouy 307 days ago | |

I find the coffee tastes better when I clean my teeth after the run :-)

agcat 312 days ago |

Love it! How did you stay motivated?

friggeri 311 days ago | |

At first it was all about the challenge of doing one more day.

After about two years the streak became part of my identity, which might sound a little unhealthy. It’s easier to just head out and jog a mile or two than to let the number go back to zero.

This being said, it’s made for interesting conversations with medical professionals – I needed a cardiac ablation a couple of years ago and my electrocardiologist came to an “agreement” (as in she didn’t forcefully dissuade me from doing it) that I could jog a slow slow slow mile late in the evening the day after the procedure, as long as I kept my heart rate down and I made sure I was being mindful of my puncture sites.

sim7c00 311 days ago | |

just want to second this. and realy, antarctica?? how?? i mean, apart from the logistics etc , ... is it runnable? i can hardly picture it in such harshness!

joshvm 308 days ago | | |

Speaking for the US stations, in the summer you can run outdoors. I don't want to say many people do, but there are always some.

Here's me from a few years ago, to give an idea of the clothing required https://icecube.wisc.edu/news/life-at-the-pole/2021/01/week-...

Even at the South Pole, we have a 5k "Race Around the World" at Christmas, and a marathon shortly after New Year. In 2022, someone did an ultra. It's compacted snow/ice. Not easy terrain, but doable in your average pair of running shoes (with wooly socks). For the race events we normally ask someone to drive round the route a few times to compact it a bit more. On the coast at McMurdo there are routes that are more like traditional trail running - dirt/gravel, hills. I assume other stations are similar.

The more intrepid folks gave up when it got to around -50C and then it's treadmills until sunrise and it warms up again.

There's also a more pay-to-play marathon: https://www.icemarathon.com/ ($22k)

tempestn 308 days ago | | |

Those might've been some of the treadmill runs. Also looks like they were all one-milers.

moomoo11 308 days ago |

Very cool. I can’t run (bad knees) but I’ve been making a habit of walking at least 30 min a day, and goal of 90 minutes.

I’m happy to have hit that goal this past week, and your post inspired me to make every week a successful one in that regard. Thanks!

Cheers, best with everything!

patrickhogan1 308 days ago |

This really inspired me. I think I will do one on basketball.

Great work on data collection for 10 years. Quantified self tracking into a universal format is still really hard.

What tracking sensors do you use that input into Strava? (e.g. Garmin, Apple Watch, built in iphone, etc)?

friggeri 308 days ago | |

It’s changed over time: I first used MapMyRun with my iPhone, then switched to Strava on the iPhone, then got a garmin, and nowadays an Apple Watch. I’m super grateful for Strava to exist, if only as a repo of all my workouts.

HexPhantom 308 days ago | |

Would be super cool to see a "no days off" streak in a skill-based sport like that

alalonde 307 days ago |

Reminds me of those "birthday challenges" I see a lot of here in the mountain west: e.g. climb 25 pitches on your 25th birthday, run 28 miles on your 28th, etc. Gets a lot harder (or more contrived) as you get older!

MOARDONGZPLZ 308 days ago |

I’ve always wanted to do this, but I fly to Singapore from the USA about annually. That means that I essentially skip a day (take off on day 1, land on day 3) so can’t qualify for the streak. Also why I couldn’t do the 366 day streak in one year.

paulcole 308 days ago | |

Will Shortz (NYT crossword editor) had a table tennis streak that was going to be affected in a similar way.

> You cannot fly from New York to Bangalore without missing a day in the calendar. So I flew to Dubai and stopped there for two and a half days, played table tennis at clubs there, and then flew on to Bangalore. I’ve been to China and Japan multiple times, and, because of the time change, the flight leaves New York at, say, 11 a.m. and gets to China or Japan late afternoon the next day. So I play early in the morning, like seven or eight, go directly to the airport, fly to Beijing, get off the plane, and go directly to a club to keep my streak alive.

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/w...

pinkmuffinere 308 days ago | |

I don’t think this is true! Days of your life are (imo) not defined by the date line, but by the 24-hour periods you experience. If you accept my rules, then as long as you always have flights shorter than 24 hours, you can still run on sequential days.

Edit: you could also potentially run on the plane. I admit that would be pretty weird though

PaulDavisThe1st 308 days ago | | |

I ran on the Queen Mary II, every day, across the Atlantic :)

Much easier than a plane, though.

zylepe 308 days ago | |

A friend of mine is on a 25 year running every day streak. He flew to Australia and landed 2 days after taking off and said that day “never existed for him” ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

bot403 308 days ago | | |

I like your friend's rule. If a guy literally runs every day, through stress fractures, flu, winter snow, thunderstorms, etc, I'm going to cut him a break on an international flight and continue to celebrate his streak with him.

ropable 308 days ago |

I'm inspired. I need to start trying for this sort of consistency with resistance training. While I'd never advocate for "no days off", a lifetime of progress is built on a lifetime of participation.

igtztorrero 308 days ago |

Bike to run. Bike helps strengthen your knees, and it's very easy to target Zone 2, which achieves the highest calorie burn rate. This is how I got back into running after a meniscus injury, without surgery.

reducesuffering 307 days ago | |

Zone 2 doesn't have the highest burn rate. It's just easier to maintain it longer. 1 hour Zone 2 burns more than 30 in Zone 3, but 30 in Zone 3 burns more than 30 in Zone 2.

igtztorrero 306 days ago | | |

You're right, I should have said: cardio zone 2 is where you achieve the highest rate of FAT calorie burning, since zones 3 and 4 primarily burn glycogen. For chubby people like me, who work 8 hours a day sitting down, the best way to stay in shape is to burn fat.

Trixter 305 days ago |

I have posterior tibial tendonitis, and will never run (or walk without pain for more than 10 minutes) again. I am happy for you, in a bittersweet way.

ahalimah 311 days ago |

Do you have the source/pipeline available? I love the design and would want to do something similar for my own runs.

Congrats on the decade! Did you ever focus on specific metrics or was it always just about the run?

friggeri 311 days ago | |

Unfortunately I ended up winging the data processing, so it was mostly a pile of adhoc scripts. The incremental update pulling from the Strava API is a little cleaner, but would require significant work to open source.

The only thing I ever really cared about was keeping the streak going, everything else has come second. I dropped out of a trail running trip after a fall because I felt that even though I could continue, putting too much mileage on my knee would jeopardize the streak.

seany 308 days ago |

You need a angular histogram (like WORKOUT ACTIVITY BY TIME) but for miles per direction ran. Doesn't really need to be more granular than 3 cardnals long to be pretty interesting.

GZGavinZhao 308 days ago |

I don't have the tenacity to run strictly _everyday_, so as a middle ground I don't run when it rains at anytime during daylight.

Of course the effectiveness of this rule depends on where you live :P

kazinator 308 days ago | |

In particular, the access to indoor treadmills.

rubansk 308 days ago |

decade streak is legit impressive. just hit 30 days of 5k myself. some might scoff at the number of 1mile days but dragging yourself out when you're busy or exhausted is rough.

anon191928 308 days ago |

"Running over 30 miles a week for probably my first five, six years on Tour pretty much destroyed my body and my knees,” Tiger Woods said.

So in 4 years it might be really bad? Be careful.

nluken 308 days ago | |

Just running 30 miles a week is not enough to cause damage in most people. Tiger was also doing hours of professional-level golf training every day at the same time.

matwood 308 days ago | |

7 miles/week vs. 30. And this doesn't count all the other physical stresses Tiger put on his body, like the insane torque he was able to generate swinging a club.

Even if the poster walked a mile day, that's only 20 minutes and barely hits the recommended exercise time.

I feel like anytime these threads pop up about someone staying physically healthy a bunch of people come out the woodwork to make it sound like they are hurting themselves. I'm not really sure why.

seizethecheese 308 days ago |

The pace chart looks very close to a normal distribution, cool!

wjholden 308 days ago |

I feel very inspired by this, thanks for sharing! Didn't know this Run Streak Association existed but now I want to join. Congratulations on your immense achievement.

michaelhoney 308 days ago |

I love this! BTW you are selling yourself short on your 5K personal best. The time listed (35:35) is your best 5 mile, whereas your best 5K is a respectable 21:20

Zeetah 308 days ago |

I'm all on again, of again runner.

I was in the on phase, and we decided to get a puppy. She lives to sniff, run, and explore. So, looking forward to a long streak!

unixfox 308 days ago |

How do you manage to always find the free time for run even though the conditions doesn't allow it? Like for example if you take a flight of 16 hours.

randlet 308 days ago | |

I'm not a run streaker, but am an avid runner and if you "only" need to run a mile you really only need to find 15min in a day to keep your streak alive.

fivestones 307 days ago | |

Once I did 5k running with my son in mostly empty terminals of an airport while on a layover. We were training for a race and didn’t want to miss the day.

The 16-17 hour flights from the US to Asia are really hard to manage when you are trying to run every day. Depending on when you take off, you may be in the air an entire calendar day, based on starting the flight in the time zone were you leave in the US and ending it in the time zone where you land in Asia. (Like Singapore airlines flight 23. Takes off 10:15 pm from New York on a Wednesday and lands 19 h 15m later on Friday morning 5:30 am in Singapore.) Either you decide that your first run in Singapore is going to be on New York time, or you say running in place on the plane is going to count, or you don’t take that kind of flight.

Flying the other way is easy to keep your streak with though. Take off from Singapore at 11:35 pm and land in New York at 6 the next morning (18 1/2 hours later)

distances 308 days ago | |

I don't want to speak for the OP, but most people don't take a 16 hour flight ever in their life.

matwood 308 days ago | | |

Yeah, 16 hours is crazy long. I would add that I found the best thing to do on both sides of a lengthy flight (say 6-8 hours) is exercise.

iancmceachern 308 days ago |

Running has been good for me and my folks too.

It doesn't have to start big, you can start by running down your block once a day and go from there.

Start small, think big.

sciencesama 308 days ago |

do you have code it on github ?

albatrosstrophy 308 days ago |

As someone who' just counting steps, I'm genuinely curious what's your average steps per day? And how many steps over 10 years?

nelox 308 days ago |

Honest question. Why is it imperative you run everyday? What would it mean for you to not run for day or everyday?

DanOpcode 308 days ago |

Is it possible to toggle from miles to km?

johncole 308 days ago |

This is incredible, really nice work. How do you deal with physical injury and giving yourself time to heal?

rocauc 308 days ago |

both the endeavor and the site are super cool - congrats on 10 years. interaction on the graphics would be a nice touch to select into a specific run. went looking for the code on your GH! https://github.com/friggeri

_jholland 308 days ago |

Obligatory Tom7 recommendation: [How I ran the length of every street in Pittsburgh: PAC TOM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1c8i5SABqwU).

In this "expert mode running" video the protagonist, Tom Murphy VII, of computer science comedy YouTube fame, runs 3661 miles across 269 runs in this mammoth 16 year project to run every street in Pittsburgh, thus "completing" it Pac Man style.

If you are not familiar with Tom7 and his whimsy, I cannot recommend enough that you check his videos out.

reader9274 308 days ago |

What shoes do you use? How often do you replace them? How are your knees holding up after ten years?

loeg 307 days ago |

Some neat visualizations. I have a fondness for every-day running (I used to participate).

HAL9OOO 307 days ago |

Cool site man! Do you have the project on github to self host/play around too?

junon 308 days ago |

These graphs are gorgeous, visually and otherwise. Really well done display of information.

high_priest 310 days ago |

SVGs? So, some of the staistics graphs do not update, or have you made them dynamic by hand?

chrisxlucas 310 days ago |

beautifullllllll—both the streak and the stack. Love how lightweight the architecture is for something so personal and long-term. Curious if you noticed any patterns in the data that surprised you once you visualized it?

mvkillu 311 days ago |

Love it!

I will hit one year mark in a couple of weeks. Currently maintaining stats in a Google spreadsheet :)

https://vijaykillu.com/

friggeri 308 days ago | |

Congrats, that’s an amazing milestone!

BatmansMom 307 days ago |

10 days in antarctica? Why were you there? Were these all treadmill days?

urda 308 days ago |

(oh no this was on the wrong comment and alas past the delete window ha).

efilife 308 days ago | |

I don't understand how this is related, can you explain?

urda 308 days ago | | |

Hah oh my this was on the wrong HN article I had open. Thank you so much for kindly pointing that out.

countfeng 308 days ago |

I admire your persistence and it's something I should learn from.

YuvalFishbine 309 days ago |

That's awesome! any tips for people who are just starting out?

GZGavinZhao 308 days ago | |

Not OP but I've been consistently running for ~4 years (consistent := >=200K every month). The #1 advice I'd give is start short, start slow, e.g. start with 1 mile and as long as you're not walking you can consider yourself running. It's about finishing, not about speed.

Also unlike many people I know, I don't listen to anything while running. Running is a time for me to think about stuff that I'm too busy to think about during the day (e.g. contemplating life issues or is 1*0=0 because of 1 or 0)

kccqzy 308 days ago | | |

I would say that starting slow is more important than starting short. And the important part of starting slow is having a full acceptance of slow running as valid running.

I used to think anything slower than 10:00/mile is jogging and doesn't qualify as running. This harmed motivation since when I was just starting I couldn't actually get faster than that every single run.

faeyanpiraat 308 days ago | |

I always hated running, but months of nagging by one of my colleagues (who does marathons) I started doing it, but keeping it short and slow for now.

My first jog was like 500 meters, and I was exhausted, but I've did like 20 more sessions since then, and I see a steady increase of distance I can go before I reach my first point of exhaustion.

Now I can go 1000 meters, and recover faster, and I even feel slightly generally better during my everyday life.

Since I'm not pushing myself too hard, it is actually kind of enjoyable and even though I do not have a regular routine, never before I had the spontaneous urge to jump up from my chair at the end of the workday and go running with a smile on my face.

__turbobrew__ 308 days ago | |

When you exercise try to stay in heartrate zone 2/3. This may mean walking up a hill as many people cannot start running and keep their heart rate down. Many who try to run get discouraged as they go too hard and blow up their heartrate which makes for a unpleasant experience.

Over time the speed and duration you can run will get better but your heart rate will stay the same.

I would recommend trail running as it is much more dynamic and you are less likely to get overuse injuries like people who run on concrete for many miles get stress fractures. Bonus points you get out in nature.

igouy 307 days ago | | |

Our heart rate will not stay the same when we run.

Our expectations change. We learn to expect a faster heart rate.

fifilura 308 days ago | |

When I started out (3y into my streak now), the magic happened in some more or less distinct stages.

On week four "I am really doing this". And on week 12 "impossible to stop now".

Aim for those and you will be unstoppable.

elric 308 days ago | |

Don't buy into the "couch to 5k" hype. Instead, try "none to run" and don't be afraid to take it even slower than the programme suggests.

friggeri 308 days ago | |

Like others said: take it slow, invest in the long term, and most importantly learn to listen to your body. Best of luck in your journey!

hackeraccount 308 days ago | |

If you run regularly there'll be nice days. The temperature will be 55F with no breeze and cloudy enough so the sun isn't annoyingly bright. You'll feel great the whole time and the only regret will be that it wasn't a longer run.

Those aren't the days that matter.

The days that matter are rainy. They'll be bastard hot and humid. Cold and windy. You'll be annoyed because you don't have time. Something will hurt and there'll be a thought in the back of your head that maybe if you skip today (and the next run too?) then you'll feel better.

Those crap days are the days that count. Those days are money in the bank. Enough of them and you get great days. Every day like that is a day where you can think that running for you is like a smoke to a pack a day man. It's not something you do it's something you are.

lippihom 308 days ago |

Love how you laid (layed?) everything out. Super clean site.

MarcelOlsz 308 days ago | |

Reminds me of this one guys site from way back on HN that had tons of biometric data hooked up into a futuristic live panel. Wish I could remember the URL.

pocketarc 308 days ago | | |

Is it https://howisfelix.today, by any chance? I remember that being here.

maxglute 308 days ago |

This is beautiful. I wish you lifted 10 years ago!

downrightmike 307 days ago |

How many shoes do you go through in a year?

dcreater 308 days ago |

Everything about this is absolutely wow

edverma2 308 days ago |

This is so cool. Congrats on ten years!

avkpatel 308 days ago |

Developer version of Forest Grump.

Bulbasaur2015 307 days ago |

you are an inspiration. what does your running gear & shoe collection look like

zkmon 308 days ago |

I envy all runners. I tried running many times, on consecutive days as well. After running for a minute or so, I start getting a burning sensation in the chest and I gasp for breath. I must stop and sit. After resting for a few minutes, I can repeat the same. However I can do fast walking for an hour. I suspect this is some condition that I have, rather than lack of practice. So I don't push it. Anyone thinks this is normal? Also I'm not sure if running for longer time is so much needed if I do walking.

randlet 308 days ago | |

Talk to your Dr obviously, but you may just be running too fast. There's lots of Couch to 5k programs that start off with 30s run intervals with walking in between.

With running you need to play the long game and slowly build up your pace, total mileage, and number of weekly training days. It's hard to be patient, but it seems to be the secret to minimizing training injuries.

Manuel_D 308 days ago | |

Take a much more gradual increase in intensity. Start walking for 5 minutes, then speed walking for 5 minutes, then light jogging, etc.

Alternatively, try cadio exercise on a machine. Personally I like the elliptical machine way more than running. Mostly since I can watch Netflix and other videos while I do it. But it also lets you regulate and monitor intensity more effectively than running.

_Algernon_ 308 days ago | |

It took me at least a couple of months of regular running before I could run consistently on flat terrain without taking walking breaks (and almost a year to consistently manage long up-hill sections).

Consider taking it much slower and do intervals between walking and jogging (I'd do it by feel instead of timing exactly). Over time increase the proportion you jog.

krzat 308 days ago | |

It's normal. Run slow and have breaks every minute. It will improve pretty fast (every run will be slightly but noticeably better than the previous one).

ideashower 308 days ago |

Damn. I want to try this, now.

jimbokun 308 days ago | |

Well you can go out and set a one day streak right now!

queeey 308 days ago |

Such pretty visualizations!

cyberge99 307 days ago |

Did you ever have a day where you just jumped on the treadmill and ran a few steps and said, “eh, technically that counts” and ended the run early?

citizenkeen 307 days ago | |

See the note about the one mile runs.

turing_complete 308 days ago |

Do you never get sick?

winterrx 307 days ago |

Insane dedication.

alexozer 308 days ago |

Tried starting a "run every day for a year" initiative last year. Wish it was for me, after 42 days I realized that I actually actively despise running and spend most of my time not running dreading the next one. Easiest habit I've ever dropped :(

HeartStrings 308 days ago |

Is this healthy?

sjmulder 308 days ago | |

Running through illness and injury isn’t, otherwise why not. But I don’t think that’s the point. It’s challenge to yourself.

Anduia 308 days ago |

> every. single. day.

No logs for May 1st, 2021, what happened that day?

friggeri 308 days ago | |

That was a bug :)

faeyanpiraat 308 days ago | |

You monster!

fungibletaco 308 days ago |

amazing

timzaman 308 days ago |

Very cool, but running 1 mile really can't be considered a run of course. So don't reallt see this as ran-every-day-for-10y. Nice vis tho!

the_gastropod 308 days ago | |

This is such funny gatekeeping. I don't know what % of the U.S. population could even run 1 mile at all without stopping, but I'm certain it's well under 50%, much less do at least that every day for 10 years. This is an impressive feat. For real, shame on you for crapping on this person's very respectable achievement.

- load chess problems (look at a diagram before getting out the door) and try to solve it while running. Sometimes, I solve it the first 5min, sometimes I get frustrated because it turns out to be too difficult. - practice polyrhythms. you have a dominant cadence while running, now impose others on top of it.