Run Commuting

Maintaining high weekly mileage is hard in the same way that the middle miles of a marathon is hard. It doesn’t require a lot of effort or pain — just focus.

I float between 50 and 70 miles per week. While this is nothing compared to the pros looking 120 mile weeks, it can be hard to find the time and motivation to run alongside a busy work schedule. Perhaps you feel the same way.

Personally, I’ve found the best way to form habits, and high mileage weeks is a habit, is to make them automatic parts of your routine. My secret to high mileage is to run my daily commute. Ok, it’s not a secret — all of Strava knows.

If you live close to your office, I suggest you try run commuting!

Your first thought may be “that’s cool man but not for me”. And like a drug dealer pushing addictive substances, I say “try it once.” Don’t think about what it would feel like, or how tired you’d be at work, or anything else — just commit to trying it once, then decide whether you like it.

“Yeah, but I don’t want to smell all day.” I feel you. Your coworkers don’t want to smell you all day either. Try to find a gym near your office where you can shower (bonus: You can use the gym), or you may be lucky enough to have a shower in your building.

“Does this mean I have to run with my laptop?” Probably not. If you work at a small company, like I do, you can likely get away with using your personal laptop at home, and your work laptop at work. If security won’t let you work from your personal laptop, ask around to see if your company has an old corporate laptop you can borrow. This is what I did at my previous job — I kept a cheap corporate Chromebook at home.

“I don’t want to run with my clothes and shoes.” As popular as nude running is here in San Francisco, I suggest that you run with clothes =P. In actuality, you probably don’t need to run with a backpack of clothes — I bike to work once a week with all my clothes for the week, and bike home to bring back dirty laundry. As for shoes, just buy another pair for the office.

Have I convinced you? Probably not. Leave a comment with whatever questions and doubts linger, and I’ll see if I can help.

I run to and from work 2–3 days per week, and my round-trip commute is 11 miles. So I can boost my mileage by 33 miles a week with no additional time — the traffic in my city is so bad that running is faster than public transit, and takes only 15 minutes longer than driving. If you’re looking to boost your mileage on a busy schedule, give it a shot.