It’s that time of year … time to reflect and project! 2009 was a year of transition. In essence, it was the tale of two running seasons.
January – August
I committed to running the required 9 races to gain guaranteed entry to the 2010 NYC Marathon (there is a one year wait to gain guaranteed entry). However, in hindsight, I can honestly say I was pleased with the results of only 2 races … the only 5K I ran (23:52) and a 10K (52:03). The latter was a PR. After each of those races, there was a sense of accomplishment. Of the remaining 7 races, I felt like I was just checking a box (and wasting a lot of money). Again, hindsight is 20/20, but I undertrained for racing season and it showed as my race times steadily decreased as Spring turned to Summer. Outside of a 110 miles in March, I never hit triple digits from January to July. The bottom line is that I was not serious enough, nor was I committed to really compete. My fitness was okay for a casual runner, but I wasn’t even close to being prepared for the training, much less actually running, a marathon. Therefore, I backed out of running the 2009 NYC Marathon for charity.
In August, my running life changed dramatically during and after the NYC Half Marathon. I woefully undertrained (20-25 mpw), but managed to finish (without stopping) in 2:13:58. My unrealistic goal was sub-2:00. Something had to change, DRASTICALLY, if I wanted to feel good about this running thing.
September – December
Game On! I committed to not running another race (or wasting any more money) until my fitness was at a more competitive level. Marathon Maiden said it best in her year-end review when describing her approach to races:
“I don’t know how obvious it is or how clearly it comes across in my blogging but I race to race. I don’t sign up to “have fun”. I sign up so I can run hard enough to want to puke my guts out when I cross the finish line.”
In short, in the fall, I got religion. The monthly totals tell the story:
| September | October | November | December |
| 171.6 | 200.1 | 176.4 | 175.3 |
Some folks run for fun. Some folks run to stay healthy. I have finally accepted, admitted and committed that I run as a competitive outlet. Yes, running is fun. Yes, running is a healthy activity. But I am not running 170+ miles per month for just joy. I want to kick ass in the 2010 race season. I try to tone down the competitive streak in other aspects of my life. However, with running, I am turning the regulator off in 2010. And to be clear, when I mean “competitive” it’s only me against me. I’m not competing against anyone in particular. “Keeping up with the Jones” in general is silly, but it’s downright dangerous in running. Nearly everyone I keep constant contact with on this blog, RWOL and friends are far beyond my meager abilities. So I only care about how I’m progressing against my own goals. Which brings me to my goals:
I’m still deciding if I want to run the 9 races for guaranteed entry in the 2011 NYC Marathon. Right now, I am incredibly frustrated with the high entry fees and piecemeal scheduling of New York Road Runners. I have 5 HMs in mind, plus a couple of 5Ks and 10Ks. Nonetheless, I am seriously contemplating running the 2011 Chicago Marathon and just running races that interest me in 2010 without the handcuffs of running when NYRR allows me to run. Anyway, on with the goals!
– Long-term: I would love to run the 5 major marathons (NYC, Chicago, Boston, Berlin, London), plus the MCM. I’ve got to start somewhere and that “where” is NYC in November 2010, likely followed by a Spring 2011 marathon to get me ready for either Chicago or New York in the fall.
– General Fitness: I would like to incorporate XT, but it will be tough. I am stretching that 24 hours a day thing as it is and just cannot foresee squeezing in lifting weights, biking, etc to an already compressed schedule without sacrificing mileage. I will start going old school with push-ups, etc. at home, but that’s likely to be the extent of it. I will definitely keep up and hopefully add to the core exercises.
– Running Club: I have 2 clubs in mind and have training runs planned with each before I decide which way to go. This isn’t a 2010 goal. This is a first 2 weeks of January 2010 goal. This is something that is long overdue.
– Training Mileage: 2,100 total miles compared to 1,435 this past year. This really isn’t a goal. This is just a flat out requirement. I’ve hit minimum 175 miles per month since September, so I can keep this up. Also, I need to better incorporate speedwork on a more consistent basis.
– PR: I want personal records in the 5K, 10K and Half Marathon. I have loose targets for each of those. As for 26.2, I’ll save that for the last line of this post. In 2009, I ran a number of 4 and 5 milers. None of that this year. I want to crush the traditional races. My first opportunity is January 24th for a HM in my home park. My fitness is light years head of where it was in August, so if run a tactically smart race, I should be okay to PR and get rid of that 2:13.
– 5K: Gunning for sub-22:00 (vs 23:52 current PR). I’m not sure how realistic it is because I have never trained for a 5K. Back in February, I just ran it and up popped the result. Since my focus is distance, I never really thought twice about it. Now, a 5K is my warm up so I’m a bit nervous about how quickly I can get out of the gates on shorter distances now.
– 10K: Gunning for sub-45:00 (vs 52:03 current PR). Same deal. Realistic? Maybe. Maybe not. That’s taking 7 minutes off my current PR. I got work to do!
– HM: Gunning for 1:40. This is potentially dangerous since I will get my first test in 3 weeks. I’m not expecting anything near 1:40 on January 24th, but I would like to see serious improvement from 2:13. What’s that number? I don’t know yet. However, I do plan to run 5 HMs this year, so for one of them, I need to put it all together.
– November 7, 2010 NYC Marathon: 3:30 or Death! No. Other. Options.