I’m stealing a page out of johndubs playbook and going old school for my yearly recap…bringing it back to the old Philly running blog. Seems like a good metaphor for where I see my running going next year, because there needs to be a bit of a retrenching after the Philadelphia Marathon.
But first, a quick recap of 2010, which really started in December of 2009. After a great half marathon last November, I decided to train for a spring marathon, pretty quickly picked the National in DC and jumped right into training. I started training with the West Chester crowd in earnest in January. This was good for a few reasons: 1) crazy track workouts, 2) good crowd for long runs and 3) a group of folks that have become good friends and great motivators. The National went OK. My goal was a BQ (at least a 3:15) and I finished with a 3:25, a 20-minute PR but short of my goal. Signed up for Broad Street, re-started training and focused on the next BQ opportunity, Wineglass marathon in Corning, NY. A ton of training over the summer with a small hiccup along the way (as Charlotte decided to join us 8 weeks early, also taking me out of HTC) led into Wineglass. And another disappointing finish, although another PR at 3:22. A wisely aborted attempt to run the AC marathon left me with Philly as my final BQ opportunity of the year. Despite a good month of training, my legs were spent and I DNF’ed at mile 17. So where does that leave me?
The good? A great new group of friends…similar to the heyday of the PR group in Philly. 23 minutes of marathon PR’s. New found discipline at the track. A year of constant training with no meaningful injury (this one is huge…maybe the best part of the year). My first marathon(s) since 2004.
The bad? Simple. Still unable to get over that last hump. I feel like I’m right there. Race and track times tell me a 3:15 is more than achievable. But I’ve been unable to translate those times at the 26-mile distance. It’s not even about Boston anymore, but a lingering feeling that I’m still not running up to potential.
2011? Well, I have a few goals in mind. For now, I’m on zero mileage. I did a few runs after Philly, but just didn’t feel right. A couple of weeks off have me feeling great. All the little nicks and aches and pains are going away. But I’m looking forward to the coming year. My primary goal is to start enjoying my runs again. By mid-summer last year, everything felt like work. And as the marathons approached, every run felt like punching the clock. So I need be careful about that in early ’11.
As for concrete goals…a few. I would still like a 3:15 marathon. I would like to PR at the half. I’d love to run a 100 mile week at some point. So we’ll see. I’m planning to run a local 5K on New Year’s to get the year started right. I’ll go from there.
But first, a quick recap of 2010, which really started in December of 2009. After a great half marathon last November, I decided to train for a spring marathon, pretty quickly picked the National in DC and jumped right into training. I started training with the West Chester crowd in earnest in January. This was good for a few reasons: 1) crazy track workouts, 2) good crowd for long runs and 3) a group of folks that have become good friends and great motivators. The National went OK. My goal was a BQ (at least a 3:15) and I finished with a 3:25, a 20-minute PR but short of my goal. Signed up for Broad Street, re-started training and focused on the next BQ opportunity, Wineglass marathon in Corning, NY. A ton of training over the summer with a small hiccup along the way (as Charlotte decided to join us 8 weeks early, also taking me out of HTC) led into Wineglass. And another disappointing finish, although another PR at 3:22. A wisely aborted attempt to run the AC marathon left me with Philly as my final BQ opportunity of the year. Despite a good month of training, my legs were spent and I DNF’ed at mile 17. So where does that leave me?
The good? A great new group of friends…similar to the heyday of the PR group in Philly. 23 minutes of marathon PR’s. New found discipline at the track. A year of constant training with no meaningful injury (this one is huge…maybe the best part of the year). My first marathon(s) since 2004.
The bad? Simple. Still unable to get over that last hump. I feel like I’m right there. Race and track times tell me a 3:15 is more than achievable. But I’ve been unable to translate those times at the 26-mile distance. It’s not even about Boston anymore, but a lingering feeling that I’m still not running up to potential.
2011? Well, I have a few goals in mind. For now, I’m on zero mileage. I did a few runs after Philly, but just didn’t feel right. A couple of weeks off have me feeling great. All the little nicks and aches and pains are going away. But I’m looking forward to the coming year. My primary goal is to start enjoying my runs again. By mid-summer last year, everything felt like work. And as the marathons approached, every run felt like punching the clock. So I need be careful about that in early ’11.
As for concrete goals…a few. I would still like a 3:15 marathon. I would like to PR at the half. I’d love to run a 100 mile week at some point. So we’ll see. I’m planning to run a local 5K on New Year’s to get the year started right. I’ll go from there.
posted by jim at
5:37 PM
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