2010 Running Goals

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.

2009: 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.

2009: 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.

2010 Running Goals – March Review

Thanks to Marathon Maiden, I am committed to reviewing my 2010 running goals on a monthly basis … keeps the feet to the fire. I’m a little late for February, but I thought it made sense to wait until I had another race under my belt before providing an update.

General Fitness/XT: Status Quo. Trying to ratchet up the core work beyond simple planks, twists and dead bug exercises. If anyone has suggestions, I would be forever grateful.

Running Club: Done. Very proud member of Central Park Track Club.

Training Mileage: 2,100 miles (175m/mo.) On track. 175.1 miles in January and 171 in February. March is off to an ok start with 40 miles during a race week.

PR: 2 for 2. I beat the old HM and 5k PRs in the Manhattan HM and Coogan’s 5k, respectively. Next opportunity is the Scotland 10k on April 3rd.

5K: Sub-22:00 (vs 23:52 current PR). Done. I’m glad I took another look at the 2010 goals. I almost forgot that my initial goal was sub-22:00 and later revised to be sub-21:41 (sub-7:00). Despite a couple of mishaps you may have read about (ha!), I hit that goal (6:54). That said, in my mind (and based on the Garmin splits from Coogan’s 6:37, 6:56, 6:56) I believe my 5k pace is 6:45 or sub-21:00. If I had distributed the same effort more evenly and not done so many stupid things, I would have broken 21:00. I have one more chance to prove this theory with a 5k in late August. Although, my (irrational?) hope is by that point in my training, I will be closer to Ian’s sub-20.

10K: Gunning for sub-45:00 (vs 52:03 current PR). Incomplete. This is the next challenge. I may regret doing this, but I’m raising the bar here … 10k goal is no longer sub-45. Instead, I want sub-43:00 or 6:54. Yep, my new 10k goal time is the same as my recent 5k time. Why? First, the April 3rd 10k is on very familiar ground … Central Park. Second, while CP is hilly, it is not nearly as bad as the Coogan’s 5k; or maybe more importantly, I know how to run the CP hills more efficiently. Third, if I believe my 5k pace is 6:45, then the difference between 5k and 10k should not be significantly wide … ~10 seconds per mile in this case. Fourth, while I am seeing incremental improvement, in the next couple of months I do expect to see a more definitive leap from running with the club (or so I have been told to expect one).

HM: Gunning for 1:40. Incomplete. Put down a 1:48:33 in January. Grinding out another nearly 9:00 of total time is a big jump. Next opportunity is in May. In reality, this goal will be further revised after I run the 10k in April.

November 7, 2010 NYC Marathon: 3:30 or Death! No. Other. Options. Incomplete. Honestly, I’m not even thinking this far ahead.

2010 Running Goals – April Review

After a couple of races in April, it’s time to review the 2010 running goals.

General Fitness/XT: Changed My Tune. My issues with XT or joining a gym are time, commitment and cost. I won’t make the necessary sacrifices to justify the cost to join a health club. However, I live very closely to spin/cycle shop which I could attend maybe once a week with no long-term commitment. (Note: I don’t have commitment issues – been happily married for a long time) I’m not sure why I didn’t think of this earlier, but then again, I don’t pretend to be the brightest blub on the tree. The benefits are obvious … reduce pounding while still working aerobically. I may try it this week.

Running Club: Done. Very proud member of Central Park Track Club.

Training Mileage: 2,100 miles (175m/mo.) On track (sort of). 175.1 miles in January and 171 in February. March = 171, but I started tapering the last few days of the month for the 10k. Knowing that mileage will ramp up 10-15m/mo. for NYCM training beginning in July/August, I’m reasonably confident that I’m on track for 2,100 total. Then again, I’m not even sure if this is a relevant or productive goal anymore. I set the goal before joining CPTC and becoming generally more intelligent about this running business. Right now, I am in the midst of a mileage reduction / break, so April will have a low total.

PR: 4 for 4. I beat the old HM, 5k, 4-miler and 10k PRs in the Manhattan HM, Coogan’s 5k, Scotland Run 10k and City Parks 4-Miler, respectively. If I decide to run a 5 miler this summer (scheduled to run a Father’s Day race) that will be the last 2009 PR from which I can benchmark. All other scheduled races will be compared to earlier this year which will provide a stiffer test. I will then be able to compare the impact of running with the club more accurately. In fact, my next race is a 10k (May 15th) which will compare nicely to Scotland 10k last month.

5K: Sub-22:41 (vs 21:24 current PR). Done. We’ll see how the summer progresses, but I don’t think I will run another 5k road race this season. Again, there are not that many in NYC. There is one more in August, but it would be the 3rd consecutive weekend of racing (Team Championships 5M, Bronx HM and then the 5k). Therefore, it’s very doubtful that I run that particular 5k. I’ve never run a cross country race and there are a number of 5k’s later in the year, but I don’t know how I will feel around NYCM training. So it remains to be seen.

4M: Sub-26:00 (vs. 31:25 current PR). Incomplete. While I termed the City Parks 4-Miler as “The 1st corral / Blue Bib Race,” it kind of lost it’s luster when I received both for that race. Still, to ensure placement going forward, I felt like I needed a sub-26:00. Well, I missed that (27:08), but heading in the right direction. I may get another attempt at a 4-miler in July.

10K: Sub-43:00 (vs 44:57 current PR). Incomplete. While I ran my guts out for the Scotland Run 10k, I wasn’t even close to sub-43:00. I’ll have a few more shots at it in 2010, starting with the Healthy Kidney 10k on May 15th. I learned a lot during the Scotland race. Hopefully, I’m able to run smarter and incorporate those teachings into the next 10k. My overall goal has not changed, but I may need to attack it incrementally. Sub-43 is the “stretch” goal, but maybe sub-44 is the realistic goal. That feels right. Also, killing myself on May 15th does not make a ton of sense considering I have the Brooklyn HM 7 days later.

HM: Sub-1:35. Incomplete. Put down a 1:48:33 in January. In order to feel reasonably comfortable that BQing is possible on 11/7/2010, I’ll need a sub-1:35. Next opportunity is the Brooklyn HM on May 22nd.

2010 NYC Marathon: 3:20:59. Incomplete. It’s all about BQing, baby.