I didn’t get a chance to blog on Christmas day because I was hard at work instead of enjoying St. Nick. We had a great christmas and got spoiled as usual. I managed to get two runs in over the last two days on the treadmill. I kind of re-kindled my relationship with it. I tried a couple of very specific workouts and listened to music which took away the painful monotony I usually suffer from on the mill. I’ve been thinking more and more about speed vs distance and what kind of running I’m interested in. When I started running I was keen on running a full marathon. I’ve come to realize that you need to focus your training on a specific aspect in order to be successful at both. I still want it all speed and distance, so I’m going for it. haha This leads me into my improvements for next year that I started last post…
Improvement #2: RUN A 10K IN 40 MINUTES
Last year I ran four 10K races as sort of a warm up for my half marathon. The first race was Huntsville and I was solely focused on finishing the race in one piece. I didn’t really have a race strategy or know much about fuelling or pacing. I ran three other 10K’s and each one improved my finish time and I learned lots about pacing and race strategy. My PR is 48:53 which I achieved at the Oasis Zoo run in Toronto. I plan to run some 10k’s throughout my training for the longer distances. I really like the distance because its long enough that you need to fuel and pace or you’ll crash and burn but short enough that you can push yourself to the end if you crash early. I need to focus on speed work more this year. It hurts but its worth it!
Improvement #3: RUN A HALF MARATHON IN 1:35
I’m planning on running three half marathons next year. The first one being in Marco Island Florida in March. I haven’t decided on the next two races yet, but I’m throwing around the idea of one out west but with a new baby on the way, its all up in the air now. I’d like to have at least two months in between each run in order to recover and peak properly for the races. Its important to build on your training in between each race but there’s a fine balance between rest and training. After my half in October, I took two weeks off running and than another two weeks of “fun” runs before starting another program and it seemed to work well. I had a few pressing injuries that healed up nicely after rest and stretching. I ran the Scotiabank half in 1:47:40. I feel like a pushed myself to the limit in the race. I was starting to get some leg muscle issues in the last km or two and had to really bare down to finish. I thought during the race that I started too slow but its really tough to tell as I finished strong but completely out of gas. Cutting 13 minutes from my time is daunting but I’m up for the challenge.
Improvement #4: COMPLETE A FULL MARATHON
I’m still not convinced that I have what it takes to run a Full marathon. It’s one of those things that I believe anyone can complete if they run slow enough. But I don’t have that slow pace in my blood. If I’m going to run it I’m going to run it my absolute best. I’m planning to Run the Toronto Scotiabank Marathon in October. Although, I did put my name in the NYC marathon lottery, so if I’m successful at that we will be off to NYC in the fall. I’m planning to start training in July and run my third half marathon in the middle of the program.
2014 is going to be a wild ride. A new baby and lots of running….I’m super excited and maybe a little nervous!
Keep on moving,
JA
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