As I said a couple of weeks ago, I’ve really bitten off a lot of hobbies, so this year I’d decided that I was going to scale back the number of organized runs that I was going to do. As of right now, I’m registered for, or planning for, five races – while it’s a significantly lesser number than last year, it’s still a few more than I’d initially planned.
March – Syracuse Half Marathon
May – Toronto Marathon
July – Ironman 70.3 Muskoka
September – Rochester Half Marathon
October – Niagara Marathon
With two months in between, it’s a decent little gap, allowing for extra recovery and training time between each race. This year I have goal times though. The last few years I’ve been doing these, my goal has either been just to finish (in the case of the 70.3), or to just go slightly faster than the previous year, with the exception of Niagara, where I’d given myself an actual time to hit. While I consistently achieved the goal of going slightly faster than the last, they didn’t have structure to them. Which is why I’ve set the following:
Marathon – Goal: 3:50
At the end of 2023 my goal was to break 4 hours…. I came close, shaving over 20 minutes off of my previous PR, but still not quite getting there. I know what I need to do this time though, and it really boils down to hydration and more electrolytes the night before. I kept cramping at Mile 23, and those last 3 miles are what killed my goal.
Half Marathon – Goal: 1:40
This time cut is about proportional to that of my Marathon target, it’s about 12 mins for this distance, and 24 for the other. It’s doable, but for the half distance is going to require more speed training. My last two half marathons I definitely still felt like I had a lot in the tank still, likely because I’d been training for double the distance. Working to be able to put a harder effort into the run in the first place is going to take quite a bit of practice. I’m not likely to hit this in Syracuse, but by the time Rochester rolls around hopefully!
Half Ironman – Goal: 5:59
Last year I had no goal at all – the goal was to finish. This year, I’m targeting the cycling segment training a bit harder having purchased a trainer, and am dividing my training days into 2-2-2-1 segments; 2 days of hard running, 2 days of hard cycling, 2 hard days of strength and conditioning, and 1 day of active recovery. I think just with focusing 20% more on the cycling segment, I could significantly improve – this is about a 90% change in focus. If I can jump my average bike speed from the 16 mph I was averaging last year to 18 mph, and avoid cramping on the run, this is MORE than doable.
With any hope, these will all come to fruition.. I also have a feeling that these five will expand to at least eight if I start signing up for local 5k events too, and if people keep talking me into them.
Here’s to some fast runs in 2024!
Roving On 