Tuesday, October 12, 2010

New Idea / Goal

So I have been giving a lot of thought to what I should do after my half marathon ... if I do not make a plan NOW, I am hooped. I need a running plan to follow and I do not want to lose all the work I have put into running. We are heading into a Canadian winter sooner or later (snow could start flying by the end of this month) so I need to be prepared as to what I can do versus what I want to do.

I want to keep my half marathon level up, yet there are no half marathon races again until May. This is also unrealistic as I do not have a treadmill and my running will be interrupted by the weather.

I have decided that after completing my half marathon, my next goal will be to crack 1 hour for a 10K and I have 17 weeks to do this. My sister photocopied this PR plan for me from her book, and after spending time looking at it today, I realized how good it is for me. I sat down and figured out my running schedule, using this as a guide and starting it a week after the Halloween Haunting. I am in the last few weeks of it when there is an 8 miler (13K) and an 8K in Waterloo in mid-February. A week later is the first race of London Honda Series - the Really Chilly 10K. In March, there is another 10K, the second race of the London Honda Series, on the Good Friday. I was not able to run these races earlier this year.

Also, when the Forest City Road Races roll around again in the beginning of May, I think I should aim for the 10K. I did the 5K earlier this year and I could be ready for the 10K next year. It is a nice measurement of my progress - 5K then a year later 10K and then I can aim to do the half marathon the following year (2012). I will be on my way training-wise for my first half marathon of the year by April, but not in time for this event. Not really a big deal since the half marathon in London is not as big an event as it is elsewhere and definitely not as scenic as Vancouver or Niagara Falls so I don't feel like I am missing anything.

I am also thinking that if my goal is bring my 10K time down to 60 minutes or less, I may then be well on my way to a 2:00 hour half marathon. If this is the case, then I think I would like to spend 2011 focusing on this (and maybe doing a few half marathons in the later summer and autumn) rather than pushing to do a full marathon next year. This goal I can savour and plan for 2012 instead.

I am faster but not by much with my pace since I started running. Rather than getting faster, I concentrated on running longer. This was the focus this 2010 - running longer so that 10K felt "normal" rather than "long". Last year, I ended my season with my first 10K. This year, I am virtually ending my season with a half marathon. Originally, I thought it would be cool to end next year with a marathon, but I think I would like to concentrate on my pace and get it into a faster zone before tackling a marathon distance incorporating my faster pace. I have NOT changed my mind about running a marathon - I am just changing my mind about what I want to accomplish before running a marathon. :)

These are my thoughts right now, and after giving it some more time to percolate, I will see where I am at after my half marathon in Niagara Falls .....

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