Sunday 2 August 2015

The Next 17 Months

So after the disappointment of DNF'ing the Outlaw Iron Distance race, I have had a week to mull over what my future exercise plans might be. I have registered an interest in both the Outlaw full and the Outlaw Half next year, but having given it some thought I don't want to commit. The hours I need to dedicate to do myself justice, particularly for the full are too high and so the remainder of 2015 and all of 2016 will be dedicated to beating all of my significant running PB's.

I broke my 10k PB in May this year, but have since let my run fitness go, and so I don't expect to PB for the remainder of this year. The five months that remain of 2015 will be used to build up my mileage and have me in tip top shape come January 1st. I have already booked some races for the tail end of 2015, namely:

Sept - Grunty Fen HM. Running with my Dad, looking to get him round in sub 2.5 hours.
Oct - Southend 10k. Will see what shape I am in here. Will look to run this hard and use it as my start point.
Oct - Bristol to Bath Marathon. Have a 12 week block to get myself in shape. The way I feel after today's 9 miler I will be happy just to break 4 hours, but funnier things have happened.
Nov - St Neots HM. Have heard great things about this race, and I love the Half Marathon Distance. It's far enough away that I could run well there.

May try and get in a parkrun or in two as well. 5K's are a good measure of my run form and don't take a lot out of me.

2016 depends to some extent whether I get into the London Marathon. But even if I don't, I think I will enter a spring Marathon somewhere in the UK. I do have some races in my mind, but aside from the BUPA 10k, I don't think I have parted with any money yet. More specifically I have some time targets that I want to have reached by the time the clock strikes midnight on the 31st December 2016 they are:

5K - 18:59 - Current PB 19:21
10k - 39:59- Current PB 41:44
HM - 1:29:59 - Current PB - 1:30:05
Marathon - 3:19:59 - Current PB - 3:34:28

All of these are challenging some of them more than others, but I have generally averaged 20-25 miles in the 6 years I have been running and to hit these targets I need to be running 40 miles plus a week. As well as the PB's above I would like to tidy up some of my other times, namely 10,15 and 20 milers and I think those will come naturally if I hit the other targets.

It's a big ask, but I've put it out there and my team will do all they can to keep me on track. In the end though it's on me and I'm ready to hit my stretch goals. Let's go!