Thursday, December 31, 2009

2009 Recap & 2010 Plans

The year comes to a close, so it's time for the recap. First up, and most importantly, my first complete year of injury free running! Amazingly, I managed to listen to my body enough to not turn any small niggling pain into a full blown injury. Either this means I am maturing, getting stronger or have just run out of things to injure. Whatever the cause, it allowed me to run consistently for 12 months and do 2,805 miles for the year.


The year started with me rebuilding mileage after 2008's sports hernia surgery, and training for the Ottawa marathon in May. This ended up not quite being the race I wanted with a really unpleasant finish and a 3:03:33 time. I sensibly reduced mileage right afterwards, and then rebuilt for Chicago in October. This one was a great race and I got the sub 3 (2:58:13) I had been aiming for in a race where everything just went right on the day. As part of the training for that race I also had a kickass half marathon PR in San Francisco with a 1:23:47 time.

After Chicago I cut mileage way back and focused on some shorter races, and managed to PR in the mile (5:02 on a very downhill course), 5K (18:13 on a flat, fair course) and 10K 38:05 (on an accurate course with a pretty good hill).

I still feel that sub 5, sub 18 and sub 38 were all within my grasp with a little more focus, but I guess I have some goals for 2010 already set for me!

Here's the recap of my 2009 goals...

Distance
  1. Goal
  2. Stretch Goal
  3. Super Stretch Goal
Marathon
  1. sub 3 hour [DONE 10/11 2:58:13]
  2. sub 2:55 - not attempted
  3. sub 2:50 - not attempted
Half Marathon
  1. sub 1:27 [DONE 3/16 - 1:25:28]
  2. sub 1:25 [DONE 7/26 - 1:23:47]
  3. sub 1:20 - not attempted
10k
  1. sub 40 [DONE 4/23 - 38:38, 11/15 - 38:22, 11/26 - 38:07]
  2. sub 38 - attempted twice
  3. sub 36 - not attempted
5k
  1. sub 19 [DONE 3/9 - 18:53, 9/27 - 18:23, 12/5 - 18:13]
  2. sub 18 - attempted twice
  3. sub 17:30 - not attempted
Mile
  1. sub 5:30 - [DONE 12/12 - 5:02* (downhill!) ]
  2. sub 5:15 - [DONE 12/12 - 5:02* (downhill!) ]
  3. sub 5:00 - attempted once
Looking forward to 2010, the plan is to only run one marathon, which will be Berlin in September. This is a fast, flat course and I'd definitely be shooting for a PR, and probably aiming to go sub 2:55 if training has gone well. With another solid year of training since Chicago, this should be achievable.

Along the way I'd like to see how close to 1:20 I can get for the half, and of course get those sub18/sub38 times for the 5k and 10k. I will also be looking for a steep enough hill to run a mile down in 4 minutes something! And one new race this year will be Bay to Breakers, which is 12k. Fortunately I am now old enough that my times allow me to join the seeded start, so I can race it Vs having to wade through 10,000 walkers, so that will most likely be another PR.

Other than that I'll fit races into the schedule where it makes sense, and try to run consistent mileage all year, probably coming in with a total of somewhere around 3,000.

2 comments:

Ryan said...

Alan, Congrats on a fantastic 2009 running year! Funny how our running seems to be so similar, with you of course edging me out. I tallied 2,800 miles even for the year. Similar to Chicago, you're right there in front of me. Guess I'll keep chasin' ya! I'm going for sub 2:55 in Little Rock, AR on 3/7/10. Happy 2010!

Henry Heavisides said...

Well done on achieving all of your 2009 goals & some of your stretch goals.