… and June, July, and August, too.

So I slacked a bit on keeping track of goals through the summer.  The first weekend of October seemed like as good a time as any to get back on the goal-seeking pony, so let’s see what’s up with my 2011 goals, eh?

  1. Mileage – The first five months of the year were pretty steady, at 117, 104, 117, 115, and 116 miles respectively.  In June, however, my marathon training plan picked up the miles a bit, so I stuck with that and left my “consistency” goal behind for the time being.  With 145 miles in June, 145 in July, 187 in August, and 162 in September, but goal will be to try and keep stead around that 115 mark for the last three months of the year.  Still plenty of miles above the 104.131456 targeted average for the 2011 kilometer challenge.
  2. Race Weight – A little bit of a yo-yo summer, mostly in August with visits to family and friends and the cookies and beer that go along with that.  Once my wife and I returned to normal life and cleared the last of our social encounters in Montana, we decided to go dry until we’re both done with our marathons.  Poof!  Just like that, five pounds off each of us.  Good thing to remember when struggling a few pounds from your goal weight.
    Big challenge for me will be this week, waning the food intake back along with the mileage taper.  Overall, though, I’m feeling much more like I’m at my “race weight” and post-marathon will try and building some amount of muscle.
  3. Cross Training – I’ve been spotty at best with this.  Spending July at a RV park in BC with a pool got me excited about swimming, but I lost momentum in New Hampshire when I realized I couldn’t even make it a quarter mile in open water.  Yoga has come and gone – lately I’ve been doing better getting in one or two routines a week, but nothing regular.  I think I burnt out trying to maintain a daily practice; now I need to find the balance of giving myself “permission” to not do yoga every day, but to still find the discipline to do it “often.”  Weight training was abysmal for most of the summer, but I decided in early September that as the marathon plan started the taper I would try and use that as initiative to start up a serious weight routine.  I’m focusing on upper body and core work and so far have maintained three workouts a week for the past two weeks.  This week might be light so as not to burn out for Saturday, but during recovery there’s no reason I can’t keep on the weight plan.
  4. Water – It turned out that my fancy new bottle did, in fact, drip, but I’m maintaining the habit and taking in 100 oz a day without thinking about it.
  5. Workouts, not just runs – Well, signing up for a marathon and starting the training plan back in June certainly made this easier to maintain.  I still don’t like having so many “easy” runs, but it ensured at least one long run and one speedwork or tempo run each week.  Since I got a little cocksure (see below) and added a few more marathons to my fall calendar, I’ll be focusing on speed work and hills in the time in between races.
  6. 19:00 5k – No, I didn’t break my 19:00 PR from The Great Kilted Run at the New Hampshire State Police D.A.R.E. Classic.  And that was my only 5k attempt all summer.  Breaking that 19 minute mark might get pushed to a 2012 goal.
  7. 1:32 half marathon –  (Tacoma City Marathon, May 1, 1:29:56)
  8. Another sub-3:30 Marathon – That training plan I started on June 6 culminates at the Layton Marathon this Saturday.  According to said plan, I’m supposedly capable of a 2:54:50.  But as I don’t smoke that much crack while training, I’ll target something in the 3:20-3:30 range and pick it up at the end if I feel amazing.  If things go amazingly, I’ve somehow managed to add two more races in between Layton and Las Vegas Rock ‘n’ Roll on December 4.  Back to back, on November 19 and 20, I’ll be burning out at the Mesquite Tri-State Marathon (St. George, UT to Mesquite, NV via Arizona) and the Valley of Fire Marathon.  I don’t expect to pull off a PR on Sunday, but should be able to push the time on Saturday on Mesquite’s mostly downhill course.
  9. Sub-40:00 10k – I’ve only had the one attempt at this over the summer; the Canada Day Rock 10k in White Rock, BC, but I only managed a 40:35 (or 41:06 on the official record).  It was a tough course with a few pretty significant hills, though, so I’m fairly confident that I can break that 40 minute mark on a somewhat more forgiving course.  That, too, though, may be a 2012 task.  Since someone went and registered for four marathons in eight weeks.
  10. Blog about something other than my training – Not much progress on this point, since I haven’t spent much of the summer writing anything at all.  But I’ve got a few drafts and ideas to work on, so hopefully there will be some progress here before New Year’s.
Share and Enjoy:
  • Print
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Yahoo! Buzz
  • Twitter
  • Google Bookmarks