Yup, it’s once again two weeks in to the next month when I get my ass in gear to look back on the prior month and how I’m doing with my 2011 goals.  But May was an awesome month, so it bears looking back on.  So there.

Prior Goals

1. Mileage – May; 116 miles.  Pretty good consistency with 117, 108, 117, and 115, respectively.  And still holding just above the 104.131456 targeted average for the 2011 kilometer challenge.
2. Race Weight – Definitely feeling better on this one.  I’m getting better at reducing my random snacking.  Not eliminating it, but reducing it¹
   At the end of May, I was back where I began April, so that’s good.
   
3. Cross Training – Slack.  Slack.  Slack.  I knew this would be my most difficult goal to stick with and I’m proving myself right.  Argh.  Weights, bike, and yoga were pretty much nil though May.  I really need to get back in the make this a habit.
4. Water – I’m keeping strong with my fancy new bottle that doesn’t drip on me when I drink.  At least 100 ounces a day; no problem.
5. Workouts, not just runs – I got in to a little bit of a groove in Gig Harbor, but got a few solid proper hill workouts in plus a couple of visits to the track.  Since we moved on to Concrete, WA, though, I’ve pretty much been running on a perfectly flat rail trail without much variation during the end of May.
6. 19:00 5k – Bullseye!  I really want to break a 19:00 5k, but according to the chip timer, I hit 19:00 dead on at the Great Kilted Run on May 22.  If you missed the write up, it’s here, but in summary, great race, fun event, and my 19:00 got me first in my age group, and third overall!  It also broke a PR that had stood for just over two years.
7. 1:32 half marathon – As reported in my “April” check up, I managed the Tacoma City Marathon half on May 1 in 1:29:56; not just 1:32, but sub-1:30.  Which means I’m officially allowed to start seeing my Marathon Mistress again.  Which brings us to . . .

New Goals

1. Another sub-3:30 Marathon – my 26.2 PR currently stands at 3:29:37, from last January’s Museum of Aviation Foundation Marathon.  Unfortunately, the three marathons I did later that spring, though qualifying me for Marathon Maniacs, got progressively slower.  A majority of my times are still in the 3:40-3:45 range, and my average is just over 4 hours².  I initially put myself on Marathon hiatus after realizing that my attempts to reach 3:15 (then BQ for me) were not reasonable based on projections from my fastest half, so I put myself on a half marathon speed goal (thus the 1:32 above).  So, my stretch goal for the marathon is still 3:15 (which is BQ again, now that I’ll be turning 35 this October), but I’m using 3:30 as a benchmark to reach first.
   To that end, I’ve registered for the Layton Marathon on October 8, and Las Vegas Rock ‘n’ Roll on December 4.  (Can you tell what route we’re taking out of Washington?)  I have, for a long time, been opposed to Competitor (the group that runs the Rock ‘n’ Roll series) events because they’re obscenely expensive and for-profit.  But I wanted to run Vegas before they bought the rights to it and when they made it a nighttime run this year it intrigued my wife as well as myself, so we figured it was time to give them a chance.
   I started a Runners World Smart Coach plan on June 6 to ramp up for Layton.  Based on my Tacoma City half time, it’s telling me to target a 2:54:50 marathon in October.  (?!)
   
   I don’t know about that pace, but so far the training is going well, so we’ll see how things look in September.
2. Sub-40:00 10k – It’s been almost two years since I ran a 10k.  My PR is 40:34 from the 2009 Run for the Shamrock in Eugene, OR, but the times I’m running for tempo runs in my marathon training have me hopeful that I can break that.  So far, I’ve only registered for one 10k, on July 1.  And as fate would have it, this year’s Canada Day Rock 10k is right near where we’ll be staying next week, and happens to be as close as a 7 day calendar can come to two years from my last 10k, the near-Canada Day Jo’s Road Race.  To avoid a repeat fo 2009’s embarrassment, I’m trying to learn the lyrics to Oh, Canada this time!
3. Blog about something other than my training – I really didn’t intend for this blog to become a personal training blog, but it seems to have done that.  I ditched the idea of a podcast because I wanted to record the random thoughts that occur while running, but lacked decent recording tools and breath too heavily.  I should probably find some other way to keep track of said thoughts to share, though.  Because, believe it or not, there’s more to the world of running than me.  There’s Usain Bolt on Top Gear, for example.
   
   Yeah, I know this happened two years ago, but so did my last 10k³. Just about two weeks before the original air date, apparently. Anyway, enjoy. And don’t skip part 2.