2011: A Race Odyssey

Well everyone, the year of 2011 is almost upon us. For us runners and athletes that means two things: goal setting and race planning. While a lot of you have likely already done this at least in your heads, it's always a great idea to get your goals and races for the year down on paper (or white board, website, napkin, whichever). I tend to plan my next year out in October or November. Everyone does their differently. Some plan out way in advance while some do it on the fly. Either way is perfectly OK.

 

What I'm going to go through here is more or less my thought process for planning out what at first glance appears to be a rather ambitious undertaking for the new year.

 

First things first, assess current personal status:

 

• How fit am I currently?
• Am I crazy? Probably. That's a different post though.
• What fitness goals do I want to attain? Faster splits? Longer runs? Weight loss?
• How many races and at what distances can my body realistically put up with during the year?
• How much racing can I afford? This is a big issue. Races cost money. Bigger races cost more money. Budget accordingly. Or rob a bank. Whichever. No one's asking questions here.

 

After you take all these factors into account, you can start making a race schedule to suit your personal goals.

 

For me, I would love to get a little faster this year and maybe set a couple longer distance PRs that I haven't touched in a while, mostly in the 10k to half-marathon range. The two "milestones" I'd like to attain this year are running a sub-4:00 marathon and completing a half-Ironman distance triathlon. Sounds ambitious for me. With smart race planning and training, it can definitely be done. The races below are my "A" races for the year (except the first one). I'm sure there will be quite a few other ones during 2011, but the ones below are the ones I'm focusing my training on in 2011.

 

The training goals:

 

• Log at least 3,000 all-purpose miles: 1,000 running and 2,000 cycling
• Improve swimming technique and speed: bring my swimming ability up to par with my running and cycling
• Improve recovery and stretching habits. I can't emphasize the importance of this enough.

The races:

 

1/30/2011 - Warrior Dash Florida

 

This is just a fun race! I mean really, who wouldn't want to run through fire, mud, rivers, and obstacles on a beautiful Sunday morning?

I wish this was coffee. Or at least pudding.

 

2/27/2011 - Gasparilla Distance Classic - Half Marathon - Tampa, FL

 

The goals for this race are dual purpose. I want to PR and I want to see how I feel after the race as an idicator of how I'll perform during a 70.3 triathlon. I've never run this race before, but it's pretty big from what I hear. The course looks flat and fast and ripe for a PR picking. I'm just gonna hope that there's some cool air coming off the gulf that'll provide some pleasant race conditions. Race goal time: 1:31:30 (6:59/mi pace).

 

3/12/2011 - Gate River Run - 15k - Jacksonville, FL

 

This race and I have a bit of a history. Most of that history involves the Big Green Monster (the Hart Bridge at mile 8-9) sucking my will to live at the end of this race. This is one of those "maybe I'll PR if I'm feeling good" races this year. However, I do want to improve on my 1:05:58 15k time from September. Race goal time: 1:03:00.

I must break you.

 

5/15/2011 - Florida 70.3 - Half-Ironman - Orlando, FL

 

OK, this is where it's gonna get rough. Definitely exploring some new frontiers with my triathlons here. I feel confident that I can complete this distance. However, I'm not confident in being able to complete it strong and "on my terms," so to speak. This race is gonna kick my ass and I know it. It's around Disney, so how bad can it really be? Don't answer that. Race goal time: 5:00:00

 

10/9/2011 - Chicago Marathon - Marathon - Chicago, IL

 

My dream race. I've been wanting to run this for 3 years now. I'm really happy for the opportunity to travel here and meet up with a bunch of friends from dailymile and have a fun weekend. On top of that, I WILL PR this. My IT band blew up the last marathon I ran (Disney 2010 4:41) and I'm going to make sure it's not going to happen again this year. Smart training and recovery are key. Race goal time: 3:40:00.

 

Have a great 2011 everyone!