Running Goals: 2012

In my last post, I talked about setting goals for the New Year, and how I've always been pretty bad at following through with that type of thing.  To that end, I thought I'd explain some of the things I'd like to accomplish in the next 12 months.  This will hopefully keep me honest, knowing that at least a few people are reading this (yes, you).


Race times
Long term, I'd like to break 46 minutes in a 10K, and hit 45 minutes as a stretch.  I'll mostly be racing 10Ks this year (thanks to the ORRC 10K Series), so this will be my main focus.  I'll probably do one or two 5Ks, and if I can break 22 minutes I'll be happy.

Assuming I'm able to do two half-marathons again this year, I want to get down to 1:47 or better.  I'd hoped to beat 1:50 in my last race (the Foot Traffic Holiday Half in December), but missed it by almost two minutes.

I think the biggest key to reaching these goals is...


Running Mileage
I started adding miles at the end of 2011, but not consistently.  For the last two months, I was averaging just over 20 miles per week, with some highs near 30 when I was training for the half.  According to Runner's World, I'm barely running enough to race 5Ks, so I definitely need to find somewhere to add more.

My weekday morning runs are very tight  because of work schedules.  I have about 35 minutes if I leave the door right as my wife comes in from her workout. This past year, I averaged 27-28 minutes, or about 3.3 miles.  (I have to factor in time for my running partner (left) to do what he needs to do out there.)

With a double once a week (Wednesday), all long runs at 10 miles or more, I should be able to get close to 30 miles per week.

Strength Training
I hit the weights three times in a normal week, but due to scheduling and other issues I sometimes drop that third day.  When trying to add mileage for the half-marathons, I sometimes dropped my Sunday morning weight workout.  My first goal is to maintain the three-day weight regimen.

Second, I want to make sure I'm doing at least two lower body exercises with each workout.  Up until a few months ago, I usually skipped the legs altogether to keep them fresh for running.  I don't think this was very wise, and I'm hopeful that weight-trained legs will make the hills easier and my finishes stronger.

Flexibility

I'm seriously tight. I try to stretch a little after my runs, and sometimes in the evening before bed, but I really need to make this a daily thing.  I'm going to stretch for 10 minutes or so every night, and do some key post-run stretches every time as well.

I think that sums it up for me right now.  I am thinking about how to address some more personal goals in a separate post.  For now, this one is going to be a bit of a reference for the rest of the year.

The New Year

"Last time I was here it was raining.
It ain't raining anymore."
-Ryan Adams, Dirty Rain



It is the first day of January, and my run this morning was dominated by the bright sunrise in a clear sky.  In this season of goals, resolutions, and the desire to improve ourselves, I was struck by the perfect appropriateness of this (not to mention nature's love for clichés).  I believe we find messages in things when we look for them, and that our expectations will define the message we find.  A man in a dour mood would call that sun blinding, for example, and point instead to the cutting wind as an omen of a cruel year to come.

That said, how could I not look upon the blue sky and golden sun without finding a sense of optimism for the new year?  It was as if nature herself were smiling hopefully.

I've never been one to embrace the "New Year's" spirit.  I like to think I am already committed to continuously improving myself (especially this past year), and that New Year's Resolutions are really just for people without the willpower to maintain their good habits.  Moreover, as my friend Tanya pointed out, these resolutions tend to "give [us] nothing but a self-worth disorder."  It has become a great joke that New Year's Resolutions are doomed to fail, like marriages where the spouses get tattoos of each other's names.

This these past few days, though, I've realized that there really is no bad time for resolving to improve yourself.  In the business world, the evangelists of continuous improvement are always looking for more bottlenecks to be unblocked and positive changes to be made.  By definition, continuous improvement is never finished.  The New Year simply provides a convenient time to set new goals and a convenient timeframe in which to meet them.  The smartest goals have a strict time component; while a deadline includes a risk of failure, the lack of one leads to procrastination.

This also led me to another realization about myself.  Sure, I'm an advocate of self-improvement and do look for constructive ways to make myself a better person.  But I'm terrible about setting goals, which is probably the single most effective way to make a change.  I am a master of procrastination, which is why I started this blog weeks ago and am only now adding another entry.

So, I'm going to use this "season" to set some concrete goals for myself, both in terms of running and a few other things (including keeping up with this blog!).  The running goals are pretty easy to make--I can couch them in terms of time, speed, or miles--but might be hard to hit.  I want to add at least five additional miles per week, and improve my 5K and 10K time by one and two minutes, respectively.  I'm looking forward to that challenge.  Personal goals are difficult, since they tend to be more abstract and the habits more deeply entrenched.  I'm also reticent about sharing some of those with the world, but I may change my mind about that.  I plan to share some of my successes and failures along the way, and also hope that putting all of this out in cyberspace will keep me accountable.

Finally, while we usually look to the new year as a time for positive change, it also reminds us that we can put the past behind us.  We can break bad habits, stop making the same mistakes, or take control of our lives where we thought we'd lost it.  Even when faced with challenges outside of our control, we have a remarkable ability to adapt to circumstance.  No matter how bad the night may have been, the sun is still going to rise on a new day.