I have some pretty strong goals that I want to achieve in 2014. First and foremost, I want to run a sub 3 hour marathon and qualify for Boston. Once I knock out that goal, I want to run for my first 50 miler. Hopefully that will come in the summer or fall. Of course I'd like to PR at every race distance. The hardest one to do will be the 5k, which is 18:40. That said, I want to crush that. I want to run a sub 18 minute 5k, perhaps even better depending on how much progress I make. I signed up for the Super Bowl 10k in a little over a month, I want to push myself to try to run sub 39 minutes. At the very least, I want to break 40 minutes.It isn't just times that are important. I want to regularly run 70+ miles a week throughout the year. I'm not looking to bump up too much. Maybe I'd like to build into the 80s by the end of the year. I also want to run my first 100+ mile week at some point and see how I can handle that. In 2013, I ran over 1600 miles. That was with a very slow start and a lot of biking that I didn't count. I want to be more aggressive with my total mileage goal for this year. I want to run over 3,000 miles. That is tough (around 60 miles per week), but it is certainly doable if I remain healthy.
I think it is also important to give back. I know at some point, I want to coach. I've talked to a few friends about possibly coaching them. Even if I don't actually coach anyone per say, I want to help friends achieve 5 of their goals for the year. If I can do more, even better.
For now, I'm doing great with the way I'm training. I'm running a lot of long slow miles, with an occasional fast run mixed in. I have no training plan. That said, as I improve, I'll eventually have to develop more structure to my training. I'll have to have a true speedwork game plan. It would be a huge help to have someone to do hard workouts with too. For now though, I'm going to stick with what got me to where I am at.
Today was a fun way to start the New Year. The LVRR had a bunch of events. First off, a bunch of people ran through the freezing cold water of the creek by the clubhouse. I went and took photos. Since I was out there, I decided to join them for the group run to the top of the hill in Emmaus. It was a 5 mile loop. After that, they had a bunch at a nearby firehouse. That was a fun way to socialize with friends.
The run apparently used to be a competitive race between two clubs. That is what one of the guys told me anyway. Now, it was in between a race and a fun group run. I didn't plan to run hard. I brought my GoPro and wanted to get some photos and have fun.
I ran near the front and stopped early to get photos. Eventually, I passed a few people and was back with the 2 guys up front. I was actually behind them for awhile, until I picked it up a little to catch them. The first mile was a 7:42. That wasn't too hard, but it got me breathing a little.
I ran with the 2 guys for awhile. We all got to the hill. It was a good climb. I've done worse, but the tricky thing was not knowing how long the hill was. I couldn't quite keep up with the fastest guy up the hill, but I passed the other guy. He had run it before though, so he had the advantage of knowing where we were going. He passed me back near the top.
I was back a little bit by then, but not too far. I recovered fairly well. I saw the water/champagne stop at the top of the hill. The guys went through it, but I stopped for water and to take some more photos. I was in no rush. Originally, I kind of thought the whole group would stop there and hangout, but obviously that was not the case. I took a few pictures and let some people go by. I thought I waited a couple minutes, but based on my time, I figure that it was only about a minute.
I assumed that most of the remaining run was downhill. Therefore, I decided to take off and have some fun. I wanted to see if I could pass people. I thought there were a bunch of people in front of me, but I guess it was actually only 3. I caught the first guy somewhere between half a mile and three quarters of a mile from the top. He seemed surprised, especially with the way I blew by him.
At this point, I thought I was chasing at least 2 other runners and then the 2 guys up front. I thought I could get the first 2, but not the last pair. It turned out that I was only chasing the leaders. I flew downhill. I pushed and pushed and pushed.
I was having fun, but I couldn't see anyone up ahead. I was about to slow down and quit the crazy pace. Then at about 3.75 miles, I finally saw them in front of me on the downhill section. I had to push and push now. Mile 4 ended up being a super fast 6:02. Of course that was with taking advantage of the downhill.
I gained ground, but not as much as I thought I would. As I got closer, I realized it was the 2 leaders. That explained why it was taking a little longer to reel them in. I never thought I'd even get close to them. I passed a few of the slower people on the 5k route. I was breathing heavy by now.
I knew I was running out of time. The one guy stopped at the corner and I chased the other guy a little. I ran out of distance though. I also apparently turned at the wrong spot. You were supposed to run the loop in the park. Instead, I took the first road and went back near the parking area. It wasn't a race though, so it didn't matter. I ran an out and back until I got to mile 5.
Even with a stop at the top, the run was quite fast. I didn't stop my watch at all. The overall pace was a 7:21. My running pace might've even been under 7 minutes. I didn't plan on that fast of a run, but I was having fun chasing down the rabbits.
Tomorrow will probably be another easy run. I'm still unsure about the 50k on Saturday. It is supposed to snow tomorrow and that could throw a wrench in my plans. I'm hoping the storm doesn't bring too much. I'm also planning on a hill workout at the Fish Hatchery tomorrow evening. Hopefully the weather isn't too bad for that.
5 miles - 36:45 (7:21 pace)
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