2014 Recap

This year flew by! It seems like I just wrote my 2014 goals a few weeks ago. Running wise I had a good year. Lets start off the new year by looking back at recap of my 2014 running year.

2014 Races

May 9-10: Cape Cod Ragnar 

I had a blast doing my first Ragnar with people I did not really know. The hills of Cape Cod were a killer. I did not know what to expect, but it is a tough, challenging and fun experience.

May 31:The Original 5K

My first 5K ever! Usually this is were a lot of people start, but I ended up going a different route. I did not know what to expect, but I wanted to run a good race. The gun went off and I ran as hard as I could and it felt really hard. I guess I did not expect a 5K to be difficult. It ended up being a good race and gave me the confidence fr the rest of the running season.

June 6-7: Chicago Ragnar 

This ended up being a challenging Ragnar for a few different reasons. The first reason it ended up being difficult is the heat. We were not prepared for it to be as hot it got and the first few legs were rough for all of us. The second reason it ended up being challenging is because I had a wedding to attend on Saturday afternoon! I am thankful the group ended up working with me to get me to that wedding on time so i could enjoy it;even if I were extremely tired.

Chicago Marathon

This is by far the race of the year for me. I changed my training program and went with the Hansons Marathon Method. The plan gave me a lot of confidence and despite my longest run being 16 miles, I felt extremely prepared for the race. Race day confirmed everything I thought and I felt great. I loved the program so much that I even convinced a few of my other friends doing marathons to use it. Not hitting the wall is a great feeling in a marathon. I am looking forward to my next challenge.

Thanksgiving Day: Evanston Flying Turkey 5K

Another 5K! I did this with a few of the students that I help coach at the high school I work for. This is definitely the coldest race I have ever done. Despite having a great running year up until this point, I had not really trained for anything since finishing the marathon. This is another race where I just ended up running as fast as I could and seeing how it goes;it went well! Things seemed like they would go wrong because my shoelaces came untied within the first few minutes of the race and I got really annoyed, but I had to keep moving. The race ended up with me finishing third in my age group.

2014 goals

Beating my race times from 2013

I accomplished this with my marathon this year.

2013-3:47:40
2013-3:15:12

Now I have a 5K PR-19:54

I did not do a half-marathon or 10-miler,so I will try to beat those times in 2015.

Run with others more often

My running community and friends definitely grew. I ran with others more, but this is something that could definitely improve. I did most of marathon training solo, but when I got a chance to run with others, it felt good.

Stay healthy 

This happened for the most part! When I say for the most part, I mean that nothing seriously went wrong that forced me to take time off.

More races

This kind of ended up happening with adding the Ragnar's and 5K's to my race calendar in 2014. This is also due how things are going financially and sometimes I could not justify paying for races when other things needed to be taken care of.

Read more blogs

I still need to be better about this. There is a lot to learn from others runners.

2014 total mileage: 1886

Marathon training

Hello! It has been an extremely busy month with traveling and work, so this has gotten neglected. An update on a few of things will be coming at some point, but the most recent thing that is going on is marathon training! Lets go back to May and run through some things that had been on my mind.

One of the first things that came to mind is what marathon training plan I would use?

A-

I really had no rhyme or reason for choosing this book. The only thing that I really knew about the plan is that the longest training run is 16 miles. A friend and I ended up at a book store one day and I decided to purchase it. This is not to say that the Hal Higdon plans have not worked, but trying new things is never a bad thing. The book taught me a lot and it has not left my side since it came into my hands.  I even got a few friends to do the program with me! 

Could I handle an increase in mileage and running six times a week?

A-We are finding that out right now! As I have gotten to know other runners, increased mileage is part of training, so I knew that it had to happen. Running six days a week also seemed challenging, but after reading the book, it is not as much hard mileage that it sounds like. A lot of the miles are spent are what the trio calls "easy miles (a minute or two less than goal marathon pace). That's another thing that is important about the Hanson Method;it really stresses proper pacing and hitting those numbers consistently. Commitment is also a huge part of the program because workouts are placed in order for a reason.

View from the Ann and Roy Butler Trail in Austin, TX

What I looked like after my first run in Austin.
That's commitment, right?

The next question that had to be answered is what were some realistic goals for the marathon?

A- Reading the book and training with the team I coached allowed me to set some goals that are very reachable. Last year I had a time of 3:47:40 and definitely thought that could be improved up and came up with a goal of 3:20. There are charts in the book that help you determine what paces you should be hitting during your runs, speed workouts and strength workouts. Below are some of the numbers that I should be hitting on some of the runs: 

Goal Time: 3:20

Easy runs-8:38

Tempo (marathon pace):7:38

Strength:7:28

Even though speed and strength workouts (i.e. mile repeats) are not listed above, I am and will be doing them. Speed work is new to my training plan and so far it has been a lot of fun doing them. 

What shoe will take me across the finish line?

A- Probably the New Balance 870 or Brooks Ravenna 5. Both shoes have been good to my feet and will make a great choice. If I were forced to make a choice today, it would be the 870. It is definitely one of my favorite shoes that I run in right now.

How is training going so far?

A-My body is tired, but I am loving it. My first tempo run is tomorrow and it will be interesting to see how it goes. Wednesdays are my new favorite day of the week thanks to the scheduled days off. 

That's all I have for now! How is marathon training going for you?