Wednesday 2 January 2008

Goals for 2008


Good riddens 2007! After an injury-plagued and unmotivated year, my only real achievement was the Devil o' the Highlands and one whole second off my 10K PB.

I melted in Paris, pulled-out of the Great Scottish Run, got blown away in Prestonpans and lost the will to live during the Polaroids. I had no structured training plan and simply hammered out mile after mile. Ironically I still huffed when I didn't improve my race times.

This year is going to be great. I'm embracing speed work, making every session count and ditching the junk miles. One-pace Debs no more... don't quote of on that though (Jill).

So here goes...

Marathon: For the last two years, this has been my main focus. Unfortunately, I've never really had a good shot at a good time. Soaring heat in Berlin (06) and then again in Paris (07) really threw me. This year I plan on running the London Marathon in April and (injury prevailing) the Loch Ness Marathon in October.

Half-marathon: This is my favourite distance. PB set in Great Scottish Run in 2006. Messed up quite a few last year, so didn't really get close to breaking it.

10K: This is my least favourite, as I always find them too frantic. Actually I tend to avoid these races. There's no flexbility. Every second counts. Even little hitches like hills, water stations, breeze, corners...can have a huge impact on time. My "first" 10K is next weekend at the Jack Crawford in Bishopbriggs. Here's hoping.

According to my new running bible (the competitive runner's handbook) the best way to set goals is to break them down into flexbile chucks and then again by time frame.
 
Race Distance
10K
PB : 48:42    
  Acceptable Goal Challenging Goal Ultimate Goal
Short Term
(30 days)
47:59 46:42 46:15
Intermediate (Within 3 months) 47:30 46:30 46:00
Long Term
(within 1 year)
46:15 45:30 44:59
Race Distance Half Marathon PB : 1:46:15    
  Acceptable Goal Challenging Goal Ultimate Goal
Short Term
(30 days)
N/A N/A N/A
Intermediate (Within 3 months) 1:45:30 1:43:45 1:42:00
Long Term
(within 1 year)
1:43:00 1:41:30 1:39:59
Race Distance Marathon PB : 3:48:48    
  Acceptable Goal Challenging Goal Ultimate Goal
Short Term
(30 days)
N/A N/A N/A
Intermediate (Within 3 months) 3:44:59 3:40:00 3:37:00
Long Term
(within 1 year)
3:39:00 3:34:00 3:29:59
 

West Highland Way: And for the Big Yin, I just want to live to tell the tale. My main aim is just to finish in one piece. And if I were to finish in one piece in under 26 hours, I'd be delighted.

2 comments:

Davie Bell said...

good luck I hope you achieve your goals, by the way i,ve added you and marcos blog links to mine been using my free time to update my blog.

catch ye!
Davie

John Kynaston said...

I like the way you have set out your goals. I hope you make them all especially the big one - whw race in under 26hrs!

John