Thursday, September 22, 2011

Making a Plan...

I know...

I just finished my first marathon (26.2 miles) on Saturday... like 5 days ago.  But for the past couple of days, I've felt aimless in my running thinking about where to go in the next few months.  I should be resting and enjoying the victory of completing my first marathon.  And I am... I am enjoying it on vacation.

But I'm also thinking about what's next.  I hate to not know what's next.

While we were in Dayton, Jackie and I were thinking about what's next.  She suggested that maybe we try to tackle the Bank of America Chicago Marathon next fall.  Which sounded great to me... I'd like to knock it off my bucket list of races (I'd like to knock Chicago, New York and eventually Boston off my list).

But taking on Chicago in October of next year left a gap in my racing year.

Then this morning, while on vacation, my friend Donnie suggested that maybe we should try tackling the Capital City Half-Marathon on May 5, 2012.  I thought, "Sounds good to me!"

So... Here's my plan for the rest of the year and 2/3 of 2012...
1. Finish my reverse taper and get myself back up to full speed again.  That should take me a couple of weeks, if I'm patient with myself... which might be hard.
2. Following the reverse taper, I'd like to hit my 5k time hard in preparation for a Turkey Trot.  My current 5k time stands at 23m 25s.  I'd like to see it drop down to about 22 minutes.  That'd be 7m 04s miles... setting me up to bust the 21 minute mark... maybe 20 minute mark next summer.
3. Finish the 2011 year strong... racking up 1,200 miles (currently I've got a little more 900).  That would be 300 miles over the next 3 months.  
4. Hit the training hard for the Capital City Half Marathon starting in about January.  My current half time stands at 2h 3m 52s.  I'd like to hit it hard... hill workouts... speed workouts... push my half time well below 2 hours.
5. Use the Cap City Half as a strong training ground for the Chicago Marathon next fall!  Train hard and shoot to break below the 4 hour mark.

Ambitious??
Maybe.

But it's a plan.  And I'm excited to have a plan.  Now, we'll have to see if we can pull it off.
Jim


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