What are your (immediate) goals?

[ilanarama]

Let's talk about running goals. These can be simply time or distance (like, to be able to run 10 miles, or to be able to run 3 miles without stopping, or to run a mile in under 10 minutes), or a time goal for an upcoming race.

I've got a half marathon coming up in just under two weeks. I've been really focusing on this one, because I've run it twice before, each time with a time a bit more than two hours. This spring, I have been training really hard, and I have a number of goals:

Fallback goal: better than 1:56 (my current half marathon PR)
Stated goal: better than 1:50
Seekrit goal: 1:48:xx
All the stars align and someone throws magic pixie dust on me: better than 1:48

I try to set multiple goals for every race. Usually I make my stated goal (but not always; last time I did this race my goal was 2 hours, and I missed it by nearly 4 minutes), sometimes I make my seekrit goal, and I have never made my pixie dust goal but that doesn't stop me from trying!

Comments

[gnomad]

Hmm...well, the immediate goal is to get comfortable doing a continuous 5k. I'm also seriously thinking about signing up for a 10k in October to give me something to plan toward; I do well with deadlines. Plus I'd really love to try build toward longer distances. And, well, in my head 10k is long.

Good luck with the half marathon!

Hello, *waves*

[blnchflr]

10k in RL is a lot longer than 10k in my head! It surprises me every time how hard it is :o)

Re: Hello, *waves*

[gnomad]

Hi! It is good to know I'm not alone. When I first started running a 5k I thought it was insanely long. I had been doing the Couch 2 5K podcasts, which are time based, and when I finally looked up how far I was going each time and realized it was only about a mile and a half. *facepalm*

[ilanarama]

A friend of mine who does a walk/run program (the Galloway method) is working on that, too. She can walk/run a marathon but can't run for a whole 5K - but she said that she is pushing her run intervals longer but running them more slowly, and shortening the walk intervals, and it seems to be working.

10K is a good distance! I have only ever run one 10K and I screwed up the pacing and came in with a terrible time, so I am looking for a rematch.

[gnomad]

She can walk/run a marathon but can't run for a whole 5K - but she said that she is pushing her run intervals longer but running them more slowly, and shortening the walk intervals, and it seems to be working.

This gives me hope!!