runners | December check-in

My only goal for 2012 was to get back into running shape, and I'm definitely making progress, although it would be nice if this @$#!%@ weight would start to come off. In October I ran six miles for the first time since probably 2000-ish, which felt great.

Next year my first goal is to work up to seven miles, and to keep improving my pace, which is still kind of pathetic. I wouldn't mind doing a 10K in the spring, just for something to work towards. And I'm thinking about doing the Chicago half in October, except that would mean not doing as much bicycling as usual in the summer. We'll see.

Yay for making progress! I will share with you my weight-loss secret: get the stomach virus that's going around! Um, not the most fun way to lose weight, though.

As you can probably guess, my advice for improving your pace is basically to run more mpw. That's great you've run six miles! Run it more often! Yay!

Yeah, thanks for the tip, but I think I'll try to avoid your weight-loss plan. [g] I think I need to get really strict with my diet for a while, but, honestly, I don't wanna.

You can totally still do a lot of biking and also run a half.

temve and I are proof of that! If you don't want to do the half super fast, you can totally do a lot of cross training that will help get you to the finish line - sort of a triathlon approach. Check some of the Half Ironman plans and see how much running they would have you doing - if you're doing as much or more biking than they recommend and as much running, then logically, you should be able to finish the half without having biked 56 miles before it...
Also, yay for running!

The problem is time, plus I refuse to give up strength training. Right now my running pace is just plain slow. If I can get down to 10-minute miles training for a half might seem more manageable, but that's not going to happen right away.

But we'll see how it goes. I might put my bike on a trainer after Christmas, but I'm happy to stick with running over the winter. In the spring I'll decide whether I want to put in the time for the half.

So, last year I said I was going to try again at my goals from 2011, since I missed every one that year. I'm pleased to report I have done much better in 2012!

My goals:

1) stay uninjured
2) run more miles this year than last year
3) sub-3:30 for the marathon
4) sub-1:36 for a half marathon
5) sub-21:40 for a 5K
6) get better at trail races

And my results:

1) WIN! No injuries!
2) WIN! I'm easily over last year's injury-depressed number, and also at slightly more than 2010's number, which was the real goal. I don't think I will beat 2009 with just 3 weeks to go, but it will be close.
3) WIN! 3:29:19 at Houston in January!
4) FAIL. But I ran my second-fastest and third-fastest half marathons this year, each at 1:38:xx.
5) WIN! 21:03 in April after just missing it with 21:44 in February.
6) WIN! I got course PRs on both the 14.75M Kennebec Challenge and the 17.1M Imogene Pass Run. I ran a lot of trails and it paid off!

So, 5/6, not bad!

I haven't really formulated my goals for 2013. Sub 1:36 half and sub-21 minute 5K, I think. I would also like to run a 50K! And of course, goal #1 - stay uninjured.

Woohoo! You had a great year, congratulations!

ps - I love your icon!

Edited (saw the icon after posted the response...) 2012-12-11 16:25 (UTC)

Thank you, and, thank you!

blnchflr made it for me a while back!

5/6 - very impressive!! You're a good example of persistence paying off.

Well, considering I was zero for six in 2011, I basically got two years to accomplish them all.... :-)

Your running year was awesome!

Oooh, 50K, sounds so alluring.

Oooh, 50K, sounds so alluring.

Hee, you need to run another half first...

It was an awesome year! I hope it's not my peak, and downhill from there on out...

My knee can't even handle a half, I'm just pretending it can, tsk.

Here are my goals from last year's post:
(I'm putting how I actually did after each goal in the list)

Races to finish:
Frankfurt 1/2 Marathon (Done, but slow - was anemic most of the spring)
Worms 111 Tri (Such a fun race, too bad it's not happening again this year, boo!)
Wiesbaden 70.3 (Hard! Also, sick during but still pulled a better swim and better run than last year's Eagleman. The bike was hilly and hard and took forever. But I finished, yay!)

Additional (read Time) goals:
Frankfurt Marathon in 4:10 or less (that's only 6 minutes less than the last one which was 12 minutes faster than the one before that) (4:02:30something !!!!!!!!!)

Write up race reports within a week of races :-) (well, for most of them this didn't happen, but I did write up Frankfurt and this year's Turkey Trot over at my running blog: lonwheels.wordpress.com)

Get a 5 km in under 25:20 (Mattituck Turkey Trot 24:42!!!! Another PR!)
Run the Frankfurt 1/2 in 1:55 (all my 1/2's hover between 1:56 and 1:58, so I think this is totally doable) Nope. Ran it in 1:59 and was happy to finish that well)

Train smart and take care of injuries. (For the most part I've done this. The second half of the year had no injuries (and the first part was a tailbone bruise from a bike fall rather than a stress injury. Since October I've been healthy again from the summer-long ulcerative colitis flare up that plagued my training. Still managed to get in and stay in pretty good shape overall.

GOALS for 2013:
Become an Iron(wo)man in Frankfurt.
Sub-4:00 marathon.
Keep blogging.
Get my little training group to races happy, healthy, and ready (that is right now, me,

temve, and 2 friends just getting into triathlon)

Edited 2012-12-11 16:26 (UTC)

Yay on making (many of) your goals! And yay on setting some good goals for next year!

I didn't have any running goals at the beginning of 2012. But during the year I ran my first three 5K races, and in early fall I gradually built up to running 20 miles a week. I'm very happy with those accomplishments.

And then my running fell apart when I got bronchitis. I had to miss what would have been my first 8K and 10K races, and I ran very little for the last two months. I'm over the bronchitis, but then it got cold, and I had oral surgery, and other excuses.

So my first goal is to run regularly again: I have set a start date of December 20th, for various reasons.

Goals for 2013:
- Run a couple of 10K races (I'm registered for one in May.)
- Improve my 5K time (get below 30:00?)
- Run a few trail races
- If all goes well, maybe a half marathon in the fall? Or plan for a half in spring 2014?

We will all encourage you in your goal to run regularly! And I think having some races already planned will help you do it.

My goals for 2012:

1. Keep running semi-regularly: Meh, effort was kinda poor, I think I ran less than in 2011.

2. Participate in races: I participated in maybe 5 races? So also a lot poorer than 2011, but better than nothing.

3. Work on just signing up for that half-marathon and just sucking it up: It can't have been terribly long after last year's post that I signed up for my half - and I ran it! Slow, but I ran it. And haven't run a lot since (it was in April).

…But I just now signed up for another half in spring 2013, yay? So my goal for 2013 is to train a tiny bit more for that than I did for the one this year.

Your goal should be to train a tiny bit more and run a tiny bit faster! Yay!

I'll be happy with a bit less pain the last two km :D

I didn't really have any fully formulated goals for 2012, but I'm very pleased with how the year turned out - I continue to get better at things and surpass my previous performance. 8 minutes off the half-marathon, something like 2 off the 5K, and coming second in my age group on the bike portion of the local sprint triathlon were the highlights for me this past year. Oh, and finishing the damn marathon so I can say I finished one!

Next year? Since this will be the first time I'll be in the same age group as

ell, my goal next year is to not be in all the same races as she! ;)

Actually, with the TriStar 111 not happening this year (that was supposed to be my season highlight), I think I'll focus on doing one or two nice Olympic-distance triathlons (which, despite the frightening name, is one of the shorter distances), and doing all the hardcore stuff as part of a relay team. Getting three co-workers to run a quarter of a marathon with me or being one third of a half-Ironman sounds fun without being too stressful. Because next year is all about being Slightly Sporty Woman in support of Iron Woman.

All right, and maybe I'll get my half-marathon time closer to 2 hours. That would be nice.

Yay for being pleased with the year, and getting better! And hee, I have other friends who are couples who also complain about being in the same category and having to compete against each other :-)

Coming in second in AG in the bike portion of the tri is AWESOME.

I appear to have not set any goals, which does make it easier! Anyway, I am still running, which was probably my main goal, although it's usually 3-5k with dog, so pretty slow. I did a quarter marathon and a couple of 5k events. I've had some medical issues that have made attempting to do anything more strenuous pretty much impossible, so it's really just keeping going.

I am currently doing a boot camp - 6-7 am three mornings a week, lots of old school exercises (push ups, sit ups, lunges, star jumps etc) and shuttle runs or hill sprints. I am two weeks in and hoping my quads will eventually forgive me. Trying to kick start myself back into a bit more exercise.

(Also, I love the lurking Santa hat!)

Yay for still running, anyway. Boot camp sounds tough.

And the lurking Santa hat was made for me by

blnchflr a few years back!

December check-in

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