As I wrote about earlier, I have mixed feelings about 2010. It was by far my best year for running, but it was also not all I was hoping for. I set PRs at every distance, but I didn’t break four hours in the marathon, and it looks like I won’t run 2,000 miles. Whatever. That is the past, this is the future.

Training Goals

I have started building a training plan for 2011. At its core it is a pretty simple – run lots, mostly easy, sometimes hard. Pretty simple. I want to build up to some serious mileage. Really serious mileage* and I have a battle plan to do that without getting my ass hurt. I plan to do a standard two weeks of increased mileage then a cut back week, then two more weeks of increase. I don’t plan on increasing by more than ten percent per week.

Additionally, as I do not plan on racing anything longer than a 10k until the fall, my training can be pretty consistent for a long period of time. A really prolonged period of high mileage weeks sounds like just what the doctored order.

One of my goals for the year is definitely to increase my week mileage, but I don’t plan on just racking up miles. Part of the reason I am sticking very close to the ten percent rule is because I also hope to incorporate more workouts into my plan.

A major piece that was missing from 2010 was workouts. Once I get my weekly mileage back up over 50 mpw I am going to try and do one workout a week. If my body is handles that ok, after a couple of months I’ll add a second workout. The workouts will begin with pick ups in the mid week long run and then progress to tempo runs. Maybe sometime next fall it’ll be time for real deal speed work, but not yet. What matters now is aerobic base and the way to get that is to grind out the miles and put the occasional anaerobic workout within a longer run.

Or at least that’s the plan. If the plan doesn’t produce results, I’ll change the plan.

Racing Goals

As I wrote in my 2010 recap, I don’t think I raced enough in 2010. I was too focused on the marathon, I didn’t set up enough races in between to gauge fitness, and that impaired my ability to focus. This year will be different.

First, I am only going to run one marathon this year, and it is going to be in the fall. Not sure exactly which one yet, but I am very tempted to go to one of the smaller races, like Bay State. We’ll see.

For the rest of the year I’m going to concentrate on the shorter distances, 5k, 10k, maybe a half marathon. For these distances I am setting some pretty ambitious goals. Maybe I’ll meet these goals, maybe I won’t, but I want to be ambitious this year, I want to aim for the top end of what I am capable of achieving, so:

5k: sub 20 minutes

10k: sub 42

Half Marathon: sub 1:32

Starting in the early spring, I hope to race the 5k and 10k distance pretty often, probably once a month. Ideally I’ll do a half marathon in the late summer or early fall as a test run for a fall marathon. Depending on how that half marathon goes, I’ll decided on a marathon goal. I know I will break four hours in the marathon, but man I would LOVE to do it in 3:30…

We shall see. Who knows what is possible?

 

* I hesitate to even write this down, but for miles per week I am thinking at least 70 mpw, but if my body can handle it, I’d love to know what 100 mpw feels like.