2013 Goals

So another Christmas and New Year passes, my car gets older and looses its value but it’s now time to review and reassess the targets and goals for a new year. I’ll write a short review on 2013 shortly. Please call back soon.

As I add races, I’ll update here. I’ll also keep the original aspirations so I can compare where I am in achieving the targets.

Rule No.1 is to train hard, listen to those that know more than I do and stay injury free. I will no longer find myself on the start line of a race doubting my preparation. Wherever possible I will give 100% to training to compete to the best of my ability, I have earned my right to race amongst the other competitors and to do any less would be letting myself and all those that support me down.

General Goals…

– While I’m happy where I am with my weight, I do understand that dropping a few KG’s will certainly help my running. My goal for 2013 is to start the Dublin City Marathon 2013 at 14st even.

– With all the races planned, training will obviously play a big part in my year. I managed to clock up 1000km in 2012 and that included my steep learning curve after OT where I really didn’t know what I was doing. For 2013, I’d like to change that to passing 1000 miles. I have a feeling that may be conservative, so I’ll reassess after the Limerick Marathon.

Specific Goals…

• 27th January – Dungarvan 10mile race

– My current PB is 01:28:58 set in the Phoenix Park in June 2012. I’d like to take 2 minutes off this time

– UPDATE: I didn’t run this race due to illness. There’ll be plenty more opportunities to run 10 miles this year!

• 24th February – Malta Half Marathon

– My current PB is 1:56:03 set at the Waterford Half Marathon in December. I’d really like to get this down to under 1:55:00

– UPDATE: Hot & sunny conditions, but what a great place to run! I started out too fast but benefited from the predominantly downhill course. NEW PB of 1:54:09

• 5th May – Limerick Marathon

– My current PB is from Dublin 04:30:30. Given some proper training, I’m looking to bring this down a whopping 15 minutes to 04:15:00

– UPDATE: More hot conditions! a poor lead in to the race over easter combined with some laziness meant I missed a lot of running in my final high mileage weeks. I finished though, where many of my running group didn’t. Lessons learned in digging deep when I really wanted to stop. Finish time of 4:39:30

• 2nd June – TriAthy; Sprint Triathlon

– This is my first attempt at a triathlon. I decided when training for DCM12 that running in straight lines was a bit boring so I signed up to a sprint distance race (swim 750meters; cycle 10k and then run 5k). My aim for this is to finish, knowing that I gave my best. My generic aim in a new event is to finish in the top half of competitors in my age group. After that I have the benchmark to improve upon.

– UPDATE: I’ll write a complete post on this. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Triathlons are great fun!

• 28th October – Dublin City Marathon

– My first opportunity to revisit & retest the big one. PB at the time of writing is 04:30:30 but I’ll update after Limerick. The plan right now is to make a serious assault on a sub 4hr Marathon. Yikes!