So…what’s the first thing I do after finishing an awesome race and recovering from said awesome race?? I start looking to the future. And boy, am I NEUROTIC about it!! So, this week, call me Neurotic Runner Girl. I have officially driven my poor husband insane asking him repeatedly to sit down with me to figure out my 2015 race schedule as well as set some realistic goals. And those sit downs taught me one thing…he has more faith in me than I do!
One of my biggest running goals is to break 2 hours in a half marathon. And I am going to try to do it at the spring Prairie Fire half. Is that too much time to shave off? Maybe. But maybe not. My husband thinks I can do it. The dudes at GoRun think I can do it. Do I think I can do it? Maybe. We are talking about a 14 minute PR and shaving an entire minute off my pace. It’s a 9.8% speed increase, which according to everything I’ve read is completely doable with two training cycles.
I’ve got time. I plan on using the Train Like a Mother Half Marathon “Own It” plan, which is 13 weeks long. That gives me 15 weeks of “non-training” to continue pushing the pace. And I’ve got another half marathon, a 10K, and three 5Ks in between to continue working on my race strategy.
I input my last half marathon pace and my goal half marathon pace into McMillan Running, and it spit out all of my training paces. Have you given McMillan a try yet? I’ve used it for three training cycles now, and it really seems to be accurate because I’m able to hit the paces with the required efforts.
But I’m not only looking forward to my spring race, but my fall race…THE MARATHON. I can’t wait to register for it, so it’s official. I have a couple of goal times in mind, but since it’ll be my first time racing that distance, I mostly just want to enjoy myself and come out in one piece. And yes, I already have that training plan filled out as well…in my trusty running binder. I’m going to use the Train Like a Mother Marathon Finish It plan. (Unless I sign up for GoRun’s Start 2 Finish!) The TLAM plan is 20 weeks long, which doesn’t give me much of a breather between PF Spring and starting the plan. That could be a good thing and a bad thing. And I’m still planning on running all of our summer races, including three triathlons. It could be a recipe for a stronger, faster, smarter Neon Runner Girl…or it could be a recipe for an injury. I just need to be smart…set priorities…and HAVE FUN!
Who knew I would put so much time and effort into my “hobby?” If only I could get paid to run…
Neon Runner Girl 