A sub-4 marathon – I’m pretty confident I know what I have to do to make this happen this year and I’m going to give myself three opportunities to do exactly that.
Train with a club – I trained with club for a few moths last year and in those few months I really noticed big improvements in my running. So once I get back from my travels I will be hooking up with a London club and putting in some quality miles.
Race more – I now realise that the way to get better at a specific distance race and bring the PB down is to do it more. So as well as the three marathons I plan to do I will be chucking in at least as many half-marathons and 10Ks, and exploding back onto the London Park Run scene.
Run more – this is the year I plan to take my running a little more seriously and see what I can do. I don’t think I’ll be winning any races or even any age groupings. This is about being the best that I can be – not where I come compared to others.
Watch the 2012 marathons – I plan to camp out all night if that’s what it takes to see the elites go past in the Olympic marathons. I’ve been excited about having this happen on my doorstep for a long while now. You may even remember when I ran the route last year. Come on Paula – bring it home.
Happy new year!
Which 3 marathons are you planning?
A very sound set of goals – having followed your progress this (last) year I’m sure you will achieve them all!
Brighton, Edinburgh and Venice. The first is scarily close to my return to the UK. Will I see you at any K?
Laura
A good set of goals for 2012. Wish I could think of some decent ones! Structured training running with a club can work wonders for your speed besides boosting your morale and keeping you motivated.
It’s also helpful to do lots of shorter, faster races prior to a marathon to raise overall cruising speed. I did seven in the thirteen weeks prior to London’95, mostly 10K’s, the longest being a 14 miler just three weeks before the marathon.
When you say you’re going to run more, don’t overdo the mileage. Think quality, not quantity. Marathon training involving faster races and intervals, interspersed with long runs, requires plenty of rest days. Of the 91 days before London’95 I only ran on 57 of them, mostly off-road, and averaged just 43 miles per week – but it gave me my fastest marathon ever.
Good luck with yours.
Brigton and Edinburgh – nope, sorry. I’m doing Stockholm in July.
Venice, on the other hand… tempting….
Thanks for the advice Running Fox. Will take it on board.
Laura