2014 Can't Come Fast Enough

This morning I've been doing a lot of research and planning for my 2014 racing season. Although it has only been 5 days since the marathon, I find putting some events on the calender will help me to re-focus my training once I begin running again on Monday. I never like just running aimlessly with no future goal to train towards - because even though the Scotiabank Marathon was a big thing for the year it is only a stepping stone to bigger and better things in my running career. Also, stuff has to be put on the calender soon for what I'm planning to do in 2014 to help me periodize my training. First off to help me "ease" back in training and get some energy back into my legs I am competing in the Casablanca 8k on Nov 9. Honestly, I wasn't sure if I should do the race or not because a part of me thinks wow it has been such a long season, but another part thinks this will be a great way to kick-start my training. In other words, I am not treating this race as a way to end off my 2013 season, it ended with STWM, but rather it is a way to start my training leading into the 2014 season. In addition, I feel I still have this fire burning inside and wanting to race again sooner rather than later. You might think taking a full week off in light of a race coming up in 2 weeks is a little odd, but honestly after STWM I think I could jog my way to a 3:15-20/km avg for a measly 8k - Okay maybe not jog but you know what I mean.

In terms of the gamplan for next year here is a tentative schedule I've made up for the first few months of the season.

Feb 16/17: Either the Winterman Half Marathon or Grimsby Half Marathon

I think each one has its advantages. For the Winterman it would be fun to go to Ottawa again and see if I could defend my title. Being a repeat-winner just has a Tiger Woods kind of feel - and sounds bad ass. However, the disadvantage of the race would be I know the course and remember it is a looped type which means I have to go around people as I lap them - wasting time, and waste even more time having to go around them when the course narrows to a sidewalk for a couple hundred meters (last year I had to bound over and onto the snowbank to get around some people. So essentially, I think my time in Grimsby might be faster, and not to mention less expensive compared to going all the way to Ottawa. Although that week is reading week, so getting there and back doesn't have to be too rushed.

March 2: Chilly Half Marathon - Burlington

I want to do this one because seeing last year's results there are some wicked fast runners who competed in it. Lionel Sanders won it last year in 1:07 and 5 guys total under 1:12. So I think it would serve as a good indicator for the new seasons' time goals (which I will discuss in a bit).

March 30 - Around the Bay 30k

After last year's incredibly well organized and great race/route setup (love the challenge of starting out pretty flat and fast route then changing to rolling hills followed by the biggest hill on the Ontario Road Racing Circuit at 26k) this one is a definite. Also, this year that race was by far my biggest help to setting my time goals in the marathon. Here is a excel sheet I made up in the week leading to last weekend's marathon.

10	15	20	25	30	35	42.2
0:35:43	0:53:47	1:11:55	1:30:27	1:48:26	2:07:00	2:34:00
0:03:34	0:03:35	0:03:36	0:03:37	0:03:37	0:03:38	0:03:39

The non-bolded text are my splits for the around the bay. In the bold are what I was planning to hit in the Marathon simply continuing from the 30k mark on. I used this on the race to know if I was ahead or behind pace. In the race though I actually got to 30k in 1:46:15 and to 35 in 2:05:32 - this is why I knew I was 1:30 ahead of schedule. 

Apr 20 - Toronto Yonge Street 10k 

Not entirely sure what date this one is, so this one is really tentative, although if not this one I will find another 10k on that weekend. Having said that I would really like to do this one because the downhill course would let me run a really fast time.

May 5 - Mississauga Half Marathon

This will be the fourth time competing in this race - third time in the half. I like the course - mostly because my half PB in 2012 was here, and my half PB in 2013 was here. So historically I perform well here. 

May 25: Ottawa Race Weekend - Marathon

Ya I said Marathon. In the upcoming year I think I am ready to do two major marathons, after doing 2 in my first season, and it chewing my body up and spitting it out. This time around though I got lots of miles built up into my legs and I can survive the two major builds better. Sure a person will never be able to say they are used to running 200k+ a week because it is so physically demanding on the body, but I can say I have experience with it and think I can handle it for two periods in the year. Amazing though how on this week off I can see how demanding that training regime was. For example, during this week if I am running late for class I can just bolt across campus, bounding up stairs to get there. During my build up to STWM I could not bound up stairs or sprint across campus because my legs and feet were just physically exhausted from the day before or the run that morning. 

So that's what I got planned for the spring. In terms of my time goals I will set those a little later once I've maybe completed my first couple workouts/tempo runs. What I can say is that it will be fast. For example, in the Marathon I got to the halfway just over 1:13, only 40 seconds slower than my half marathon PB, so I think that time is not only going down it will be smashed. I'm thinking in the 1:10 range. For the 30k I know that time of 1:48:26 is going down since I passed the 30k mark in the marathon in 1:46:15. Meaning that one is going down a bunch. In the full marathon, I don't know yet since its obviously too early after I just completed one. So at this moment it is hard to see myself going faster since I gave that race my all. That being said I know I can still improve, and after my first couple half's I will set a time.