It’s customary to spend some time at the end of a year looking back and reflecting on the year that was. But I don’t really want to – I want to look forward. 2009 felt too much like a year of spinning wheels. Or maybe it was a year of planting seeds that will not sprout, flower, and fruit until later years. Whatever the case, I’m happy to put 2009 to rest and walk on.
I don’t really have any new year’s resolutions. I’ve made them in the past, but they’ve never worked out. I’d love to drop 10 pounds, but I’ve learned that the scale is not my friend, so I’d rather just go on running and eating healthy and let my weight settle where it wants to. I know a couple of running guys who look like they’ve starved themselves – it’s pretty weird. One of them is bald: I can see the lines where his skull plates are knit together. I don’t have that kind of drive or self-discipline. I figure I’ve got plenty of time to be a skeleton later – for now, I’ll keep a little meat on my bones.
While I may not have any resolutions, I’ve got some pretty big running goals for 2010. Normally, I don’t like stating my goals – it somehow makes them even more daunting when they’re public – but what the heck. I might as well lay ‘em out there and man up to them.
My strategy for the spring and summer is to race shorter and faster. This means nothing over 10k until the fall. My goal for 5k is to run under 17:00 and for the 10k to run under 35:00. Maybe I’m crazy thinking I can move my aging body this fast, but that’s what I’m shooting for. Heck, all I need to do is drop about half a minute from my 5k time and a minute and a half from my 10k. That may not sound very scary, but it is. Consider this: it took me three years to shave 34s off my first 5k time (from 17:59-17:25); it took me four years to shave 30s off my 10k PB; and now I’m asking myself to run 10k at about the same pace as my current 5k PB. Is this reasonable? Not at all. But what the hell, right?
What I’m banking on is that my 5k and 10k PBs do not reflect what I was fully capable of at the time. I’ve never focussed on the shorter distances – my shorter races have always been dropped into a marathon or half-marathon training program, so my times may be slower than they should be. I’m also banking on Cliff’s training program. I seem to be running stronger and faster than ever, but I won’t know for sure until April when the racing season begins. And I’m also going by Daniel’s running tables, which lay out racing equivalences given a specific race time. The tables indicate that someone who has run a 1:18 half marathon should be capable of running 17:02 for 5k and 35:20 for 10k. I’m using those times as a starting point and hoping that I’ve improved since last fall.
Beyond these time goals, I’ve also got a competition goal: to finish top 10 in the provincial Timex race series. In Nova Scotia, this series consists of something like 8 races between 5k and 10k (some are 5 or 6 milers). Runners are awarded points for each race based on their finishing places relative to other eligible runners (in this case, other Run Nova Scotia members). For a runner to place in the final standings, he or she must have run at least 4 Timex races – the final scores are a tally of each runner’s best 4 finishes.
Each province has its own Timex series, and in the fall, the top finishers from each province compete at the Timex National 10k Championships, which this year coincided with Athletics Canada’s National 10k Championship. For runners under 40, there are 3 spots up for grabs on the provincial team. I’d love to make the team, but it’s a little unlikely. This past year, the top 2 guys and the top Master’s runner (over 40) from Nova Scotia were all 31 and 32 minute 10k guys. The third under-40 guy was a 34 minute guy, which means that the final spot is possibly attainable. But that guy is capable of 33 minutes – and there are a couple of fast guys who compete some years and not others. It would take a bit of a miracle for me to sneak onto the team this year.
But I’m not discounting the possibility completely. The thing about the Timex series is that points are awarded based on where you finish in a given race – and some of the races are better attended than others. For example, there is a Timex race in Yarmouth, which is 3 or more hours from Halifax, which most of the fast Halifax runners ignore. If I can sneak in some good finishes at remote races, I could give myself a chance to make the team. It’s a long shot, but it’s a shot. In a flat-out race, I’d never make the team, but with some luck and strategy, I could finish ahead of faster runners.
2009 is gone and there's a whole new year of running ahead. If I can stay healthy, 2010 could be my fastest year ever.
Cheers and happy new year to the small group of readers who swing by my blog from time to time -- many thanks for taking the time to read a few words of mine. It's nice to know I'm not just talking to myself. I’d love it if you wrote your own 2010 goals in the Comments. If you don’t have a google account, you can simply leave a comment as “Anonymous” – although it would be nice if you included your name with the message.
Here’s to a new decade!!
