The Road to Ambition by xSASSx

I've been very quiet on the blogging which reflects my running really. As predicted I felt quite tired in the evenings in the early part of Nov having started work so was pretty much doing a club run and maybe one other at the weekend but my weekly mileage struggled to get into double figures, in fact it didn't until this week.

I did a 10k towards the end of Nov in 61:44 which is a PB by about 6 1/2 mins although it was a gun times race so officially it's about 40 secs more than that. Consequently, I booked another 10k for three weeks later but didn't manage to train in that time (well, bar a token run on the TM) due to a wheezy chest which lasted a fortnight. I managed to clock a time 3 mins slower than the previous which wasn't bad given the circumstances but means my sub 60 10k target for 2011 wasn't met. That is something I hope to rectify soon after my marathon but for now I'm not worrying about time so much as distance. Anyway, more about my targets later.

I picked up a niggly thigh injury after the latter race and by the time I was over it Christmas was upon us. Thankfully I managed to squeeze in 3 runs totalling 11 miles this week, which although pitiful compared to my plan of running LSRs of 6 / 8 / 10 / 12 miles in rotation, was a big improvement on previous weeks.

I've found my running mojo again this week and have been reading lots online and my runner's world mag which Mum bought for me earlier in Dec which I'd forgotten about, plus I have dug out the spreadsheets and tweeked my plan according to the events I've decided to enter. So all this has mentally prepared me for starting my marathon training tomorrow; a 17 week plan to take me to the MK marathon at the end of April.

I've been reading up about the 'Janathon' challenge which is basically a website you can sign up to where you try to run or at least be physically active every day in January, log the details and blog about it. So I'm doing an unofficial version. I'm not going to get hung up on it at the expense of marathon plans or risking injury / illness / general knackeredness but it'd be a good goal to attempt which will get my running year off to a good start. My plan has me running just over 100 miles for this first month and if I come anywhere close that I'll be chuffed. My monthly average for 2011 was 28 miles with my highest being 56, so clearly a big step up is needed.

So my targets for 2012, in brief (I won't bore you with the specifics);

a half marathon time to do me justice, around 2:30 to start with and 2:15 by the end of the year. This will be my main race distance this year.

a sub 60 10k by summer (might enter the same two I did this year in May and June) and sub 58 by year end.

of course a marathon, sub 5 hours would be lovely but I'd be pleased to just get round in time for the medal (6 hours).

Happy 2012 peeps, I hope all your running dreams come true.