Almost a year since my last post and not much has changed. I did just finish my "training cycle" for the Ely Marathon, but am not overly confident in what the result will be. Anything under 4 hours would be a relief at this point. Probably averaged about 50 miles per week for about 18 weeks, so not terrible, just not much quality and virtually no racing. I did complete 4 20-milers, but they were slow and only one finished strong. Oh well, the taper and cooler weather can often provide miraculous results.
I think I put my finger on the problem and that is I pretty much quit racing altogether. Why? Because I didn't see the point in racing if I wasn't going to post "respectable" times and how stupid is that? First off, no one cares, second there is no replacement training-wise for race effort and third, I like racing! So all that being said, I already have 3 races planned after Ely. All of them are 5k and all with the goal of getting back into sub 20 shape. I have about 8 weeks of training laid out with the Tonka Turkey Trot being my goal race.
Long term goal right now is Twin Cities Marathon in 2020. Keep it modest and shoot for 3:15. Based on how my speed has all but vanished over the past two years, that might even be aggressive, but you gotta have goals, right? Plus, the return to racing will certainly help.
Bottom line is that I want the joy to return to running and that joy came when I was training smart and racing a lot, mixing it up with all the other old guys!
I am in my taper right now and am encouraged that with the low temps and sinking dew point, my heart rate stays low even at brisk pace.
So, for now this blog should be called Chasing 20 Minutes. Hey, I'm kinda excited!
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