Sunday, January 09, 2011

One more orbit..

Sunbeams over Kohala
Toni and I are back from a wonderful trip to Hawaii, (the Big Island, that is). 


Now that I'm back and before it's too late I want to recap some of the events of the year. 




2010 Running Related Recaps

  • I finally learned how to keep Achilles Tendinitis at bay.
  • Ran 4:06 PR in San Francisco! In retrospect I was pretty well peaked for this race (but not perfectly....)
  • Did not race my yearly all-out 10k....caught a bad cold. A bunch of peaking for that was wasted.
  • Tore my left calf while stretching 6 weeks before Long Beach and didn't get healed up fully ...my first cramp-up during a race at mile 20-ish.. pulled off a 4:25.
  • Ran the Zombie Runner Trail Marathon in mud, rain, wind..took it easy..slowest race ever at 4:42 but second place in age group (50-59)!
  • I completed my 55th orbit of the Sun 8)
  • My weight and cholesterol numbers are still fine with diet and exercise...
I'm reasonably happy with this year's running. Obviously one can't fret about catching a cold but I can fret about being a moron and tearing my own calf muscle...oops....

I ended up not running *any* short (i.e. less than marathon length) races in 2010. I didn't intend to do this consciously...but I do find running marathons ever so much more interesting. 

I guess I'm a bit scared of getting injuries trying to push myself to run short, fast races for a  PR..and push come to shove I love being able to run a lot more than setting PRs. 

This has been the year I started reading a lot more  running blogs and I was struck by how many people (basically eventually everbody) gets injuries. I know how crazy and miserable it is to not be able to run and to lose this ability for a time just to run 10% faster on one race seems really, really dumb to me right now.

So, as I mentioned in my Marathon of Marathons posting, I'm turning away from peaking for any of my races until after spring 2011...instead I'm slowing down a bit and having fun running them. Marathons are a challenge at any speed! (Ultras coming next...?)

2011 Goals
  • Run Surf City and finish California Dreamin' Series trifecta with 3xfull.
  • Run LA marathon with my brother-in-law and have a great time and make sure he has a great time ;) Love those point-to-point courses! 
  • Run my first 50k trail run (Skyline-to-the-Sea?). Think about a 50 miler if that goes well? (?!)
  • See our old friends and run Copenhagen marathon in May.
  • Run a June/early July marathon to get 8 marathons in 12 months for Marathon  Maniacs silver level.
  • Rest, then peak for a marathon in the fall...run a few halfs or 10ks in process of peaking for a fall marathon
  • Stay uninjured....slow down and run long!
Have a great 2011!

PS: Congrats to Jenny a.k.a "Running Bubby" on her first marathon!!!! You are now a marathoner. 

2 comments:

  1. Congrats on an awesome 2010, Paul! 8 marathons in 12 months .... you are really a maniacs!
    Good luck and have an injury free 2011.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Paul you've had a great year, and it looks like you've got a great line up for 2011.

    Stay healthy!

    Jenny

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