REVIEW OF 2011
My running in 2011 can be split into two fairly distinct periods, pre and post the Madrid marathon. Before Madrid I was just treading water, after Madrid there was almost constant improvement, barring a few weeks of injury and recovery in the summer.
I started the year with a flat 10k in Valencia, when I first got into running I ran lots of 10k races but this was only the second I had competed in since I left England over 2 years before. I would have expected to be able to blow my previous best times out of the water, but no, I was about two minutes away from my previous best. I'd put my lack of form down to two things, firstly that I started my season's training late, I had been in Africa in the first two weeks of October and didn't start back into proper training until almost into November and secondly I spent the Christmas period in Germany stuck indoors unable to train.
Progress was expected over the next races, but they were largely disappointing, in my first half marathon of the year in Santa Pola I was five minutes slower than in 2010. There was an improvement in Orihuela in February but I was still four-and-a-half minutes from my PB set on the same course in 2010. At the beginning of April I ran a Madrid marathon warm-up, doing the half marathon in Elche. I ran my quickest time of the season, but still a long way from my best, 1:32:34 was only marginally inside the PB I had when I arrived in Spain.
Then came the Madrid marathon, when I look back on this race, as with my first marathon in London, I feel some pride at completing the distance but the overriding feeling is of disappointment. The low point in my running year would have to be kilometre 32 of the marathon, at the point that I felt unable to run any more. I finished the race through alternating running and walking, 4:05 was an improvement on my first marathon but it wasn't what I wanted from the race.
The disappointment led me to think about what I wanted from running. I certainly didn't want to have another marathon experience like I did in Madrid but I always wasn't happy to give up on the marathon yet. It's the blue riband event of distance running, I was still determined to get round one with a smile on my face, so I decided to continue running but that I was going to do things differently and from there I haven't looked back.
My thinking was that I had been training to complete a distance, but I hadn't paid enough attention to the speed, for a marathon things get really tough after 3 hours so the important thing is to minimize the time beyond 3 hours, you can only do that by running faster. Since Madrid I've done more and more speed sessions and it has contributed to PBs in every distance I've competed at since then. The other change that has helped alot has been to change the way I train. I used to just do hard sessions, say 3 or 4 times per week, now I will do easy sessions in between, just twenty minutes jogging in the park, I guess you call it active recovery.
I ran throughout the summer, competing in beach races, even managing to pick up my first trophy, a 5th place in my category. I came out of it running strong, when I went back to my home town in October to run a 10k I was expecting a PB and so it came, 39:11, a minute better than my previous best. I had been considering my options for a marathon up to that point, but that race gave me the confidence to contemplate an autumn marathon so I signed up for Valencia. From there my training mileage went up but I kept the focus on speed and active recovery. Two weeks before the marathon I ran a half marathon in Alcoy (a great race by the way), it was a tough course with the first eleven kilometres all uphill but I made easy work of it, finishing only 30 seconds outside my PB.
With such a good performance behind me I had high expectations for myself in the marathon and thankfully this time I was able to live up to my expectations. I ran 3:11:10, it really marks out that I was right to be disappointed with my first two runs. I was running from starting gun to finish line with only a slight slow down in the last five kilometres. It was not just the highlight of the year but of all my running, it had taken some sacrifices but I achieved a respectable result in the hardest running event going.
However, the year didn't finish there, in my last race I had the chance to take advantage of the marathon training and set a new half marathon PB, Aspe didn't disappoint, 1:26:00 was 87 seconds inside my previous best, and the great thing is I think there is still plenty more to come!
NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS
I'm not going to make resolutions of the traditional sense, but set myself targets to achieve. I'm going to be bold. When I first started running I told a friend who was a little quicker than me at that point that with training we could be competitive in the small (200-300 people) local races we were competing. While I've got alot closer to the front since then I'm not challenging for podiums, I hope to make the leap to competitiveness in 2012. The table below shows my current best times and related paces and my target time and pace.
| Best times | Pace (min/km) | Target time | Target pace | |
| 100m | 00:15 | 02:30 | 00:14 | 02:20 |
| 200m | 00:32 | 02:40 | 00:30 | 02:30 |
| 400m | 01:11 | 02:58 | 01:06 | 02:45 |
| 500m | 01:32 | 03:04 | 01:24 | 02:48 |
| 800m | 02:35 | 03:14 | 02:21 | 02:56 |
| 1km | 03:15 | 03:15 | 03:00 | 03:00 |
| 10km | 39:11 | 03:55 | 35:00 | 03:30 |
| Half Marathon | 01:26:00 | 04:05 | 01:20:00 | 03:48 |
| Marathon | 03:11:10 | 04:32 | - | - |
Essentially, I'm sticking with the 3-minute kilometre target I set myself after Madrid, all the targets for shorter distances are set with that in mind. A related target is for a 5-minute mile (3:06 min/km pace). I'm still some way from that target, I lowered my PB for 1k by 5 seconds this week, but I need to make up another 15. Knocking four minutes from my best for 10k is also a big ask, but given that I ran under 40 minutes for the first 10k of a half marathon in Aspe I think my PB isn't a great measure of where I am at the moment, in a good flat race I think 37:30 would be possible and from there 35:00 wouldn't be such a huge leap.
For half marathon again it's a tough ask but I feel sub 1:25 isn't far away and its a target for the year, I don't expect to be running sub 1:20 in March but staying injury free through the summer again by next autumn it should be achievable.
I've left the marathon target blank, I'm very happy with the marathon I've done and I don't want to commit myself to another until I'm confident that I can expect another big leap in performance. If I reach my half marathon goal well before the end of the year I might aim for an autumn marathon but at the moment its not in my thoughts.
I look forward to letting you know how I get on with hitting my targets throughout the year.
Happy running and see you in 2012!
El maratonero
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