Tuesday, May 31, 2011

The Rest of 2011

Seen on Sunday's run: A stone turtle for the real turtles to rest on.
I've run by this little lake in Golden Gate Park hundreds of times but never ran around it until this weekend.

I am back on the running train and feeling good. I am slowly and wisely ramping up distance and intensity (vs. my mad dash for mileage before Big Sur). I am not where I was before the whole fall-on-head-twist-ankle saga but it is coming back and I'm having fun.

I've got the rest of the year mapped out (who am I kidding, I've got 2012 mapped out already, too, ha ha -- so far 6 marathons, stay tuned)

For the rest of the year, I'm eyeballing:

August: Extraterrestrial Marathon
September: Moo Cow Half, Half Moon Bay Marathon
October: Humboldt Half Marathon??
November: Two Cities Marathon

ET is run in the middle of Area 51 at midnight. I've worked it into the schedule as a glorified training run -- no taper and I'm going to take it really slow (it is also at altitude so the taking it easy should come naturally). I've got a couple of running friends who said they'd be there so it is going to be a fun time.

Moo Cow is a new half marathon that features a cowbell medal at the end! It is a hilly course so no major time goals. I'll also not be pushing too hard at Moo Cow because the new Half Moon Bay Marathon is a week later. Right now I'm thinking I will probably have some sort of a time goal for Half Moon Bay. If I'm feeling it I may go for a PR but if I don't think my legs are back I'm hoping to go for a semi-aggressive time goal to show myself I'm at least back in the PR striking range. So I consider it the B-race for the remainder of the year.

Humboldt is a HUGE question mark at this point. When I ran the full marathon last year, I decided that the Humboldt Half is the fastest, best option I have within driving distance at a half PR. The course is fairly flat, appears to be downhill in both directions (because the Redwoods are so darn tall) and the shade of the giant trees promises to keep things cool. I really want to race it one day.

This may not be the year for a few reasons -- I have a lot of time, but I have doubts I'll feel strong enough to go for a half PR in October. More importantly, a full PR is higher up on my wish list and Two Cities is only 3 weeks after Humboldt. I originally wanted to better my half time before going for a sub-4 full marathon. My half PR is currently 1:59 and I thought that psychologically it would be hard to go for a sub-4 marathon without a faster half PR. BUT I think the 4:01 at Texas has given me enough of a mental edge to try for a sub-4 full without a faster half PR.

Two Cities in early November is my A race right now to try for a sub-4. It gets awesome reviews by other runners and is supposed to be a fairly fast course.

So there it is for you. I'm on a schedule again!

4 comments:

Ann (bunnygirl) said...

I hadn't heard of the ET marathon. I'm intrigued.

If my hip is better in the fall, I'm considering Marathon to Marathon in October. It's in West Texas.

Rachel said...

ET is such a cool race! you'll LOVE it, and it's a great one to use for training. with that 4:01, you've got sub-4 in the bag! i have the same goal this year, hopefully at chicago, but for me i'll need to take 30 min off my PR. good luck as your training commences!

RG said...

Love that Mario photo! Mario's Treat Bag!

Humboldt - I bet that will be a pretty place!

Good luck working up - frustrating I bet! Glad to hear it is fun.

Alisa said...

Yay turtles!

Sounds like you have a plan for the rest of the year (and maybe 2012 too). Gotta love us runner planners.

you totally have a sub-4 marathon in you, I just know it.