A New Year Is Upon Us

Ok, with the holidays behind me, its time to start seriously training...

I think my shoulder is pretty much back to normal. It still feels tight when I turn my head to either side. I think I need to add another shoulder and back exercise to my lifting routine to help out with the weakness I have there. Anyways, I can start running, so I'll do that tomorrow along with a bike ride maybe.

My holidays were very restful. I was glad to go home to Pittsburgh and see my family and Emily. However now I'm back, and its time to focus...

So with the year behind me, its nice to see that I made it this far. I'm still here, I'm running competitively again, and I'm ready to make a go at an ultramarathon in May. Those are big accomplishments considering in February I could barely walk a quarter mile in less than an hour and a half. Its nice to look back and see where I was as compared to now. But all that stuff is in the past, now its time to look ahead.

Its the new year, and as is customary at new years, everyone makes a new years resolution. Everyone always says "I'm going to lose weight, I'm going to quit smoking, I'm going to stop this, or that, I'm going to be nicer"...

The problem is that everyone starts a goal with such tenacity from the starting line that its completely unrealistic to maintain that velocity for an entire year. Most people who try to lose weight go on celery diets and exercise to exhaustion so often that their bodies crave more energy and rest, with causes them to be miserable and crash to the point they give in and binge. Same thing with smoking. A lot of smokers will go cold turkey, and within days the withdrawals will become so intense that once again, they crash. I think the best way to accomplish these goals is to make smaller goals at intervals throughout the year. For instance, losing weight. Instead of "losing weight" as a goal, make it "I'm going to weigh 195 by the end of January instead of 200, and 190 by the end of February". Make it something measurable with concrete and numeric values.

In light of this, I'm going to say that mine is to meet my running/cycling goals for 2009. What are my running goals? I'm glad you asked. I'll list them here:

1) Complete at least one official ultramarathon (Keys 50)
2) Complete at least four official marathons
3) Complete a half-Ironman Triathlon
4) Run a sub - six minute mile
5) Run a sub - 42 minute 7 mile run
6) Run 2000 miles this year
7) Keep a training log to track progress
8) Ride a sub 3 hour 50 mile bike ride
9) Ride a sub 6 hour century ride
10) Start riding the bike to work

Those are some lofty goals for one year, but I think its achievable. The Half-Ironman will be very beneficial to me as its extra training through cross-training, leading to better running for the rest of the goals. 2000 miles will be another challenging goal, but my ultra plan through May has me running 816 miles, so it should put me well ahead of the curve before the halfway point of the year.

So there you have it, my running goals. I hope everyone has a very successful and productive year. I know that mine is going to be one hell of a ride!