After I meet a goal I tend to feel lost. The day after Berlin I was texting my coach, asking if I could sign up for CIM so that I could continue chasing a faster marathon time this year. His answer was obviously no…that would be a terrible idea, you need to rest and recover.
But…what’s next then? What else can I do? I wanted to sign up for all the things, chase all the goals, run all the miles. His response was to take two weeks off of running to recover from Berlin, which is not something I’ve ever done before. Two weeks off! It’s an eternity…and yet it’s not.
I ran 49 whole miles the entire month of October, that was a week of mileage before Berlin. I got grumpy, I got antsy…and I recovered. My legs felt better than they ever had before and when I was allowed to run again I ran way too fast because my body had so much built up energy to expend.
Now that I’m running more again I’m in a better mood, thank goodness, and I’m ready to chase my goals again. This weekend I have a half marathon in Indianapolis, but it won’t be a goal race, it will be a long run. This is also new territory for me – isn’t every race a goal race? But, when you look at it like that…if every race is a goal race, no race is a goal race. Training specifically for an event is how I will do well at said event. Running races willy nilly is fun, but not ideal for specific goal chasing.
I want to train hard for a spring half marathon PR and then chase down my sub 3:00 at the London Marathon, so my spring schedule consists of a March 1 half marathon in Atlanta and then London on April 26. That’s it so far. I’d love to have a back up half marathon in there since Atlanta is so hilly…but I think maybe not having an “out” mentally is what will get me to where I want to be.
So…for goals. What’s next? Here’s what I’m thinking.
- Sub 38:00 10k (I have one December 7 that I am eying for this. My PR is 38:44 on this course)
- Sub 1:25 half marathon
- Sub 3:00 full marathon
I’d like to think these aren’t too far out of reach. My half PR is 1:27:55….it’s within striking distance of that 1:25 if I can get my pacing correct. & had I not run 27 miles in Berlin my sub 3:00 was thisclose.
Writing that all out made me feel better. Goals are meant to be shared…the running community is so incredible and will cheer you on no matter what, but the emotion that comes with seeing someone you care about hit a big goal is the coolest thing. For me, watching my friends crush their goals at NYC yesterday made me feel so incredibly happy for them and it made me hungry to start chasing my goals too.
Here’s to goal chasing…wherever it may lead me.
Alissa Kolarik 