2011 a Season of PB's

Im currently taking a short training break. The idea is to give my body and mind a chance to re-group before I start what is likely to be a hard 3-4 months training for my first big 'A' goal race in 2012. A break like this is also the ideal opportunity to look back over the achievments of the previous season. A lot has happened to me this year.

Highlights

I still remember that amazing feeling i had running through the streets of Vienna, grinning from ear to ear and thinking to myself 'Wow your really doing it, your running a marathon'. Only a year before that i was going through several bottles of vodka a week, and on the edge of a slippery slope into a really dark place. Instead to inspire my kids Id taken up running, and now there i was running my Debut Marathon.

After Vienna I'd planned to focus on anaerobic training for shorter races instead I hurt my achilles, and thought that the enforced break in training would put a sub 20 5k well out of reach. But my kids cheered me on at the local 5k in haltern, and somehow I managed to pull that sub 20 and my first ever age class win out of the hat.

I then turned my sights to the Münster Marathon, I started building up the milage again, training even more than i did for Vienna. There were a number of Half Marathons in the build up that left me more than a little uncertain that i was in shape to run my targeted 3:10, but on the day it all seemed to come together, my pace plan worked a treat and i was able to storm home to run a time that surprised me as much as anyone, 3:06. I used it to apply for Boston 2012, and it was accepted.

To close out my 2011 season I decided to reward myself with an Ultra Marathon, the Röntgenlauf. Id not really done any specific training, just relied on the Aerobic base my Münster training had built. The race itself was fantastic. My result more than acceptable. It has me itching for more in 2012.

PB's everywhere

The first Races of the season were the Hamm Winter Series. 10k, 15k, and HM. They worked into the Vienna build up really well, and it was great to run these races where i do most of my training. I set PB's in each, which would become a theme for the whole season, with just about every race I ran leading to a new PB.

I started the season with a 5k PB of 25:47 I took 5 minutes off in the first 5k of the season, and a further minute of a week later to set my current PB of 19:35

I broke my 10k PB everytime I ran the distance, taking it from 43:07 at the start of the season down to 40:28 at the start of Autum.

My Half Marathon PB was a little more resistant, helped by a great start to the season in the Hamm Winter Series, and warm temperatures prior to Münster. Still it was 1:43:20 prior to the season and i have a race PB of 1:34:02 now. Which given my 1:31 second half to Münster should be a pretty soft target.

In the Marathon I debut'd with a 3:23 and improved it to a 3:06 Five months later

Training

Some of the dramatic improvement in my running times this year has to be contributed to simple beginners improvement. However during the year my training has migrated towards being primarily focused Lydiards principles, on improving my Aerobic condition. Im sure that also played a significant part in my results. It remains to be seen if i can continue to improve next year, but i dont see why not.

There is certainly room for improvement in my training. I will be working on improving my consistency in the buildup to Boston. My Münster training was disturbed by too much racing in final weeks before tapering. I was unable to use my HR monitor due to some 'technical difficulties'. My training was also a little one dimensional too much long slow and not enough medium fast aerobic training.

It surprising but ive also really been enjoying my training break over the last few weeks. I have even done a little less recreational running than I'd initially planned. The break is almost over. Im feeling re-energized and ready for the coming season. If its anything like this year has been then its going to be a doozy.