First on my list of races is the USATF club XC championship in early December. This race is at Lehigh over their 10k course. I was asked to do this as part of the club team that I loosely run for, and since I had no other races planned around that time I figured it wouldn't come at any cost to me to run it. I have about 6 weeks to get ready for that, which shouldn't take much more than adapting the fitness I gained from marathon training down to more XC-style fitness.
I may also do some other low-key races around that time. Thanksgiving is always rife with races in the area, and Wilmington has a 10k turkey trot on Thanksgiving day that I've never done. These sorts of races are ones that I don't really plan for, but can just sort of crop up and I'll hop in if I have nothing better going on in my running plan.
I am still on the fence regarding racing indoors. On the one hand I do want to get back to the track, but on the other it will be tough for me to get in good racing shape over winter, likely training in the dark and without a track for most of the time. Track racing is also not great for my schedule; I would have to take time off and go out of my way, likely all the way up to Boston, to find the level of competition that I'm looking for.
With that being said, I am pretty set on trying to run fast on the outdoor track. Since I've been focusing on long distances ever since college, I think I want to try for a 5k/10k PR. My 5k PR is definitely respectable and that was maybe the best I've ever run a race, and will be challenging to improve on. My 10k PR is terrible, and I would love to knock a minute off that and get under 30 minutes. I think that I can run well at both distances by training for 10k - I ran 14:21 last spring at Swarthmore, and I felt during the race that I could have gone faster if the race as a whole had been higher quality. That was off of dedicated training for Broad Street and 5 minute miling.
Again, the drawback with racing track is that the schedule is set up for college running and most distance races are Friday night. Not that taking off work is a big deal, it's just less convenient than racing Sunday morning. I am pretty committed to racing track, though, and there are some good meets within reasonable distance from home (Princeton & William & Mary immediately come to mind, maybe even Penn Relays) and if I'm hard up for races I can always look to the roads as a backup plan.
Looking even farther ahead: My overarching goal for the next year is to qualify for the marathon trials, which are to be on Feb. 16, 2016, in LA. The best opportunity to qualify for me will be the Philly Rock N Roll half next fall. In 2011, before the 2012 trials, everybody who was near 65 minutes ran that race because:
1) it typically has great weather
2) it always has a good field
3) it's close enough to the race for up and comers to have enough time to get fit
4) it's far enough out from the race to allow for a proper recovery/buildup cycle for the Trials
5) the half marathon standard of 65:00 is easier than the equivalent marathon standard of 2:18.
I have to think that this will be the case again, and since I consider myself one of the many guys who will be in ~65 minute shape, I might as well take my shot too. Obviously if I qualify, I'll run the trials. If I don't I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, but it's far enough away to not even think about.
I may also do some other low-key races around that time. Thanksgiving is always rife with races in the area, and Wilmington has a 10k turkey trot on Thanksgiving day that I've never done. These sorts of races are ones that I don't really plan for, but can just sort of crop up and I'll hop in if I have nothing better going on in my running plan.
I am still on the fence regarding racing indoors. On the one hand I do want to get back to the track, but on the other it will be tough for me to get in good racing shape over winter, likely training in the dark and without a track for most of the time. Track racing is also not great for my schedule; I would have to take time off and go out of my way, likely all the way up to Boston, to find the level of competition that I'm looking for.
With that being said, I am pretty set on trying to run fast on the outdoor track. Since I've been focusing on long distances ever since college, I think I want to try for a 5k/10k PR. My 5k PR is definitely respectable and that was maybe the best I've ever run a race, and will be challenging to improve on. My 10k PR is terrible, and I would love to knock a minute off that and get under 30 minutes. I think that I can run well at both distances by training for 10k - I ran 14:21 last spring at Swarthmore, and I felt during the race that I could have gone faster if the race as a whole had been higher quality. That was off of dedicated training for Broad Street and 5 minute miling.
Again, the drawback with racing track is that the schedule is set up for college running and most distance races are Friday night. Not that taking off work is a big deal, it's just less convenient than racing Sunday morning. I am pretty committed to racing track, though, and there are some good meets within reasonable distance from home (Princeton & William & Mary immediately come to mind, maybe even Penn Relays) and if I'm hard up for races I can always look to the roads as a backup plan.
Looking even farther ahead: My overarching goal for the next year is to qualify for the marathon trials, which are to be on Feb. 16, 2016, in LA. The best opportunity to qualify for me will be the Philly Rock N Roll half next fall. In 2011, before the 2012 trials, everybody who was near 65 minutes ran that race because:
1) it typically has great weather
2) it always has a good field
3) it's close enough to the race for up and comers to have enough time to get fit
4) it's far enough out from the race to allow for a proper recovery/buildup cycle for the Trials
5) the half marathon standard of 65:00 is easier than the equivalent marathon standard of 2:18.
I have to think that this will be the case again, and since I consider myself one of the many guys who will be in ~65 minute shape, I might as well take my shot too. Obviously if I qualify, I'll run the trials. If I don't I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, but it's far enough away to not even think about.
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