This training cycle, my big goal (and I would say the biggest goal of my career so far) is to qualify for the 2016 OT marathon. Doing that requires one of two things: a half marathon under 1:05:00 or a marathon under 2:18 (B) or 2:15 (A). For me, deciding which is easier is a no-brainer. Also a no-brainer was the choice of what half to tackle - it's always Philly Rock n' Roll.
I've been training harder than I ever have during the summer in hopes of reaching this goal, despite the race being 5-6 weeks later this year. I've done my best to blend going by feel and smart planning together to strike balance of hard yet sustainable training.
As always in my running, I emphasize long aerobic endurance to go with race specific work. Maybe that's why I like the half - at this distance, those are synonymous. Lots of long tempos, lots of 5:00 pace work, with a little track and hill work sprinkled in to make the pace feel a little easier. Typical tried and true formula, on this year the mileage is a little higher because I can get in some doubles.
I've also got a few other races planned between now and Halloween (RnR).
8/29: Dread Druid Hills 10k - this is a race that my local running store puts on and for the first time it has money. $100 for the win, and while it's supposed to be a very hard course, I'll do anything for $100.
9/13: Parks half marathon - another race with money, and always draws in a few decent Kenyans. I hear it's not a super fast course, and never has gotten great people because of the races usually scheduled around it, but I think I'm in good shape and want to see what I can do for a half sooner rather than later.
10/11: Army 10 miler - Very very high quality race. 16 guys broke 50:00 last year, so this is the one I'm most excited about doing before Philly. This should be a great race.
I might get another one in between Parks and Army, but maybe not. Those are two big races that will take some time to recover from and I don't want to have to really sacrifice a lot of training time to constantly be ready to race before Philly.
On a completely different note: I figured out how to export my running logs since May 2010 on Athleticore into excel. I compiled a summary of 2010-2014 and deleted all the extra comments, leaving only the details of workouts and comments on races:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B34nWN0zJyCZLUJMeEI0MG9iakU/view?usp=sharing
