Here we are at the start of another year, January 1 yet again. A fresh, blank page in the running journal, time to set some goals and make a plan to achieve them.
Except, I'm at a bit of a loss. Where do I start? Truthfully, 2015 was a huge flop of a running year for me. I ran several personal worsts, sustained a handful of injuries that left me wondering how to recover. I worked with a physical therapist. I quit CrossFit. I started taking Runners' Bootcamp and took Spinning to cross-train. I ran 300+ fewer miles in 2015 than the year before.
I felt like garbage 90% of my running miles, was slower and felt like an overall failure.
But here's the thing: towards the end of 2015, I started to enjoy running again. After three injuries, it seemed like I was on the way back to my former running self. The Turkey Trot was the first race I'd run since the half-marathon in June, and the Mud Run in August after that. Neither of THOSE were very good, and I had no business expecting to run it well. And, well, I didn't. I ran the slowest I ever had, not counting the years I was pregnant. It was, however, the first race I ran wearing my Oiselle singlet, and it made me hungry for more. A few weeks later I ran a 5K (in December, in SHORTS!) and, while it still was 2 minutes away from my best, I felt so strong and confident. I managed to string together 3+ sub-seven-minute miles, and win my age group. After that, my runs started to get faster and more comfortable and longer.
And then my piriformis started to flare up and now here I sit with a literal pain in my ass. It is beyond frustrating to feel like things are starting to come back together only to have to bow out once again. Tomorrow is cross training, no running. I ran two miles today, and while my pace was fine and I felt pretty good, I could tell my piriformis was still aggravated. Came home, stretched, sat on the TriggerPoint massage ball. Uuurrrgghghghghg. Grr!
Anyway. Back to goals for 2016. I guess I need to just take baby steps back to where I was 18 months ago.
1. Run under 21 minutes for the 5K. I'd love to get back under 20, but that might take a little more time.
2. Consistent speed work. And on non-speed weeks, get in a good hill workout at the Ridge.
3. 1:35:ish for the Syracuse Half Marathon on April 3. I don't think I can get back to my PR of 1:32:xx this Spring, yet.
4. Blog more consistently. I need to get out of my own head, and I would like to connect with more runners, maybe grow this space a little bit.
5. Listen to my body when a possible injury is brewing. I want to get better at preventing injury rather than putting out fires.
6. Eat vegetables with at least 2 meals/day. I need to clean up my diet on a more consistent basis and I think eating more vegetables will help get that on track.
7. Core/Strength/Stretching. I plan to do core work, often in the form of Oiselle's Dirty Dozen, 3x/week, go to Runners' Bootcamp 1x/week plus a BaseSix/Prime workout another 1x/week, and consistently stretch and do Jasyoga after every run. I also need to figure in an upper body workout 1-2x/week.
I have a tentative plan to run a Fall marathon this year, thinking of putting my name in the lottery for Chicago, Marine Corps or signing up for Philly, or possibly Wineglass for a smaller race.
These goals right now seem a little impossible and a little scary, and it's hard to look at the all the work I need to do just to get back to where I was. I can look at a few decisions over the past year or so that took me away from where I was, and it makes me crazy to think I was such an idiot. But here I am, the blank first page of the Book of 2016, and it's time to fill the rest of the book with a good story. I'm ready to #womanup2016.
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