Back to the point

Given the title of this blog, I thought it appropriate to write an actual entry about my current running endeavours.

Out of pure narcissism and for the record so I can look back and compare here are my current personal bests (PB's):

5K - 21:14
10K - 41:27
Half Marathon - 1:36:01
Marathon - 3:24:37

I'm currently training for the 2009 Chicago Marathon which I'm running on Sunday October 11th with Andy and Martin. We will all be running separately, aiming to hit our respective goals. The reason I picked Chicago to run at is that it is a fast flat course, you are constantly in the city with things to look at and it is fast becoming recognised as one of the top marathons in the world.

My goal for Chicago is to get my time down below 3 hrs 20 minutes. I was hoping to do this in Paris but due to heat, inadequate amount of drinks and mainly due to me not training right, I missed my goal by 4 minutes and change. I say this is my goal but to steal a quote "I have a dream..." (I'm thinking more Martin Luther King than ABBA here) I would love to use the Chicago Marathon to Qualify for Boston.

For those that don't know, the Boston Marathon to some is the pinnacle of marathons, the Everest to which some of us strive to reach. It is the only major open marathon (I think) that requires you to have done a qualifying time at another marathon to enter. In my case for my gender and age I have to have completed a marathon in 3:10:59 seconds. So I have basically got to cut 14 minutes of my time, which may sound easy, but you are going to have to trust me on this, it isn't!

So there is my ultimate goal, 26.2 miles / 42.2 kilometres in 3 hours 10 minutes and 59 seconds. To achieve this I have changed my training plan from the last 3 marathons I have done and I'm using a plan downloaded from Runners World specifically created to help me run the distance in the time.

Now this is where reality sets in. I've now just come to the end of my fifth week of training for the race and this is the first week I have completed all of the runs I'm meant to do at the pace and distance I'm meant to do them. I could use the fact that I moved to Canada at the very start of the plan and it has taken me a few weeks to settle in but don't be fooled this is just an excuse. The truth is that it is damned hard and I have used any reason to dodge out on a run even though I really want to achieve this.

But enough with the negativity, as I said, this last week I did complete all the training for the week. I now feel awful as a result but there is a happiness in that aching, exhausted feeling. I'm on my way now and I have to keep it up. Over the next few weeks I'm going to try and turn it up to 11. I want to drop about 7lbs to get back to a better race weight, improve my flexibility and start training in the gym again to help rebuild my core strength that will keep me going over the distance.

So that is where I stand at the moment. For any that have made it this far in to the post and have managed not to fall asleep or be put off my the excessive use of the word 'marathon' (11 times by my count) I have included links at the very top right hand corner of this page which shows you my last 5 outdoor training runs. When a link is followed, you can see the route I took for that run, the distance I did, how long it took me, how big the hills were, how high my heart rate went, pretty much everything you didn't want to know and more about my training effort.

For those who are still left, thanks for sticking with me, it is appreciated, as are any comments on you might have on this blog experiment.