Looking forward to 2016

I’m about 10 days out from my last marathon of the year and while I’m looking forward to knocking out one more good race in Memphis, I’m really much more excited about 2016 training!   In fact not only do I have my 2016 training spreadsheet finished (see last post), I also have my 2016 running miles and workouts entered all the way through June!  Now while I’d like to take full credit for that one, the credit is really due to Bill who found the plans and will be working through them with me.  I’m very excited to have the structure in place and a solid plan to work though, and it makes it even better I’ll have Bill to train with this year!  I did a large portion of my training solo last year and I tend to overdo it when not kept in check, Bill does a great job of talking sense into me.  

The first plan we are working through has a considerable drop in weekly mileage compared to what I am used to and I’m going to use that to my advantage.  With the compounding injuries over the last year, the drop in mileage is hopefully going to take care of many of those lingering issues.  Along with the mileage drop I’ll also have much more time to spend on cross training and specifically strength training and core work.   I’m really going to make it a focus over the winter months to spend a lot more time in the gym preparing my body for the pounding it will take once the mileage ramps up.  As a bonus I’ll also get to work in more biking and swimming in anticipation of triathlon season next year… even though last year I only got two tris in I would like to fit at least 4 of them in to the 2016 schedule if at all possible.

I’ll go into a quick overview of my plan to date.   First I will finish off my last race at the Memphis Marathon on December 5^th, depending on how I feel there I will take anywhere from 3-10 days off for recovery.  At that point I’ll hop onto a 5K training plan with Bill that will go until the end of January finishing at the Iowa Games Winter 5K in Dubuque.  There will be a two week “break” which mileage is yet to be determined and then I’ll start up the spring marathon plan that will last from Mid-February until June of this year where myself and about 30 others from Dubuque will run Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, MN.

2016 is certainly looking to be a very fun year and I’ll keep you posted as things move along!

2016 TRAINING LOG

Good Morning!

I designed a new training log in Excel for 2016, feel free to use and edit for your own purposes to hit the ground running next year!  Just keep in mind all totals and averages will auto populate after information is entered...  let me know if you have any questions... happy running! - Cory

BLANK VERSION OF 2016 TRAINING SPREADSHEET

More catching up to do...

Sorry, I know it’s been a while since I checked in, its been a crazy fall!... A lot has happened since my last post “Satan’s 800’s” in September so I’ll do a quick recap…

Boston Marathon 2016 -First of all as you probably know my Boston Qualifying time of 3:02:58 was 26 seconds shy of the 2016 Boston cutoff due to a record breaking year of entries.  It was quite the bummer considering I didn’t even entertain the possibility of my time not getting in since it would have been 30 seconds under the hardest Boston cutoff in 119 years.  I took it pretty hard at first as it’s tough not to feel like I got a raw deal however I’m one of many runners in the same situation and there is nothing I can do at this point but move on so that is what I did…  many more races out there and I know getting to Boston is just a matter of time and it certainly won’t be long now.

RECAP - 2015 Chicago Marathon – 3:08:30

I had pretty mixed feelings about the Chicago Marathon this year.  I had a really fun time in the city and it was an incredible race event however due to a combination of high heat and a little too quick of a start I ended up cramping up horribly at mile 22 and dropped my expected finish time from a 2:58 to a 3:08 in a matter of 4 miles… it was the second marathon I’ve finished in the heat where I had a bad crash at the end and had to watch my time slip away.  It was certainly enough evidence to me to rethink my marathon calendar and in the future I will not to running any races of that distance quite so early in the year.   Although the race ended poorly I had incredible data from the race showing I clearly have the fitness level to PR and finish under 3 hours, a few more tweaks and a nice race day and I’m certain I’m not far off from my goal! J

2015 Memphis Marathon – December 5^th 2015

I decided to pick up one more marathon for the year in December. My in-laws live down in Tennessee and last year my father-in-law told me about this race and I had it marked down as a possible fall marathon.  As it turns out the date worked great this year to fit on my race schedule and Jamie and the kids can see the family too.   I’m going into this marathon with no expectations as I really haven’t done much training after Chicago but I hope to end the year on a high note by just having a good time and enjoying the distance and time on my feet.   Like many runners I am very competitive and although that is very positive in many ways, pushing me to train harder, conquer new challenges and generally just go that extra mile;  it can also cause me to lose sight of why I run which really is the enjoyment of the sport.  After a training session a few years ago, a running friend and training partner of mine told me he thinks of running and his training as a second job.   That has stuck with me ever since as I never want to have that mindset.  Running for me is the furthest thing from work, for me running means freedom and escape from the stresses in life.   That is why going into Memphis my only goal is just to enjoy the marathon experience.

I’ve got a whole lot more to fill everyone in on concerning my future training and race lineup for 2016 but I’ll end this one for now and follow up with that soon… happy running!