I have been running for the past 10 years with varying levels of success. Success at the beginning involved running all the way to the next lamppost or to the end of the road, then it became completing the first race or running a longer distance. Around 2012, with a wedding coming up, I ran more and tried to run 1000 miles in a year (I failed) but I was at my lowest weight for a while and my fastest times. Over time, success has changed and targets have changed too.
This year though, I am running quicker and more often than before. Part of this is because I am getting up earlier and running before school when I can and part of it is having the tools to help me. I bought a new Garmin watch that shows me my pace at the current moment rather than every 5mins or so like my old one. This means I can look down and see if I am on course to meet the targetted finish time etc.
Already this year, my 5km time has dropped below 25mins (24min 59secs counts…just!) and my 10k time is now 49:32 (previously the best was 53:00). But there are still big milestones to go. So I thought if I share them publically, I will have to work that little bit harder to reach them…
- Great South Run in under 1:30 (9min per mile / 5:35 per km)
- Half Marathon in under 2:00 (9:08 / 5:41 per km
- Getting my weight under 13 stone (currently 14stone)
My usual training pace is between 5:10 and 5:30 per km so these look achievable!
Target 1: This will be my tenth year of running the Great South. It is a wonderful 10mile course around Portsmouth and last year I managed a new PB of 1:32:46 so I will have to cut nearly 3minutes to achieve my target.
Target 2: My half marathon PB is 2:01:01 which is obviously very frustrating. I have 3 half marathons lined up in the Autumn and one is a flat one, so hopefully, the 2-hour mark will be broken at one (or more) of them.
Target 3: I was 16 stone 3lbs in Jan 2017 and it has been a steady loss since then. Having a wife on Slimming World has helped too.
So how will the targets be reached? By working out the small steps needed to get closer and closer to the goal. By using resources (my watch) to help me plan my strategy. By working with others (Strava and Fitbit challenges are helping) By setting timescales: Great South is 108 days away, half marathons are 80-136 days away.
I’m sure there’s some kind of link to targets in the classroom in this post somewhere…
