run, dad, run

5hr08 / 50km / 34ctl

14 days until parental leave

January ended up being very average with respect to running. I completed the awesome Two Bays trail and picked up a bit of a rib issue, followed by 3 weeks of slowly getting back up to speed. The trail run itself was a great reminder of what running should be – an early morning adventure, friends to share the memories with, beautiful nature, a sense of nervousness, then challenge and accomplishment.

Anyway I’m back now and ready to crack on.

Last year I completed 2 marathons, Gold Coast and Melbourne. Gold Coast was my A goal with a sub 3 hour target in mind. Unfortunately conditions on the day as well as injuries in the lead in meant this was out of reach, and I finished the year with a 3:05 pb. The race challenged me in a way I wasn’t expecting and hit me like a brick at the 30k. As much as you’re told to prepare for it, it’s hard to push on at that level of exhaustion when others are also dropping like flies. “Is it worth it” is definitely something that came into my mind.

I hit pbs in all other race distances, an 18:24 5k, 38:00 10k and a very enjoyable 1:23:20 half marathon in Ballarat. I consider it a successful year overall.

Since then running has taken a back seat and I’ve had a substantial amount of time off.

This year I have two A goals:

A Boston qualifier marathon time (around 2:55)

Complete a 100k ultra

Boston and more marathoning was not on my card but after a friend floated it, and FOMO got the best of me, it moved onto the list. It sits well with my other goal of the 100k race however and the volume of training needed for both will work well together.

For the ultra lead in (my longest day race to date was 51k), I’ll take on a 28k race in January, a 50k race in April and likely another 50k+ in early August, before targeting the Surf Coast Century 100k in September.

For the marathon lead in I’ll complete a 10k around April, Half in May to build into the Gold Coast marathon in early July.

These are the broad targets but as always it’s about the experiences and challenges on the way.