Running and the 2012 Race Season

It’s time to come clean and talk about what I would have rather been doing while I was training and racing triathlons throughout the 2011 season and what I will be doing during the 2012 season.  It took a little forcing myself to do swim and bike workouts.  I just wanted to run.

Why?  Less time commitment for the value and the limit of my capabilities in pure running is relatively unexplored.  Sure, I know how well I run based off a couple months of trail- and road-running base, or while I’m also training for swim and bike, but what could  I do if I really just focused on running for, say, a year?  Gave my body a little time to re-shape itself a tiny bit more like a runner instead of a quad-heavy, substantial-shouldered triathlete?  What could I do if I did this before age becomes an inexorable factor?

I know I probably have less speed now, but I have better endurance and run durability.  I’ve finally figured out how to train slowly enough to get the consistency up and therefore the mileage up.  Also, the ultra’s I’ve done build my confidence for a fast road marathon.  Well, faster than my 3:12 PR from early 2005 at least.

So that’s the drive on the interesting-and-worthwhile-goal front, but the time commitment factor is an at least equal draw to a run-only plan.  Even when I add in a few yoga and pilates sessions a week on top of higher mileage, I’m still going to be logging fewer hours than the kind of triathlon training it takes to try and maintain what I’ve achieved.

That’s a freeing sensation.  I have a family and job I love– I’m over the feeling that my training sacrifices one or the other.  Not that run training won’t require a balancing act, but it’s a matter of degrees.  Plus, the goal is interesting to me.

So…I’m sorry triathlete friends.  I don’t mean any offense when I say I’m burned out on the scene right now and might not be back for years.  No swimming except floating around in the pool with my son on occasion.  No biking except to commute.  As an athlete, I want to be a runner that does some yoga and pilates.  That’s just where I am.

So blah blah running blah blah.  What’s your racing sched Alicia?

Well, I’ve got my eye on a couple trail 50k’s this winter.  That 40-miler was an interesting challenge last year, but that box is checked.  I’ve signed up for the Holiday Lake 50k which is purported to be one of the “easier” and “faster” 50k’s.  That interests me.  Also, I’m hoping that BCRC can get the Mountains to the Sea 50k to happen this year and I hear it from a reliable source that the event’s prospects are looking up.  I’m also comp’ed in to the Umstead Trail Marathon again– can I break 3:30 this year?  There will be other, shorter and/or informal events mixed in, but that’s the gist of the trail running season.

As I did last year, Spring will mark a transition to road racing.  Shorter stuff and a longer term plan for a fall marathon build.  I haven’t picked a marathon yet, but I’m looking at Outer Banks because it’s flat, fast and not super crowded.  I’m not big on being packed in like a sardine when I run.  Actually, I’m not big on being packed in like a sardine ever.    Anyway, I have some tiered time goals for the marathon that I’ll share at a later date.

So that’s the scoop.  Running.  I’m excited about the change, which is a nice switch from the sense of obligation that drove my training and racing this past tri season.  Running!  I’m a runner now.  Whee!

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