goals

2019 Race Schedule

Since I think I have most of my races selected for most of the year at this point, I figured I should go over my master racing plan!

Hyannis HalfFebruary 24
Antelope Canyon Ultras Trail HalfMarch 9
New Bedford HalfMarch 7
Rugged Maniac PhoenixApril 6
Rhode Races Newport HalfApril 13
Illinois MarathonApril 27
Spartan Sprint BostonMay 11
Horseneck HalfMay 19
Vermont City MarathonMay 26
North Face MA 50kJune 8
Bubble RunJune 15
Tough MudderJune 29
Blue Hills 12kJuly 7
Savage RaceJuly 13
Anchor Down UltraAugust 16 & 17
Rhode Races Jamestown HalfSeptember 21
Rhode Races Narragansett MarathonOctober 27

That may seem like a lot of races, but that’s how I like my schedule. Plus most of them are just going to be for fun anyway. One of my 2019 goals I forgot to mention on my goals post was to run a race every month, so some are also to help accomplish that as well as be fun!

Most of the Vacation Races series is on my bucketlist so when the Rhode Runners crew said they were doing Antelope Canyon this year I wasn’t going to pass that up! I also have two other racecations, Rugged Maniac Phoenix and the Illinois Marathon this year!

The New Bedford Half, Horseneck Half, and Blue Hills are all local races I’ve been meaning to do for awhile now and decided to finally get around to running! As of right now the plan is to run them for fun. The Rhode Races Newport Half is also local, but I have run that one multiple times before and just can’t get enough.

Next up are my marathons: Illinois, Vermont City, and Narragansett!! I am EXTREMELY excited for them! I have now tried to run a few marathons while being completely under prepared and hadn’t had them turn out well. I’m partially SUPER nervous (what if the marathon distance is my kryptonite?!) but also realistically know I can totally do this! I’m really happy having two planned earlier and then a third way later in the year. Right now I plan to run Illinois really conservatively, just to boost my confidence and prove to myself I can do it. Also my current PR is “dying in the desert” slow so even a very conservative marathon should give me a nice PR! With the newfound confidence I will hopefully have gained, I would then like to see how I am feeling for Vermont City. My current training plan is set for Vermont, but I would like to PR (again a slow PR that shouldn’t be hard to beat) and hopefully slightly crush (that’s the hard part) the North Face 50k, which isn’t all that long after Vermont. I’m good with going by feel as the races get closer and I have Narragansett (a nice familiar course for at least the first half) as a backup if I feel like I could have given more in Vermont.

I REALLY liked having some fitness other than just running ability last year so I signed up for three ORC races this year: the Spartan Sprint Boston, the Tough Mudder, and the Savage Race. I LOVED the Sprint course last year so I definitely wanted to run that one again! Also last year when I did the Tough Mudder with my college roomies we only did the half (5 mile) and we wanted to/are going to do the full (10 mile) this year so that’s cool! For the Savage Race my friend and I are actually signed up for a competitive wave so I’m pumped to hopefully be able to run the runnable sections!

Now for the REALLY juicy stuff! I signed up for the 24 hour section of the Anchor Down Ultra. Yes, I have only run one ultra so far (Silver Falls 50k) and yes it didn’t go so well.. BUT I don’t care! Not to make excuses, but my knee was bad at the time and I had barely any training and I KNOW that with some solid training I can at least push myself to accomplish something! Will I make it 24 whole hours? Not sure. Will I make it 100 miles in that time and get a SWEET ass belt buckle? Who knows! BUT I’m sure as hell not going to sign up for a lesser section (12 or 6 hr) that would limit what might be possible! It is a nice flat, easy, million loop course though a local park so it’s also not like failure leaves me dying out in the desert somewhere (yea I learned my lesson about desert running!) either. So the current plan is to dream big and train like it’s going to happen!

My final current race plan for 2019 is the Rhode Races Jamestown Half. I ran this race originally as part of the Rhode Master’s Series. It is a pretty small race on what I felt was a really fast course to me. I think as long as I have all my planned miles logged from all my earlier races (and add in some speed work) I will have a really good base to possibly run a PR here. Also with a small field it would be really cool to place well! (For reference, I placed 14th overall that year without a great time or really training much for it.)

How many races do you plan a year?
What are your big race goals this year?
Have you ever just gone for it? How’d it turn out?!

2019 Goals

I know we are already 13 days into 2019 but here are some of my main goals for the 352 remaining days 😜

2019k in 2019 – Because a mileage goal seems like a fun challenge!

Run Streak – I’ve just always wanted to. Also more consistent running is always helpful. The streak to beat is 33 days, but the end goal is to keep it going forever like some of you crazies!

Full PR – This should be a relatively easy PR since my first (and only) full so far went pretty poorly. Really this goal is just finish another marathon with little to no walking and feel good.

50k PR – Same as my full PR. I was injured and maybe shouldn’t have even run my first 50k, but here we are with a nice easy PR to beat if I can just run another 50k.

Distance PR – Yes I am one of those people who think all the ultras sound really, really cool. 50k is the distance to beat!

Half PR – This will be harder since I love and seem to do decent at halves. But since my last half PR is from just a bit of marathon training, I’m hoping if I can manage an entire actual half training cycle and more consistent mileage it won’t be too hard to PR in either.

Strava CRs – They are silly but contests are my shit. Also this will make me check out some new running routes because I know there are tons of awesome places near me that I don’t know about!

I have a bunch of other little goals/goals for eventually, but I won’t bore you with ALL of those. Just figured I’d write a few down here so now I HAVE to do them 😝

2017 Goals

So I decided to try blogging.. I started instagramming my runs midway through last year with some hesitation, but found it to be a great experience! The community is like being on a team and I love sharing/learning about new workouts, gear, and races. Now that I’m trying to get more serious about running again I want a place I can write a bit more than a short picture caption (in case anything exciting happens!)

Some 2017 Goals
Half Marathon PR – 1:39:44
I ran my first half in 2013 mostly on a whim. It was during XC season (the day after a meet actually) so I didn’t do much extra training as I wasn’t technically supposed to run races outside of conference. It felt AMAZING! It is also still my PR..
Since then I’ve only run three other halfs, all this year and all without much training. Granted, I planned to run them all with friends for their first ever half and wanted to actually run with them, but I still know I could do better and plan to this year!

Half Marathon Pacer
I want to be a half marathon pacer at some point this year. I really enjoy seeing other people enjoy running as well and reach their goals. Plus, staying at a constant pace is one of my biggest issues. I tend to just run how I feel, which is sometimes going out way too hard and then dying off. I would absolutely need to know I was capable of staying at a pace before I’d feel comfortable with other people relying on my pacing skills, so I think training to be a pacer would be really good for me.

First Marathon
Right now this one seems kind of out of grasp since I’m just trying to get settled into a daily running schedule, but I think once I manage that everything might just fall into place.

Speed workouts/Schedule
Being on a team for so long spoiled me. Everything was planned out for me and was seemingly out of my control. When Coach chose a workout I hated on a particularly bad day there was nothing I could do about it but run the workout. Now it’s just me not really knowing how to create a good training schedule (you mean I should have been paying attention all those years??!) and being able to make excuses to break any schedule I manage to create.
I actually started the Challengeville tinman challenge for January and just the daily mileage schedule and their checking up on me has been enough to keep me motivated to follow the plan so far.
But I also know how awesome speed workouts feel (*once your’re done) so I eventually need to get/make some kind of plan with speed work involved.

Core/Strength/Other Sports
Again, it’s hard to find time to do add other activities to your schedule when you are already having problems finding time for your main activity, but I also know I tend to slightly avoid anything besides running. I enjoy core, but strongly dislike straight strength training so I want to get back to doing other activities that I enjoy that just happen to involve strength training (like pole dancing!).

Morning Runs
Pretty sure I can blame laziness for this one since a few years back I got up at 4/5 AM and ran 10 miles before work regularly with almost the same work/life schedule. I have recently found out night runs are kind of awesome but also need to start being able to eat dinner at a reasonable time.

1000 miles
This year I only ran 446.98, but that was also without much of a goal planned for majority of the year. A 1000 miles a year is only 2.74 per day, totally doable!
(I’d also LOVE to get to 2017 miles, but we’ll see how 1000 is looking after the first month of the year first.)

Race More
It’s nice have an end goal in mind to keep you motivated while training. I’ve been compiling a list throughout 2016 of all the cool races people posted on Instagram that I missed and definitely will attempt for 2017. Maybe I’ll review and post that list soon for any other runners in the area to be informed of some neat races ahead of time!

Run Streak
Too bad I never logged miles (I just ran them) until late into college because I’m sure I would have had some killer run streaks beforehand. I just think run streaks are neat and it’s always been my dream to end up that kick ass 80 year old lady who hasn’t missed a day of running for 10 years.

Run to Work
Not really a crazy goal since it’s only about 7 miles, but just something I’ve been waiting for the right day for since I found out my work has working showers. This was also an item on my bucket list, but I totally didn’t think it would be achievable at my very first job (especially as a Software Engineer for a tech company).

More Trail/Grass Runs
Another thing I slightly avoid (because it’s not my strong suit). The mushier the surface, the slower I go so I kind of love the road and grass is the bane of my existence. Trails are great because they are so pretty that usually can motivate me to run them a bit more, but I avoid grass like the plague even thought I know I shouldn’t. I’d like to incorporate workouts on grass (like my old coach) so that when I’m back on road it’s a piece of cake.