Of Goals and Race Plans

Holy cow, what an amazing finish to the mildest winter we've ever had as long as I've been alive. 70's and 80's every day lately. The only thing that scares me is going back to a normal winter of cold and wind :(

Can't say I really miss this

Since my last race on Feb. 4th I have just been building mileage with a little bit of tempo and speed work mixed in. This past Saturday, March 10th I ran a half-marathon with some female teammates in Fremont, NE in hopes of helping them qualify for the NAIA Nationals. Unfortunately, there was a nasty side wind and nobody qualified. I did end up running 14 miles that day so it ended up being a solid long run. I finished last week with my highest mileage week since October 2009. My body is feeling a little banged up but nothing bad, and it's to be expected with mileage increases.

This Saturday is the Irishman in Sioux Falls. It consists of a 5-mile, 5k, and mile race all a couple of hours apart near downtown. They add your total times together to get your Irishman time. Last year it was extremely windy and cold and fairly miserable. I think my total time was around 59 minutes. This year my goal is to run under 56 minutes.

Speaking of goals.... I have a few short term goals for the races I am planning on running coming up this spring:

-Irishman (March 17/Sioux Falls): 56 minutes

-5-mile: 32:00

-5k: 18:00

-mile: 5:15

-MVCA road race (April 7/Yankton): 10k - 37 minutes

-RiverRat 1/2 Marathon (April 28/Yankton): 1:23

-Brookings 1/2 Marathon (May 12/Brookings): 1:20

-Deadwood 1/2 Marathon (June 3/Deadwood): 1:18

Update from the Irishman to come next week!