2011 Goals

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2010 was the year I started running. Sort of my Running 101 year. I began last January with Couch to 5k, and finished with a half marathon in December. But the one thing I'm most proud of is that I managed to be consistent with my running for the entire year. Everything else I accomplished can be traced back to simply being consistent. There were too many people and things that kept me motivated to list here, so I'll save that for another post. But, I will say that I love racing, and found that having an upcoming race on my calendar was huge for keeping me going.

So with all of that in mind, here are a few things I'd like to accomplish in 2011.

First, continue being consistent with my running. Pace and distance improvements are great, but at this stage I still feel that I'm very much a beginning runner, and as such, I'm told that consistency is key. So I've set a mileage goal of 1000 miles for 2011 in order to help me achieve my more general goal of running consistently. It will take a year-long, consistent effort to reach 1000 miles. That's an average of about 19 miles per week. It's very reachable, but only if I stay consistent.

Second, I want to keep a busy race schedule. I think it will help me achieve my first goal because racing is such a big motivation for me. The last thing I want is to show up on race day feeling unprepared. So on days I don't feel like running, I think about the upcoming race and how much better prepared I'll feel if I got in all of my training runs. That's usually enough to get me out the door. So in 2011 I plan to run 7-9 races. That's about one race every 5-6 weeks when you consider that not much racing goes on in Texas between mid-July and mid-September. I think that's about right. (although I have 2 races this month - how did that happen?)

Third, I want to get more consistent with core training. I would like to look back on 2011 this time next year and see that I became as consistent with core training in 2011 as I did with running in 2010. My goal is at least one core training workout per week.

So that's really about it for 2011-specific goals. I have other goals that I keep listed on my goals page, but those aren't necessarily goals that I feel like I have to accomplish in 2011 (although running a full marathon is something I would like to shoot for in late 2011). I'm sure that over the coming days and weeks I will think of other things I'd like to accomplish in 2011, but I think this is a pretty good start for now.