Failing Yes, Giving up No

So far this year my running has been a fail. I started the year with many goals and haven’t really achieved too many of them yet. Some of my goals I have already abandoned and new goals have emerged, I won’t be giving up though you can count on that.

In my blog post called “My 5 Running Goals of 2014” my goals were.

1) Enjoy my Running = Fail. I have had a lingering calf problem that has kept my out of doing the running I want to be doing. Some of my runs have been enjoyable but overall I am frustrated with the time I have been unable to run.

2) Sub 3 For the Marathon =  Fail. I have abandoned my plans to run Newcastle Marathon on 6th April due to simply not being able to run far enough to train for this event. It’s not over yet, plenty of marathons left on the calendar.

3) Run another Ultra = Not achieved yet. I hadn’t planned on running an Ultra at this time of the year anyway. I am still confident I will achieve this goal.

4) Run less in Shoes = Pass. Although I haven’t run as much as I’d have liked my percentage of running without shoes is about what I’d like it to be. I still enjoy these runs no matter how far or hard they are.

5) Stay Healthy and Fit = Fail. Most of the year I have been either not running because of my calf problem or managing it so I don’t injure it again.

My lack of miles over the first two months of the year have made me change my thoughts on what my goals races are this year also. I have elected to do some swimming and cycling as cross training whilst I can’t put in the running miles I’d like to. Because of this I have decided to recommit to completing at least one long course triathlon this year and this will be Ironman 70.3 in Port Macquarie in October. It was May 2011 when I did my last long course triathlon, I stopped doing these because I was only enjoying the running training so I decided to focus on my running only. Having gotten in a pool and on a bike recently I have found I still have the motivation to race these events and still think I can lower my personal best in a 70.3 event.

As I have said earlier I won’t be racing Newcastle Marathon in April, nor the Port Macquarie Half Marathon in a fortnight’s time. I am focussed now on getting my calf completely right and then increasing my running miles before I commit to another long race. I am hoping I will be right for Gold Coast Marathon in July and Centennial Park Ultra in the new date of August 3rd but I am not committing to these until my calf is right.

For the time being I am going to cross train when I can and get my swim and bike fitness back to where it should be and run the small miles I can with plenty of rest in between runs. Not the ideal start to the year but I have no doubt in my mind that I’ll be back to peak fitness in the near future and my racing schedule can get started for the year, just a bit later than I’d hoped.

I hope your schedule is on track and you are injury free and loving your New Years running.