I'm trying to plan training and racing for this year, but it's kind of tough not knowing where we'll be living. Maybe that's an easy excuse and I should be making a Plan A, B, and C.
The first item on the calendar is the Lakefront 10, on 4/16. This will be my third, and I've enjoyed it in the past. It also is about as close as a race gets to home, an easy bike ride. I have volunteered to lead a CARA training group, but I don't yet know what my training pace will be. No spring half is really turning me on.
If it makes sense at the time, I may consider the Stoughton Syttende Mai 10-mile run, which may be Mother's Day weekend.
The rest of my plans are contingent upon living in Chicago. If we leave Chicago, it will happen after school gets out in June, and then all will be scrapped and started anew. That would be fine with me.
Assuming the Chicago Trail Series is on again this year, I'd like to do a number of those races, if only for fun. They range from 4 miles to 12k. It's not like I have an analogous training area immediately available, and I've only done one of them, so I don't know that time goals make sense.
I'd like to do the Waterfall Glen Xtreme 10 this year. I registered last year and it got canceled for lightning--it would have been a big mess as we got 7 or 8 inches of rain that morning. It's supposed to be tough.
I'm also thinking of doing a triathlon or two this year, in order to be a little more well-rounded and to put a little more urgency into cross-training, which was pretty lame last year. I'm looking at off-road triathlons, as a new bike is not in the cards this year, and I'm done with road tris on a mountain bike. I'm considering DINO Logansport, XTERRA Illinois Wilds, and XTERRA Dairyland, which are on consecutive weekends in August.
Have you figured out the theme yet?
OK, departing from the theme, I had sort of thought a fall sub-2 half might be my ultimate goal for the year. I'm conflicted a bit, as I'm really feeling an urge to be on trails this year, but not sure whether the various events that appeal really make sense with a serious half training plan. I'm thinking of trying to follow the FIRST plan, which is rather exacting and will have speedwork and plenty of mileage. Will that work? I have my doubts. I'm not sure whether just doing the trail stuff (and the longest race would be 10 miles--in July) will be enough running to make me happy, but I'm not sure that I can effectively train hard (and I will have to work for sub-2) with little trail races monthly or more often. I suppose I could just target a fall half, train around the trail stuff, run longer on the weekends when I can and see how it goes without FIRST but with more shorter races (and speed?) along the way. I'd have to patch together a plan after the Trail Series schedule is announced.
If I do a fall half, I think it will be Fort 4 Fitness again--hard to beat the fan friendliness! And frankly, it's a lot less expensive than some of the local races.
If we don't live in Chicago, I don't have a clue what I'll do!
