I'm Floundering!

No goals ... no training schedule ... no motivation ....

That's what I'm feeling right now. So it's time to take the bull by horns and get organized with my running!

My objective is to qualify for the Boston Marathon. The required time for 40-44 year old men is 3:20. That's a big jump from my 3:40 in St. George (which I'm finding is an EXTREMELY fast course on which I had absolutely PERFECT conditions ... I've even read several bloggers suggest that St. George allows marathoners to record inflated PR's ... not that good for my confidence!). But I think with some focus and effort, I can get there.

Here's the plan I'm toying with but not yet committed to:

GOALS

5K - 20:30 (current PR 21:35)
10K - 42:37 (current PR 45:31)
HLF - 1:34:50 (current PR 1:46:09)
MAR - 3:20:00 (current PR 3:40:18)

To accomplish this I've got to introduce more speed work into my training. I used Runners World Smart Coach for my St. George training program and it worked well. I'm a bit reluctant to go away from it but I think I'm going to try a training program by the Furman Institute of Running & Scientific Training. The program seems to focus on intense, quality workouts without "junk" mileage. I'll follow the FIRST program for my next marathon and see what kind of results I get.

I dropped the Cajun Classic from my race schedule since I don't think I'll be ready to challenge my goal time by then (due to my recent slack training regimen!). My new race schedule is something like this:

Oct 27 - Run The Woodlands 5K (Cameron plans to beat me and I expect he will but I won't go down easily!)

Nov 22 - Ogden Regional Medical Center 5 Mile Run (We'll be in Utah for Thanksgiving so I'll give this one a shot. It will probably be COLD! I'd like to come in somewhere near 34:00 but that will be a challenge.)

May 17 - Ogden Marathon (It should be nice to get back on the Ogden course. I saw the last half in 2007 so that should help from a tactical standpoint. I also plan to get a pacing strategy from the guy who designed the pacing schedule I used in St. George. My goal here is 3:30:00.)

Oct 4 - St. George Marathon (A return to the scene of my maiden marathon. Hopefully I can get through the lottery again this year and get back on that fast track. If not, my backup marathon at the moment appears to be the Steamtown Marathon in Scranton, PA [Oct 12])