Goals For The Month

In writing about my August recap, I thought about what my goals were. I didn't really have any goals for August. I had some things I wanted to accomplish, rest mainly. I was able to do that, but that's kind of an abstract goal really. I mean, how do you measure that? By days off? By workout intensity (or lack thereof)?

So I figured since I have something to shoot for now, something tangible - the Long Beach Half Marathon - I may as well make some goals for the month of September. I want to do well in Long Beach and even if I don't PR, I want to run a strong race, my best race, and the only way that's going to happen is by putting in the work and the miles now.

- Run 120 miles: If I run 120 miles on the nose, it will be my fourth-highest mileage month of the year. I'm not trying to set a high watermark for the year this month but I do want to get my legs back into the groove. I know it's only been two weeks but the last two weeks I've been running five times each week, so I think it's possible to maintain that. I'd like to maintain that and running that often will help me build my mileage up.

- Speedwork: This is important. I barely did any speedwork in training for San Francisco, which is fine since I had to take care of my heel first and foremost, which I did. I did some speedwork in the spring and had some good strong races then (5K, 10K and Half PRs, all in a two-month span). I think if I can get some good consistent speedwork in that I will benefit strongly from it. There's one workout that is awesome. I've done it once and it was intense. I ran 7.5 miles in 1:03, a pace of 8:23. I hope to do that one a few times before Long Beach. But for now, the only speedwork goal I have is to do one session a week.

- Days: I want to run four to five days a week and take no more than two consecutive rest days. For me, taking three days off is tough because it forces me to go longer the rest of the week in order to get in my miles. Running either Monday or Tuesday for me is key. If I can hit Wednesday with a few miles under my belt then I am able to relax the rest of the week and really focus on the runs and what I can get out of them instead of trying to worry about mileage and altering the plans.

- 15-Miler: I want to run one 15-mile run. Not sure when or where or with whom (Lopers or alone) but I think I need to run that before Long Beach. I probably should run it the last weekend of the month, but we'll see how I fit that in.

I suppose that's all the goals I have. I am not racing this month so no thoughts of PRs or anything like that. My long runs will be easier to do once I get into October because our Sundays in September will increase with the Lopers. We'll be running six on Sunday, then seven on the 12th, eight on the 19th and nine on the 26th. I could always run a few miles before those runs to get in my 12- to 15-milers.