2013 Draft Race Schedule

As I am sitting watching my Bears, I thought about my running in 2012 and what I plan to do next year. All things considered 2012 should be a disappointment instead I am viewing it as a transition year and transitions take time.

For me though, 2013 needs to be the year that the transition is completed and I redeem myself as a marathoner and ultrarunner. I may not make much progress on my 50 state quest but after I get my myself back into marathon and ultra shape I will be totally ok delaying the state quest. Then again, if you look closely at my draft plan you will see a couple new states and who knows maybe I can sneak in a 3rd or 4th one ;-).

This winter will be about building the base and recommitting to running with a purpose, so I will have the margin I need. Should be a fun challenge and a goal worth working on.

Here's the first draft of a race schedule for next year.

2013

January

Winter Carnival 1/2 marathon - Jan 26th - Something to do
February
? - Will need to find some short distance races

March

Get Lucky 1/2 marathon - Mar 16th - Build slowly, sure 

April

Zumbro 17, MN - Sat 4/13th - Start out slow and don't overdue the dstance early

Chippewa 50k, WI - Sat 4/27th - Need to finish it smiling, Redemption race 1

May

Ice Age 50k - Sat 5/11th - Would like to do it one year

Superior 50k - Sat 5/18th - Need ot choose one of these two events

Fargo Marathon - Sat 5/18th  - A fun event and my wife and daugher want to do the 1/2

June

Minneapolis Marathon - Sat 6/3 - Again, I will need to chose one of these two events
FANS 12 hr - Sat 6/3

Grandmas Marathon - Sat 6/22nd - 13th Grandmas in 2013, makes sense

July

Afton 50k - Sat 7/6th - Did the 25k last year, time to do the 50k again, Redemption race 2

August

Marquette 50k - Sat 8/17th - Would be nice to get Michigan done

September

Superior 50 - Sat 9/7th - Volunteer Friday, RaceSaturday as I need this one Redemption race 3

October

Twin Cities Marathon - 10/6th - If I do Grandmas, it makes sense to do another TCM
Wild Duluth 50k???
Surf the Murph 50k - Sat 10/26th - Final race for my redemption, Redemption race 4

November
Rails to Trails Marathon - Sun 11/2nd - Would be fun to do the marathon
Gobble Gait 8k - Thur 11/21st

December
Tecumseh Trail Marathon - Sat 12/7th - What a great way to finish the year, racing in Indy

Margin

As I have gotten older and tried to continue to do what I did when I was younger and injury free, I have slowly figured out that it's all about margin and how much do I have?

At Surf the Murph, I went into the race with no margin, I was undertrained, slightly injured, coming off a few weeks of stress from work and coming in with no confidence as all of my recent races had been failures. For the last 2 years I have not completed a marathon or ultra, this includes dropping from Chippewa (2012) with a re-injured ankle, dropping the year before from Potawatomi 50 (2011) after 40 miles with the same injured ankle and missing the cutoff at Superior 50 (2010) when I originally injured the ankle and calf.

At Murph, truth be told, I probably was at a negative margin as my longest run coming into it was around 20 miles and that was on relatively flat trails as when I tried to run hills I had issues. So how did I think I would complete Murph, pretty simple, my plan was to get through the first loop based on my training and then get through the second loop with my mind.

One thing that I have learned is you can't bluff your way through an ultra especially with injury issues. For me the race technically ended after 17 miles, my down fall started with the misstep during mile 4, the real cause though happened in the weeks and months proceeding the event as I wasn't strong enough, healthy enough or trained enough to get through it.

What am I going to do about? I can either change or repeat what I have been doing over the last 2 years which hasn't worked. What I have done over the last 2 years is run, I converted to minimalist running this past summer which has helped my ankle but I have had issues with my calf and achilles both of which relate back to other injuries. It has been said by others that "to repeat the same pattern and expect different results is an act of insanity", so for the last few years, I have been repeating the pattern of trying to run long distances with minimal training to try and compensate for my injuries, I believe that I tried different things but I haven't resolved getting my legs healthy so I can work on my weight and training.

So what I need to do is to work on improving my lower leg strength to eliminate my injuries,. Then I can increase my mileage to develop a deeper base and I could then focus on specific workouts for speed and strength. If I do that then I will lose the extra weight and last I need to some cross training to ensure that I get and stay balanced. Without a doubt if I do this, I will have increased my margin, ugh........all of this pretty much means it's time to figure out a new routine.

So as I contemplate the upcoming off-season, I think it's time to figure out the new plan and then follow it and if I do I will add some margin. Stay tuned.