I hate ‘Reviews of the Year’ – it’s an excuse for lazy journalism.  I hate reading other people’s accounts of how their year has been.  And how next year is going to be better.  So here I get my own back.  But I’ll try to be brief and stick to running only.  And it’s mostly for my own benefit anyway.

First, pure mileage
2010 – 1,333 (increase of 21%)
2009 – 1,103 (increase of 4%)
2008 – 1,061 (increase of 37%)
2007 – 777

I set new PBs as follows
10k – 47.52
Half Marathon – 1:46.30
Marathon – 4:27.xx

These are, of course, poor times by the standards set by ‘proper’ runners.  However they’re my best shots and I’m nearly 58 and they might well be as good as they get.

But wait.  If I’m not going to set a target or targets then I may as well pack in this running malarkey and take up something else.  And it’s clear to me that my Marathon time is out of sync with my other PBs.  So how will I better it?  For last June’s Cork City Marathon I hit all of my mileage targets in training, over an 18-week period.  But after running that (relatively) fast Half in the taper I couldn’t find the same form in Cork 15 days later – maybe it wasn’t a good idea to race hard that soon before a Mara.  Anyway, I’ve entered Edinburgh on 21st May and start training for it in two weeks time.

But something needs to change.  I don’t want to follow another standard plan such as Higdon which will no doubt produce similar results as previously.  So, for better or worse, I’m putting my faith in a plan by a dude called Marius Bakken.  Maybe I’ve fallen for the spiel but it apparently incorporates the best of both Italian and Kenyan marathoning theory.  One aspect that appeals to me is the periodisation with distinct changes of gear throughout.  The early days contain some pretty intense speed and threshold sessions, which I’ve been lacking.

I’m getting away from maximising pure mileage – I won’t be joining in the boards.ie 1,000 Mile Challenge in 2011.

Also, in the first part of 2010 I was probably running at my lightest weight for a number of years.  This was inadvertent weight loss through stress.  Since then I’ve got porkier again with relative contentment.  So, I’m going to combine this different training with a proper weight management programme to get that BMI down again.

So that’s the plan.  Have a great 2011 everyone.