Double or Nothing

After achieving my goal of running a sub 90 minute half marathon last year and setting new personal bests in all of my races, my new quest is to break the 3 hour mark for a marathon and qualify for the Boston Marathon along the way.  The current Boston qualifying mark for my age is 3:10:59 and my current pb is 3:16:52 as run at Melbourne in 2009.

I have joined a training group called SWEAT that runs in Centennial Park on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Along with doing my own runs on Monday, Wednesday and Sunday, I will be running six days a week most weeks. SWEAT coach Sean Williams creates my running plan for each month and I record my runs using my Garmin 405 watch which automatically logs my running on Garmin Connect.

My target marathons this year are the Gold Coast Marathon and the Sydney Running Festival marathon.

Injuries

I am starting the year with a couple of injuries that I need to resolve quickly so I can keep up with the training. I have a suspected neuroma causing pain and other odd sensations in the fourth toe of my left foot which I have had an ultrasound and x-ray on and am going back to the sports doctor today to get the verdict and treatment plan.

I also have ongoing tendonsis in both achilles which I discovered get a lot better when I keep up my calf stretches and eccentric heel drops. A commitment to these simple exercises twice a day should help a great deal. If I can overcome these issues shortly and stick to a healthy diet for the most part, I am confident of making the sub 3 goal.

Goals for 2010 

Sutherland2Surf (11km) - 40mins (pb 41:54)
City2Surf (14km) - 50mins (pb 55:28)
Half-Marathon - 80mins (pb 85:51)
Marathon - 3hrs (pb 3:16:52)