Appraisal Time and Plans for 2015

At work we have a strange financial schedule where the end of the year comes in September.  It's to do with being owned by an American company.  As line manager to a team of Geotechnical Engineers and Engineering Geologists I also get to do their annual appraisals, but fortunately this is not at all stressful and I just feel a bit like Young Mr Grace telling them "You're all doing very well!"
So, as I have appraisals on my mind it seems appropriate to carry out my own self-assessment. It urns out that 2014 has been a successful running year so far.  Having got through Abingdon marathon in record time I have achieved almost all of my running goals for the year:

• sub 4 hour marathon (3:52:23 - Gold Star!)
• sub 1:45 half marathon (1:47:03 - hmm, need to pull your socks up laddie!)
• beat 46 minutes in 10k (44:50 - unexpectedly good)
• beat 22 minutes at 5k (21:18 - another good result)

I did also help the kids get to 15 PBs at parkruns between them with a combination of coaching and pacing and they have both now got their 50 t-shirts.  But I didn't run many half marathons this year as they didn't fit well into my other training and the Cabbage Patch 10 mile race was on the same day as Abingdon. 

So, I haven't had a proper go at a 10 mile or half this year, but it doesn't look as though I will be doing much racing at those distances for a while, as I have taken the possibly rash decision to do Endure 24 as a solo runner.  This will be what I consider to be my first proper ultra distance event.  I know I did the Winter Tanners 30 mile last year, which was a self navigated lightly supported, very muddy, hilly jog/walk, but I feel that I did that with no preparation and really could have walked it just as fast. Including getting lost and reading the map, the 31 miles took 8.5 hours at an average 16.5 mins/mile. Definitely walkable and hence unfinished business as far as shorter ultras are concerned.

The decision to do 80 to 90 miles on a 24 hour trail run throws a different light on the plans for the rest of this year and to the middle of 2015.  Portsmouth marathon, the Winter Tanners, Brighton and (hopefully) London marathons are all now training runs with Endure 24 as the target.  Of course there will be every parkrun I can fit in between now and May as I head towards my 250th run and I already have Wokingham and Surrey halfs booked and will probably run Fleet half as well.  

So, for some of these events I will have to think about running a long training run the day before so I can experience the feeling of only partial recovery and running on tired legs.  Either that or I should run home after the event, maybe even after going to the pub for a light lunch to experience some proper ultra marathon fuelling! Still, I mustn't lose sight of why I run - for fun and to achieve something, not just to turn up and trudge around, so I'll want to run the paid for events fast and save the trudging for some quiet time by myself.  I really need to look into training plans for a 50 mile ultra and see what I can do around the races that I have booked already.

Before that more serious business rolls around in the new year there is cross country season to think of for both me and the kids.  Unfortunately, as some of you may be aware, I managed to cut my hand deep enough to damage a tendon while doing some DIY and had to have an operation to fix it.  I have my hand in a splint for 4 to 5 weeks, then ongoing physio to keep my fingers from seizing up before getting back to full fitness in about 12 weeks.  That doesn't mean that I can't run, I just can't ride a bike or lift anything or fall on my hand.  That means getting down and dirty in one of the Grim Challenge races in early December with the Frimley Flyers is off.  Oh well, regular cross-country it is then.

I like the kids cross country and I even get to run, see the kids set off for a while and experience the course.  For the last few events last year I volunteered as the tail runner, picking up fallen runners and making sure nobody got lost in the woods.  This usually means running with the under 9s, under 11s and maybe under 13s, making four or five races all strung together with no chance to rest or grab a drink. It's brilliant fun and great to see kids with such determination and some with frightening pace. There's alot of young running talent out there.  Our two, Alfred (11) and Elinor(9), are guest members of Camberley and District Athletic Club for the winter season and really enjoy the cross country even though they don't get a medal at the end of it. It's good to see that they want to join in for the sake of racing and not just some bling.  They have already got the idea that Sunday lunch in a pub with family and friends is a proper reward for a muddy runner.