2012 Year end musings

With a nice 35.5Km/3:05 run at IRR/EGL this morning the last long run of 2012(and the last one before SCMM 2013) is done. And it is now time to look back at 2012 and put down the goals for 2013. In general it was a good year though the total mileage for the year was about 1900 Kms - after 3 consecutive years of 2000+Kms in 2009,2010 and 2011. This was mainly due to the 6 weeks complete break from all cardio exercises in Feb-March - my longest break from running since Janaury 2004. Also compared to the last 3 years I participated in fewer events - the focus was on improving the FM. I did two full marathons - SCMM in January and MHRM  in October; besides half-marathon in Auroville, the TCS World 10K, a 5K race at Puma Urban Stampede and  50Km at 6th Bangalore Ultra. I more or less met my goals in all in these events so there was no real low in 2012- though not meeting my goal of a sub 3:39 in MHRM i was a bit of a disappointment. Of course, I was elated at being fortunate enough to sneak through to BQ. 

Here's a summary of the timings of my 2012 events:

1. FM at SCMM : 15th January - 3:48:57
2. HM at Auroville : 19th February - 2:15
3. 10K at TCS World 10K : 27th May - 51:11
4. 5K at Puma Urban Stampede : 5th August - 21:51 (PB)
5. FM at MHRM : 7th October - 3:39:57 (PB) 
6. 50K at Bangalore Ultra :10th November - 5:07:29 (PB)

As in 2011 I trained for the FM  using the FIRST 'Run Less,Run Faster' training program leading up to MHRM in October.. The difference from 2011 was the rigor - I was able to do over 90% of the 47 training runs and 32 cross-training cycling workouts over 16 weeks between June and October.  Another big change was the stretching - I made it a point to spend at least 20 minutes post a workout on most days and longer on rest days. The twice a week strengthening sessions at Manipal was also beneficial.

In August I switched my shoes to Brooks Defyance 5 after using 7 pair of Adidas Supernova Cushion/glide and found them to be very comfortable.

Goals for 2013: 

1. Sub 3:38 at SCMM  in January

2. Sub 1:43 HM at Auroville in February

3. Sub 45 10K at TCS world 10K in May

3. Register for Boston 2014- of course this is not completely under my control

4. 50K/75K/100K at Bangalore Ultra

Above everything of course the goal is to stay fit and injury free and enjoy the running  - if the timing goals are met then of course it would be great! As usual I hope to start 2013 with a run on 1st January - either a 8K mid-tempo run at 4:46/Km or 10 x 800m at 3:17 or an easy run depending on how 31st evening goes!!