Planning Your 2012 Race Season

me, Caitlin and John at the Lake Logan Olympic Triathlon

I’m proud to post this guest post from John over at Smoke Training about how to plan out your 2012 race season. John just rocked his first full Ironman and is one of the most committed athletes I know.

Planning your 2012 race season

This time of year athletes at all levels are buzzing with excitement thinking about what they can do next year. The anticipation of longer distances or faster times makes me as giddy as a school kid. But we still have to be smart about it and not just sign up for every race we see.

Begin with the end in mind

The first step is to set a goal or two for the year. It could be anything from completing your first 5k to breaking 10 hours in an Ironman. But you have to start by writing out a goal. Goals that aren’t written down are only dreams. I release a blog post at the end of the year every year with my new goals, and another one detailing how I met (or failed at) this years goals.

Support your goals

Pick an “A” race or two that supports your goals. If you want to run an Ironman, you have to decide (sometimes a year in advance) which race you want to run. The only way to get a bib for Ironman Florida 2013 is to volunteer at the 2012 event, this year’s online registrations sold out in 16 minutes. I had to use 2010 as an “Iron Prep Year” to get a solid base established and run another 70.3 when my main goal was to get registered for IMFL 2011. I also had too many family obligations to train for an Ironman in 2010, so it worked out really well.

Get the dates on a calendar. Don’t have more than two “A” races in a year. Be sure they are spaced far enough apart to allow for recovery and the beginning of a new training cycle. For instance, if your goals are to break 5:30 in a half iron distance triathlon and 12 hours in an Iron distance triathlon, you might be thinking about running a 70.3 (half iron distance) in May and a full iron distance in October (hint hint wink wink) to meet your goals. I’m also probably going to run a 70.3 in September as a part of triathlon training, but it won’t be an “A” race.

Plan your training plans

Once you have the “A” races picked out, go find some training plans or get a coach to write one for you. Ironman training plans can take from 18 to 36 weeks. Couch-to-5k plans can take as little as 6 weeks. Backdate your calendar so you know when the fun is supposed to begin. Don’t pick a race that you can’t train for in time, it won’t be much fun if you’re undertrained.

You should also consider the time of year for your “A” race. Running a full marathon in the spring means you’ll be training for 4 months over the winter which could mean running outside in 30 degree weather. But training for a fall marathon means you’re training runs will all be in the summer when it might be over 90 degrees like it is here in NC. Choose your misery wisely. Fill in with other races Some races are just fun. If you’re training for a full marathon, you will want to run a half marathon somewhere in there. Pick one and sign up. Pick one that’s fun and/or challenging. Do as many as you want.

Be careful about crossing formats. My wife and I love doing mud runs like a Warrior Dash or other military obstacle course, and we try to do one every year. They are fun and we can run those together. But the worst case scenario is that I twist an ankle jumping over a 6′ wall and have to skip a 20 mile run the next weekend to let the ankle heal. I’m not going to go mountain biking during an Ironman training plan, because if I hit a tree or blow out a shoulder falling off of an obstacle it could blow out my “A” race. So don’t go crazy, but have plenty of fun.

It’s also important to think about the weather here. I prefer running only events through the winter and spring, until about April or maybe a 5k in May. Once it gets too hot to run, the leaves are coming back on the trees and the bike routes are cool and beautiful for a while. Pretty soon in the deep south it gets to hot to stay on the bike for more than an hour, so my summer schedule gets filled with open water swim races. Then when the leaves start changing in the fall you get some of the most beautiful bike rides of the year. And before you know it there are more running races on the winter schedule again.

I also sprinkle 4-6 triathlons in every year, as well as my “A” race triathlons. But the bike/run legs in a triathlon tend to be really hot here in the south in July/August, so I either go to the mountains or just wait until September to tri again. I’m also lucky that we have lots of lakes in the nearby area that are clean, and a huge swimming community that likes to race. So if I can keep 3 or 4 open water swim races in the summer, it gets me through the heat just fine.

Get ready!

Pick your goals, get a plan to accomplish them, support the plan, and don’t feel like you have to do everything this year. They are going to run the same races next year too. There’s a marathon in Raleigh that comes very close to our house, and my wife has tried to run it the last two years but there have always been conflicts. I think this year it’s going to open up for her to get in on that action. Your patience will be rewarded. Now go have some fun!

Tagged as: guest post, tips