Setting Goals

Normally you don’t start thinking about goals for the next year until December, but while I was stuck inside during a Nor’easter on the Outer Banks a couple weeks ago, I had some time to kill and began looking at a few web sites related to Masters running. I soon came across something I was unaware of, the fact that USATF has All-American standards for Masters along with a web site that ranks Masters performances in track and field events.

A quick review of the site (click here) showed the All-American standards for the mile, 3k, 5k, and 10k are 4:50, 10:00, 16:15, and 33:30. Furthermore, even though I know it wouldn’t be a true indication of where I stand on a national basis since not that many Masters athletes compete in distance events on the track, achieving these standards would likely put me in the top-10 in the national rankings in each of those events, at least based on the 2013 rankings. At that point, my goals for 2014 were pretty much set.

I did some quick math and figured out the pace for the 3k standard is 5:21, while it’s 5:13 for the 5k standard and 5:24 for the 10k, meaning the 3k is the easiest to hit. I’m not sure why the 3k standard is easier than the others, but perhaps it’s because not as many people run that event and therefore there‘s less data and fewer fast performances on which to calculate the mark. Regardless, that’s the one I’ll go after first during the upcoming indoor season. I am relatively confident that if all goes well I can hit it fairly easily. From there, however, it will get increasingly difficult. 16:15 is significantly faster than I’ve run for a 5k in a while, and 33:30 is basically the 10k equivalent of a 16:15 5k, so it will require some good training and solid racing for me to hit those marks. Still, I think all the marks are well within my capability, so they will serve as excellent goals, challenging yet attainable.

That said, the first few months of 2014 will be devoted primarily to racing on the track. This works out well anyway because speed is what I’m most lacking and racing on the track will help develop that and serve me well when racing on the roads later in the year. While I’m at it, I hope to compete in the Southeast Regional Masters Indoor Championships in Winston Salem, NC, in March and then hopefully some other regional and possibly even national Masters track championships thereafter. It has yet to be announced when and where some of the championship meets will be held, so what I do will be dictated by that as well as how fast I’m running. Obviously if I’m not running well, I’m not going to bother travelling very far for a meet, and regardless of how well I’m running, I’m only willing to travel so far, so we’ll see.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to pursuing these goals. It’s been a while since I’ve based my training on time goals and it’s also been a while since I did any racing on the track, so both have me excited (and nervous in a good way). I’ve got a lot of work to do, but I’m ready for the challenge and now I have the accountability of having thrown my goals out there for all to see. Time to do work!