New Year's Resolutions

As I stated in my last post, it goes without saying that 2014 was a major disappointment for me from a running standpoint. The primary reason for this was twofold. For the first 2/3 of the year, the problem really came down to just never being able to get myself on track. As I mentioned before, I was battling dead legs, which led to more bad weeks than good and mediocre, frustrating results overall. I tried several various training schemes, giving each several weeks or more to start to turn things around, each time to no avail. I also tried messing around with my diet and things of that nature, also with no success. I’m still not ready to chalk it up to old age, but I definitely felt like I was beating my head against the wall more often than not.

The last third of the year was lost to a hamstring injury, the origins of which I’m still not sure of. I just woke up with it one morning and that was that. There was no drastic change in training, in fact I was in the midst of one of my better feeling periods, nor was there any single event like a hard workout, fall, or something of that nature. The only thing I can figure out was it was due to a shoe change, but if that’s the case those were the worst shoes of all time for me because I think I only did five runs and a total of less than 30 miles in them.

Anyway, that’s all history and it’s time to start looking forward (although the aforementioned hamstring still isn’t 100%). My first objective was to see what I could learn from a failure of a year, but honestly I couldn’t come up with much. I don’t really see anything that stands out. Like I said, I wasn’t too stubborn to try to change things for the better, but whatever I tried never seemed to work. The only thing I can really take away is this: I’m older now and just can’t expect to act like I’m in my 20’s. This applies in two ways. First, my training is going to have to moderate and I’m going to have to hope I can do more with less. I simply can’t run the volume or the intensity that I used to. Second, my expectations are going to have to moderate as well. If you can’t do the work, you can’t expect to set the world on fire, so I’m just going to have to accept that if I want to continue in this sport then I’m going to be slower than I once was. It’s either that or quit altogether, and after debating the merits of both, I’m going to stay at it for the time being.

The next thing I like to do each year is set goals, but I’m hesitant to do that anymore, at least when it comes to hitting certain race times, total mileage, etc. Instead, my goal for the year is to find the right amount of training that will get me as fit as possible while allowing me to still feel good. I’m simply not willing to bury myself any more for the sake of running a little faster in a race. Does that mean I’ve thrown in the towel? Probably, but I’ve accepted it. It doesn’t mean I’m not going to work hard and do my best, but I’m certainly not going to make the same sacrifices I have in the past. I’d love to set some post-30 and Masters PRs, and hopefully things will work out such that I do, but I’m not going to lose any sleep over it if I don’t.

So there it is, my New Year’s Resolution so to speak. The upcoming year will be extremely busy for me at work, especially for the first six months, but hopefully I’ll have the time to keep this blog up to date and hopefully I’ll have something interesting to write about as well. We’ll see. Regardless, happy running and Happy New Year!