2008 Goals

Many of you wrote down your goals for 2008 on the index cards I passed out at Awards Night. I'm a firm believer in goal-based training/racing, and putting them in writing is the first step. Whether it's to run more miles than the year before, do more races, or specific time objectives, you need to hold yourself accountable. For most of us, starting with where we left off the year before is easiest, but also keep in mind that goals are constantly evolving. For instance, you might say you want to run a sub 17 5k, and hit that by March. Where do you go from there?

I just took a peek back at my 2007 results. I ran 1,751 miles, a 7.3% improvement from 2006. I took 44 days completely off, compared with 97 days off in 2006. I'm going to start there. In 2008, I want to run 2000 miles (a 14.2% increase) which would boil down to 40 miles per week, assuming I take two weeks off from running at the end of the season. I also want to cut my days off number to 25. I did 18 races in 2007, a couple fewer than 2006, and I want to do 26 this year to celebrate being 26.

My performance-based goals are honest: I want to run under 17 minutes at Shamrock 5k in March, then 34:30 or better at Pike's Peek in April. Last year I was 17:16 and 35:22, respectively. I want to do the Broad Street 10 Mile race in under 58 minutes. At my triathlons, I want to be under 2:08 at Columbia, and then I want to go 4:09:00 at my big race on June 8. In order to do that I figure I'll need to go 30min in the water (1:35/100m), 2:15 on the bike (25mph) and 1:20 on the run (6:06 pace), and 4 minutes for the transitions. Based on last year's results, this would be good enough to win the 25-29 age group and get me the slot to Hawaii. I also want to get a top 8 finish at the NJ Triathlon in July, and a top 5 finish at Chicago Triathlon.

A lot of my year will depend on what happens on June 8, so I'll have to go through and adjust some of my goals after that, but it's a good start. So who's with me? For the most part, we're all pretty close in times, so let's get it done as a team!