PatrickJohnMcCrann.com

It’s that time of year again when I begin plotting for next season. With my most recent race behind me and the OutSeason looming inside Endurance Nation, it’s time to wrap my head around what I am looking to achieve.

Besides, sharing my goals will let you see what I am up to, give you some insight as to how I “work”, and keep me accountable.

Here they are, in order:

• Ironman: Go sub 10 hours at Ironman USA.
• Weight: 175lbs
• Half Marathon: Sub 1:20

#1 — Sub 10 hours at Ironman USA
This is really my season goal, the big carrot / stick that will hopefully keep me focused over the next 9 months. I have gone 10:01 in Lake Placid in 2006, so there is some experience there. And I have raced in LP five, maybe six times, so I know the course well. But we are talking 15 minutes better on a tough course…so my work is cut out for me.

However I haven’t trained as much as I did in 2006, as that’s when the family officially started. I don’t actually plan on training a ton more, I think that my focus on “work” and solid training is paying off as evidenced by Half Iron and Marathon PBs this year.

I should clarify that my biking is greatly improved, but the running I think will take a bit more work to improve. This will be tricky to manage as I can’t handle much more than 45 miles in a week. Actual target splits are: 1:00 swim, 5:20 bike, 3:15 run.  Game On!

#2 — 175lbs by Race Day (Currently 186)
This is potentially the hardest goal. To be honest, my lowest race weight was 183lbs and that was in 2007. I really haven’t targeted my weight as a goal in the past, instead relying on the fact that 18 hours of training would “fix it” for me.

Given that I am training less across the board, one of the best ways to get faster is to drop some weight. Conventional wisdom holds that running speed improves 3 seconds per mile for every pound lost. 10 lbs means about 30-seconds per mile, which would put me well in reach of my desired 3:15 race split (I typically run 3:25).

#3 — Sub-1:20 Half Marathon (Current PB = 1:24:30)
Okay so this is my stretch goal. Sub-1:20 means a vDOT of 58.35 and my current is 56.17; means taking my current HMP down another 13 seconds per mile!  Given that my current Half Marathon PB is 1:24+, so this is a very, very beefy goal.

Hopefully goal #2 above helps me out (a bit!). Of course, that means I need to get the body comp dialed in during the winter months (read: candy), so that will be very tough. I am a big fan of half marathon training / running in the winter, and this will surely provide motivation to get the work done.

So as it all plays out, an early season Half Mary goal (#3) gets me running hard now and targeting the weight (#2), both of which set me up well to be ready in early Spring to start the assault on Lake Placid.

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