Running goals for the year

2023 was a good year. PBs in parkrun, 5k, 10k and Marathon. With the right conditions I feel I could have got 10mi and HM too - but cannot grumble. Particularly happy with parkrun as that is now eight years of incremental improvement through improved training and focus.

Power of ten score card
So what are the 2024 goals?

It's a big year as I am 50 in July. Entering the V50 category gives me a real chance to pick some goals that weren't possible in recent years at the top end of the V45 category.

So I'm intending on training harder than ever - and putting down some stretched goals that may not be possible - but are worth going for.

Goal 1 - 2hr55 marathon

Goal 2 - Top 50 in the UK runbritain ranking for V50 at 5k distance

Goal 3 - England masters vest for V50

Goal 1 - 2hr55 marathon

With hindsight I think I should have done around 2hr55 at London last year but a few things didn't go to plan and I ended up with a 2hr58. This year I'll try and put things right and have a run that goes to plan at Manchester in April.

Training slightly harder, but keeping things similar. Plan below:

  1. Alternative easy and hard days
  2. Tuesday = interval sessions - either 1k or 1mi repeats
  3. Tuesday = also a double day, with an easier 8k on the evening for extra distance
  4. Thursday = good distance at marathon pace - either a long tempo or 3k/4k repeats with active recovery
  5. Saturday = parkun
  6. Sunday = Long run at a good pace with runners that are better than me - some of the lads I train with do 2hr30 marathons - so a great training group
  7. Take the Thursday and Sunday runs longer as the three months go by - so overall distance for the week goes from around 90k to 110k. Having a good place to start from (HM every Sunday anyway) is a great base.

Training plan

Goal 2 - Top 50 in the UK runbritain ranking for V50 at 5k distance

5k is my strongest distance I think (highest WAVA and ranking score) with a PB of 17:10. In terms of getting in the UK top 50 I can only look at previous years on the runbritain website.

Top 50 at 5k at V50
So, I need to get that 17:10 time down into the 16:55 category.

This will be tough - my previous year jumps have been 12s or 15s - so it will be tough but possible. Following the April marathon I'll do training specific for 5k and then pick Sunderland 5k which is a traditionally very fast event in July.

Goal 3 - England masters vest for V50

Again, with this one - it will all be about picking the correct event and getting a little lucky that faster people don't turn up on the day.

If you finish in the top three of any of the pre-selected events you get an England vest and the chance to run representing your country.

This would be a dream - https://www.englandathletics.org/team-england/age-group-masters/masters-teams/

The qualifying standards for HM for example are within my ability - for example 85m30s is comfortable,

But then it is picking the right race where you can get top three. A race like York Brass Monkey has an incredible standard of runners. But a race like Humber Coastal Half Marathon which was a qualifier in 2023 is definitely possible if the stars align...

Let's look back at this post at the end of 2024 and see how the year went!

Good to have stretched goals and not just sit in the comfort zone.

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