The year that was - 2015

Overall, very pleased with the year. Personal bests at 1 mile, 5km, 10km, City2Surf, and 21.1km, but within the context of never having ran 1 mile, 5km, or 10km before, having been torpedoed by the bowels at my one previous C2S, and only having ran one half previously. As such my best 1 mile time is also my worst, and I ran my worst ever 5km and 10km times this year as well as my bests.

The goals for the year were: 5km in under 20 minutes, 10km in under 40 minutes, and a half marathon in under 90 minutes. I also set sub-60 minutes as the goal for City2Surf. My previous times were 01:46:26 for a half (SMH half) and 01:18:01 for City2Surf. So, how'd it go?


January

No racing, just training. First event I'd earmarked was Canberra in April. Runs were mostly with Victoria, a few quality sessions, and the occasional 10km solo. Times were pretty slow (4:50 pace for 10km) and weekly kilometres were nothing to write home about.


February

A trip to Tasmania witnessed the addition of more than 4kg in a matter of five days (damn you cheese and wine). This was reflected in poor training pace. I made the decision at this point to focus on weight loss pre-Canberra and not worry too much about quality. Training continued in a similar vein to January.


March

First races of the season: St Peters Parkrun. Never raced 5km and wasn't sure what to expect. Hoped to run at least sub-21 minutes and felt sub-20 might even be possible. First attempt was offset by a couple of newbie fails. I hadn't appreciated the mass start and was left at the very back, finding it impossible to overtake on narrow paths, and not understanding the barcode system had me believing I wouldn't even register a time. This led to my simply plodding around, learning the course for a future attempt. A sorry 23:15 was the result.

Second attempt was much improved, running in 20:18. A sub-20 5km seemed more than possible, given how early in the year I'd put down a 20:18 and the fact St Peters has the occasional moniker of "The Toughest Parkrun in the World" owing to a stinking great hill in the middle.


April

My last(!) St Peters Parkrun of the year and down to 20:05 in pretty awful conditions. No idea it would be my last at the time, but work, holiday, booze, and navigation failures meant I would not run it again in 2015.

Also made the trip to Canberra for the half-marathon at the Australian Running Festival. My training did not even suggest a sub-90 to be on the cards and I decided to aim for sub-100 and run with the pacers. A few fails in the run up (taper and on the day) and a stool of monstrous proportions put paid to even that goal, and I finished in 01:40:32. Pleased, of course, with almost six minutes off the PB, and a couple of excuses to explain the missed goal, but sub-90 felt an awful long way off.

Don't forget to add loperamide

May

Spent much of May in the UK, predominantly for exams, but found time to take part in my first 10km race in Manchester. A cracking event, easily the best organised of the year, and one I'd hope to return to. Goal was to run sub 42 minutes, as I hadn't yet even ran a sub-20 5km. Good conditions, but a slightly hilly course, meant I was very pleased with my 41:05. Sub-40, however, did not seem immediately achievable.

June

Got wind of an event happening out near work; Festival of the Feet. A 7km, 14km, and 21.1km course were on offer and I opted for the 7km. A bit of an odd distance, but one I was hoping to use as a marker of whether I was closer to my 10km or half marathon goal as I was going to have to prioritise one or the other in early July. The plan was if I was close to 28 minutes I'd target 10km, if I was off I'd go for 21.1km.

Time ended up being 28:59 and, in my eyes, well off a 40 minute 10km. This was tempered by the fact I'd had no taper and had come straight from the fourth of four night shifts. It was also good enough for a podium place (third) and the positioning had actually slowed me down a little as I looked to not break/have something in reserve if fourth place challenged.


July

GC half start line

July kicked off with Gold Coast Half Marathon followed the next week by the Sydney Harbour 10km. Both flat and fast courses and offering good opportunities to meet my goal times. However, running hard at Gold Coast would write off Sydney Harbour so I had to choose one to prioritise. Despite running fairly slow at Festival of the Feet, I decided to target my 10km goal at Sydney Harbour.

This allowed me to run Kirra Parkrun in the Gold Coast the day before the half-marathon and record my first sub-20 5km. It was a flat course, out and back and out and back again along some gorgeous coast. My time was 19:27.

I ran the Gold Coast Half the following day with Victoria and helped her achieve a cracking new sub-105 PB, a time she would go on to smash later in the year.

Sydney Harbour 10km was up next and I took it more seriously than I'd ever taken a race, with a strict taper and race day preparation. Whilst pretty flat, the course was slowed by a few tight turns and an aggressive wind. Despite that, and with the help of a fantastic RunLab pacer, I got round in 39:57 to record my first sub-40 10km.

The lad Bader

Buoyed by two goals being met, I entered the Blacktown Half Marathon at the end of the month. Taper was self-sabotaged by a twelve hour drinking session the day before and, despite recording a new PB of 01:36:37 I hurt badly and couldn't see sub-90 coming anytime soon.

A cracking month overall, with PBs in three distances including two year goal times.


August

August sees the biggest running event of the year in Sydney and, probably, Australia; City2Surf. Disaster the year before, with bowel issues, but much improved this year with a 58:42 time. If the race is good, the social afterwards is even better. A cracking day all round.

September

Blackmores Sydney Half Marathon is the notable event in September. A tough, hilly course and one that achieving a PB on is tricky, but I managed to knock more than seven minutes off my Blacktown time and finish in 01:29:31. Amazing what you can achieve when you're not absolutely sideways the day before.

Victoria destroyed her PB from Gold Coast, on a much tougher course, getting round in 01:42:41.

I also ran my first Sydney Striders 10km event at North Head after a huge night on the booze and was therefore pretty happy with  a 40:55. Nice recovery breakfast with Sydney running royalty....and Timmy Lindop.

Michael Ho centre, not sure who the guy on the left is

October

Second Striders event at Sydney Olympic Park and my second sub-40 10km of the year with a 39:58.

Melbourne Half Marathon was also up and I was trying to decide whether to go hard and try and PB or just take it easy and enjoy the course/event. On the dubious advice of my run coach ("Go out as hard as you can and see what you can achieve," said with a twinkle in the eye after a fair few beers) I opted for the former and broke around the 12km mark. Still got round in 01:32:35. Not a terrible time, by any means, but some lessons certainly learnt.


November/December

Marathon training is tough

No racing, eased off the training a little, and ate my body weight in curry whilst back in the UK. Result: whilst quicker than the same time last year, I have plenty of work to do to meet my 2016 running goals.


Conclusion

Very pleased with the year. Took more than 15 minutes off my half-marathon PB, almost 20 minutes off C2S, and ran sub-20 and sub-40 at 5km and 10km respectively.

Victoria also had a cracking year smashing her half-marathon and marathon personal bests, with her time of 03:40:42 at Melbourne being an absolute standout.

In addition have made some really good running friends this year, sank many a schooner in post-race (and, occasionally, pre-race) celebrations, and had a throughly enjoyable time seeing Sydney by foot.

Looking forward to 2016!