Sporting Review of 2016 – Some success and some failure

I made a list of goals at the start of 2016, I try to make them hard to reach, but not impossible either.  Lets have a quick looks at how I got on:

Goals for 2016

Get down to 75kg – Failed by about 2kg
17:20 minute 5km – Success (kind of)
36 minute 10km – Failed
1:20 half marathon – Success!
Comfortable sub3 Marathon(s) – Success!
Run 3500km in 2016 – Success!
Sub 6h Maratona dles Dolomites – Failed!
WIN A RACE! – Failed

Weight

That is a 4/8 success rate, which isn’t bad I reckon.  I haven’t really been close to 75kg, even when training lots and in form, I still struggle with my weight.

Running

The running time goals were tough. I ran a 17:07 at the Mainz Firmenlauf, but it was possibly a tick short (my GPS showed 4.93km). It is close enough to count though.  The 36min 10k didn’t quite happen, but I will keep that as a goal for 2017.

My best sporting achievement of the year was my 1:18:55 half marathon in Frankfurt. That is better than a 36 mins 10km or a 17:15 5k and predicts a 2:45 marathon. It was just a great run for me and one I hope to repeat someday.

The marathon goals was a little bit weak, I wanted to break 3, and didn’t know how far under I could go. Really I wanted to run sub2:50 in 2016, but 2 runs of 2:55 aren’t bad either. I haven’t got the hang of the marathon yet, I always feel sluggish, even when running slower than I should be able to.

I thought 3500km in 2016 would be tough, but I cruised it!  The first 4 months of the year were crazy running months for me and I was running so well too.  I kept up my mileage after that though, so almost got to 4000km by the end of the year. My cycling was cut way back to allow for the extra running, so I reckon I will run less in 2017 to allow for more cycling.

Cycling

I picked a 6h Maratona finish time out pretty randomly. Given the amount of training I did and the traffic for the first 4 climbs I was very happy with my sub6:30. I think I could do sub6, but I also don’t think I will as there are lots of other sportives to do before going back to one I have already done!

Winning!

Win a race, well that didn’t happen either. It will be a lucky day for me if and when I win a race. This year there wasn’t ever a race I ran where I had a chance, though there were others that I could have run and probably would have won.  I will target one or two next year where I have a chance, I am specifically thinking about the Polderlauf 15km, Lampertheim super-sprint tri and maybe even the Wörrstadt TT.