A QUICK HEADS UP ON 2016

With only one more event to go on the 2015 schedule, the Point to Pinnacle this Sunday in Hobart (usual pre race and post race stuff planned so stay tuned), the thoughts may quickly go to a tentative schedule for 2016. Naturally looking so far into the future has its difficulties, especially when many external factors haven’t been considered. However it’s very important to start planning ahead on what’s to come with travel, accommodation and training all to consider.

Whilst a final schedule should be tentatively confirmed on this site in a matter of weeks (and certainly before Christmas), I can confirm a return to Canberra for 2016. However this time I’m not going to run the Canberra Marathon, instead I am taking the plunge into running the 50km Ultra event instead. The challenge of going further than before is part of the reason for doing this, although I’m certainly not going to neglect the traditional 42km distance for the balance of the schedule. I also feel that with a goal in 2017 of doing other events of this nature, albeit over even longer distances, this would be a great way to test the waters and see how I fare rather than relying on the same old marathons. I also think that crushing this distance on what is largely the same course of the Canberra Marathon (of course there are an extra 8km to run) will make up for the disappointments of the cramping in 2014 and the unscheduled pit stops this year.

I’m certainly aware that training for this will need to be a little different to other years, so expect some sort of a guideline to what I hope to do before the start of specific training in mid January. I was always going to start training a little earlier this year than the usual week of Australia Day start. Maybe I was spooked by the lack of training post the Cyclone this year, when everything was going very nicely. Again the plan will involve gradually increasing the long runs on a Saturday or Sunday morning, which as a guide this year was an extra 10 minutes each week. With the extra distance I may need to increase it by 15 minutes or so per week, but that will be determined later.

As for other events, whilst I have a number of smaller events in mind and perhaps even an overseas sojourn to consider, I’ll only tell you that there are 3 other definite locked in events that I’ll be at. Certainly a 3rd appearance at the Gold Coast is on, particularly after this year’s debacle. A 4th try at Melbourne as usual can be all but confirmed given the love of a home town event. The schedule will also allow for another appearance at Perth’s City to Surf in late August, although I’m still tossing up over which distance to run. Given that there’s ample time to decide which direction to go, it’s a decision that I’m sure I won’t rush into until that time comes sometime next year.

REPEATING AGAIN: A final tentative schedule (schedules are always tentative) should be on the site sometime before Christmas, and hopefully be up before December starts.