Like fine wine, getting better with age

Day 2 of the new year. A good time to take a look at what's coming up. I've three marathons planned for the year, two in the spring (Rock 'n' Roll DC in March and Pocono in May) and one in late fall (Harrisburg in November). All are repeats. 2016 is the last year I can still qualify for Boston in my current age group (3:55). Only RNR and Pocono would be in time for Boston 2017; Harrisburg would be for Boston 2018. By then, I'll be in the next age group, with an additional 15 minutes for qualifying (4:10). I've already run three races faster than 4:10 (two under 4:00). Mentally, I now expect myself to finish under 4:00 for all future races. Thus, for Boston 2018, I would basically "age" into qualifying, which is not very satisfying. It wouldn't feel as I "earned" it. :) Which is why all three 2016 races but especially the two in the spring will be run on familiar courses. I want to keep the number of variables as low as possible. I feel quite good right now, in Week 6 of the 16-week training cycle for RNR, and cautiously optimistic about "earning" my BQ in one or both of the spring races. :)

One scheduling change I've made is to not do an early September race. A race at that time (e.g., Potomac) would mean another opportunity to qualify for Boston 2017. But, the Washington, DC summer being what it is, it's just too hard to properly train and be ready by September. Instead, I plan to modify the first half of the 16-week training cycle for Harrisburg to partly train for speed. This way, I'll be able to actually race the 5K and 8K in September that my kids and I have traditionally run together. Those are always a lot of fun. In recent years, with the focus almost solely on qualifying for Boston, all the shorter races (half marathon and shorter) have become basically training runs; or, in the case of last year's September 5K, which was on the day after the Potomac Marathon, a post-marathon evaluation run!

Before totally leaving 2015, a quick look back. The 3-minute PR at Harrisburg definitely tops the list. But, the Walnut Creek Half Marathon time is a new course PR (previous one was two years ago). And, in all the shorter races, the finish times are all within the year-to-year delta--even with no focused speed training. What else?

The most scenic course? Golden Gate Trail Half.

The most photogenic finish? Kensington 8K. At least compared to the more usual finish with the gaping mouth. :)

So, my finish times are still improving; the adaptation curve is still staying above the aging curve; it's still mostly a matter of training. This is the advantage of starting serious training later in life, past the prime long distance running age of around 30. Most of one's PRs are still ahead! With that in mind, I plotted my marathon finish times for the last five years, since I began seriously to train, and to train for Boston. I excluded one of the 12 marathons completed, the Grandfather Mountain Marathon, which is basically, well, running up Grandfather Mountain. It's not really comparable to the other 11. The trend line for the plot shows a nice downward slope with increasing years--and age. In fact, if one were to extend the line, it would eventually intersect a finish time of 3:00 at around the year 2020 ... :) :) :)

Like fine wine, getting better with age!