Happy New Year everyone!

My first real new years’ reflection came at sunrise on January 3rd as I was sitting on the Interislander Ferry ‘Arahura’, enjoying the calmest waters I think the Cook Strait has ever seen. This stretch of water between New Zealand’s North and South Islands is notoriously changeable and often very rough. Not so on this day.

The calm waters reflected my mood after a two week holiday back home in NZ. That calm is like the feeling you get when turning over a new leaf of a book with a sense of trepidation about what lies ahead.

However this new book is 2015.

A time for new ideas, plans and regimes.

So as I was sitting on the ferry, my mind obviously wandered to deciding on what I really want to achieve with my running this year. As a moderately ambitious runner who isn’t completing high mileage all year around I need to be more selective about the chunks I bite off.

I like to think that most performance goals are best made if broken down into components of fitness that need to be improved and then stacked together in a manageable plan. This ensures whether they are realistic or not. I make all of my plans in three month blocks to give scope to adjust and reassess, because let’s face it, things can change.

I also like to think that when these components of fitness are decided, that the time commitment is realistic. Too many injuries that I see in the clinic are from 1) people aiming too high, 2) starting too late, or 3) not giving themselves enough time to complete the required training increase.

Clients often ask me what a realistic goal would be for them to choose, so here are my top race goal setting tips for each runner group:

1) 50% rule – pick an event that is only 50% longer than your previous longest race (don’t debut on anything with ‘marathon’ in it).

2) Participate – aim to complete and enjoy the race.

1) More mileage – get more miles in at a lower speed during your training runs and build a bigger base from which to train harder.

2) Train your race pace so ensure your body is optimised at that speed.

1) Reassess your running technique and consider getting some coaching.

2) Build in a strengthening block during your base training and see the results flow.

Those are my suggestions for everyone deciding on their race picks for the year. My personal goals are that I will be doing a marathon and two half marathons this year between June-September. I need to work on my hip and core strength base, and steadily build up my long run tolerance. Target times are still in the pipeline.

In the meantime, I’d love to hear your running goal for the year and who knows, we may be doing the same races.