Goals and Gates

Well a few days after the D33 and I'm still fairly sore and stiff, [but not as bad as I have been previously] and thoughts are turning to what to do next. I had posted a question on the Fling and WHW forums about whether the Fling would be do-able for me and despite overwhelming encouragement to go for it, I'm getting more of the the opinion that not to do the Fling is the correct thing to do. It's not that I perhaps couldn't do it, and it's not that I'm afraid of failing, but more that right now it does not seem the right thing to do. To everybody who gave their encouragement on the forums I say a big thanks and I'll I hope you'll understand the reasons why.
The D33 was a stretch 3 month goal for me. Well a bit more than a goal actually, more like a combined goal and gate. Now I've made it through the gate I have a whole bunch of possible ways from here I can go. If I had not made it to the gate the options would not have been there. One thing I had discussed was doing the Speyside Way or River Ayr Way, but both of those were highly dependant on how the D33 went. If I hated the D33 I would not even be thinking about those races, and would probably be thinking about alternative challenges to try. As it happened I enjoyed the D33 and those 1 or 2 races later this year seem like a reasonable next step. To move quickly into cliches, one mistake I probably made in the D33 was to try to run too fast too soon. I think entering the Fling this year would be that sort of mistake. It will still be there next year and I have to remember if I am going to try a bit more ultra running, that the long view is important not only in the event but in the process of getting there too.
I made tons of schoolboy errors in the D33, but like all experience it is only when you have made the mistakes do you have a chance of eliminating them. A colleague at work last week used the proverb "you build your first boat for your enemy, your second for your friend and your third for yourself". I kind of like that and in many ways the D33 was like building my first boat.
So where now?
I am slowly condensing my thoughts into a route map to take forward. At the moment I know what is possibly over the page [2011], but I'm not looking to closely at that at the moment. The Speyside and River Ayr ways are 20-23 weeks away, which is a tad too long for me to plan effectively towards so I'm going to probably find some intermediate goal to work towards. I'm working offshore for 3 days now which will help my legs recover a bit more and hopefully give me time to formulate a plan to get me to the Speyside or River Ayr events in top form.
Right now I think the plan will have to include:-
Speedwork - I only really concentrated on 'going long' in the run up to the D33. I should really make more of an effort to run with faster runners to drag my speed up a bit. If I can go a bit faster I need to be out there for less time.
Strength - I'm 99% sure my knee problem was ITB brought on as my legs fatigued. I need to spend more time running on the trails as I think since most of my training was on easy running tarmac, the soft trails at the weekend had big effect.
More weight loss. I'm now 110kgs down from ~118kgs at xmas. Getting down to double figures will make a huge difference I'm sure to both of the above. One thing I don't lack though is momentum!
Mileage. I do need to up my mileage a bit and keep the LSD going. More off road track running is required for sure.


I grew up in Troon and my folks still live there so a run to Ayr will have significance for me. So the overall goal/gate I've set for the remander of the summer is to do the River Ayr Way and possibly the Speyside Way as a warm up 3 weeks before [What am I saying! a 35mile run as a wrm up event!]. Beyond that lies only dreams and is too far away to make concrete plans for. This time though I also want to run almost all of it and not run/walk for a third of it. So the next immediate step is to formulate an outline training plan while I am offshore this week and more importantly a philosophy to allow the plan to change and respond as stuff happens through the year [as it will]. As always all and any suggestions and input is gratefully recieved.

One final thing - I have recieved several very kind comments both on here and from fellow Strathearn Harriers about the D33. I am truely deeply touched by all of them and the sense of being part of a community they bring. Thank you again and again!