I am a HUGE advocate for thinking things out. Runners tend to work backwards rather than think forwards, so if you are here because you are trying to decide which race or goal to chase next, CONGRATULATIONS! You're in for a treat!
But first, let's make sure we aren't being greedy.
Greed vs Ambition
The line between ambition and greed is a thin one. This is why I don’t like the idea of stretch goals. Even if you have the PERFECT race you can always say, “yeah but I didn’t meet my STRETCH GOAL!” That sounds greedy to me. I’d rather be grateful for what happened than constantly lusting after something that was never likely to happen in the first place. Ambition sets you up for success. Greed sets you up for failure.
Ambition says, “My goal is to reach (X goal time)” or “my goal is to do the best I possibly can at (X race)”. Greed says, “my goal is to reach (X goal time) at (Y Race)”.
Most people who hire coaches will have a goal time in mind and expect their plan to bend to that goal with no regard to where their body is ‘at’ right now or the preparation their chosen course will require. No one has EVER hired me and said, “I want to run a (distance) in (time goal). Would you help me pick a race please?” I AM SO EXCITED THAT YOU ARE GIVING ME A CHANCE TO DO THAT! YAY YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!
In my own training, I like to meet my body where it’s at and grow my race goals from there. I would rather meet my goal with ease than swing the bat at a stretch goal and miss. Most of the time, I will advise you to do the same.
Here’s what I know for sure: a PR is not a participation ribbon. More often than not, it’s the product of careful planning and execution following months of hard work. Those months of hard work can be nullified by a poor choice of race.
Ambitious Training
Before we can choose races, we need to go through the Goals Worksheet and see what we realistically have time to devote to training next year. If your goal is ambitious, more time to prep is better. We need to start doing #allthethings ASAP to make sure the goal is an easy grab rather than a reach or a stretch. Rest assured: all of my clients have goals. I want you to have goals. Good goals that motivate us to work rather than discourage us with all-or-nothing mindsets. Good goals keep us going. Good goals don’t necessarily have a number attached to them.
Think for a second about your goals for the year. Are they good, or are they greedy?
If they are good, don’t worry if they are ambitious enough. They probably are. When it’s time to push, when you’re ready to push, you will know.
If they are greedy, let’s break them down a bit. Which matters more, doing the best you can at (X) race, or reaching (Y) finish time?
Race Selection
If you are already committed to a race, please keep reading this section. I mean, come on you paid for it and I KNOW you don’t throw money away!
There is no magic race, no perfect PR-ready-race that is just waiting for you. That said, some courses are more conducive to ideal performance conditions than others. The more ambitious the time goal, the more careful we need to be in selecting the time and place we shoot for it. This is the time to be a diva- we want THE most favorable conditions possible.
High-level things to consider if your goal has a time attached to it:
If you live at altitude, you race at sea level. PERIOD.
Timing is everything: If you live in Colorado, a race in Miami in January sounds AWESOME. I’m not sure there is ever a bad time to go to Miami, and January is probably the coolest, least rainy and bestest race conditions of the year. That said, it may still be hotter and more humid in January that you are used to. Check the average yearly temperature going back each year for several years. How many times has it rained? What is the average temperature? The average max temperature? You can totally go to Miami and not race there. Or, you can pick the race and do the best you can. What you can’t do is hang your PR hopes on an unfamiliar climate; everything sounds good on paper. 59 degrees in the sun feels very different from 59 degrees in the shade. Throw in humidity and it’s a whole new ballgame.
Location, location, location: If you live in southern Florida and can only run at lunchtime, you probably don’t want the hardest phase of your training to hit in the middle of the summer.
NO NEW/INAUGURAL RACES. Races require unbelievable logistics and the first 1-4 years of any race will NOT be smooth. You need smooth to PR. Like that race last year that had the awkward 10-minute pause while runners waited for a train crossing? The one on the news clipping that circulated on Facebook? We want to avoid that.
Getting down to Business
Don’t fall for marketing; races will promote their most attractive features. Look at the course description, look at the course map. Especially if your race is suburban and isn’t accompanied by a marathon.
Trail doesn’t necessarily mean “dirt”. Currently, no uniform standard exists for the word ‘trail’. USATF will certify events on all kinds of terrain, and there are two broad categories: “road (meaning specifically asphalt) and “not road” (which means anything but asphalt). Lots of non-asphalt races will advertise their race as a ‘trail’ event; I’ve had runners show up expecting dirt and were shocked to get 13.1 miles of concrete golf course/bike path.
Hint: if there’s no 6k, 8k, 30k, 50k or 50M attached to the ‘trail HM’ you are looking at, then it’s probably not a dirt trail.
Use this tool on USATF’s website to hunt down races that suit your needs, then READ CAREFULLY. Hoover Dam Half Marathon is classified as a trail race. How many miles are on dirt, how many are on concrete? Aren’t you glad you looked before you registered?
Elevation: “Flat and FAST!” That phrase should make you shut your browser. The idea that flat is faster falls apart after the first hour. If you are setting a 5k, 5M or 10k PR, sure go for flat and fast. Any distance longer than that and your legs are fatiguing at an increasing rate. Elevation changes bring relief to large muscle systems, meaning even slight downhills provide recovery and a bit of a boost.
“Net Downhill!”: Don’t jump at races that bill themselves as net downhill. That just means there are more downhills than uphills. That phrase doesn’t tell you how steep and brutal the uphills are, how steep the downhills are. It tells you nothing, if you really think about it.
Example: A course with 25 miles of steady, gradual uphill of 500ft with 1.2 miles of 1500ft elevation loss in the final mile qualifies as net downhill.
OMG YAY MATH! Let’s DO SOME MATH! 1500ft elevation loss over 1.2 miles is a slope of what? (hint: slope is expressed as a percentage. Like the incline feature on a treadmill. Do the calculation, get the %) How does that compare to any time you’ve played with the incline feature on the treadmill?
Think that’s going to feel good at mile 25 after all that uphill? It might if you were rolling sideways in a barrel….but I hear BAA doesn’t accept times from races that let you do that.
Without a doubt, especially over a short distance, a race which has a net downhill will most assuredly make it easier for a runner to go faster than they normally would on a flat course. However, as that distance increases, the advantage gained from downhill running will usually be leveled by the beating the legs take. If you think the race will take longer than an hour to finish, you probably don’t want a net downhill.
Look at the course map: hairpin (180 degree) and dogleg (90 degree) turns will slow your roll almost as much as a steep hill. Every time you are forced to slow down, you have to speed back up. That wastes energy.
Out-n-backs can be awesome. I love the Houston Half-Marathon, that was one of my first out-n-back halves and I had a terrific experience. Double out-n-backs, not so much. See my previous bullet point about hairpin turns….a double ONB would have 3.
Ideally, we want to put you in motion, find your pace and keep you there. Most of my favorite courses are large loops or point-to-points. Why? No turns to slow you down, no running against the crowd (that can make you feel ‘behind’ and prompt bad choices).
Finally, look at the website and see how many participants that race had last year. A race that is on a narrow bike path and is insanely popular probably isn’t the best choice for PR. The specific examples I’m thinking of are the Bolder Boulder and the Cherry Creek Sneak, local Colorado races. Both are HUGE. Everyone and their mother does them.
What size is optimal? That’s a matter of taste. Just use good judgment. 30,000 people anywhere is going to be chaotic, the experience will come down to how the organizers choose to run a race with 30,000 participants. If there are only 4 corrals in that race, you might want to skip it if you’re there for a PR. That said, 30,000 people showed up for a reason and it might be a lot of fun so you might want to add it to your list.
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Coach MK Fleming is the founder of Fitness Protection, LLCwhere she coaches all kinds of runners for $29 per month and gives marathon plans away for free. Click here to download her most popular training plan, Tenacious AF!