Main targets in 2011

In many ways 2010 has been a year of breakthrough for me as a runner.  I've bettered all my personal records and established myself as an ultra-runner. I've achieved that through lots of quality-training and a great number of competitions. In my opinion they're both necessary in order to produce results. Right now I'm in the middle of the autumn-season and preparing for some serious street-running. My aim this quarter is to improve on my PB on marathon. Then what about next year?
I definately need a target that is beyond my capasity of today. One that both attracts and frigthens. One that mobilize all of me in order to be successfull.

I've allready decided to consentrate on trails in the spring and street-running in the autumn, but what are my main targets for next year? I need one for each season. Clearly in the spring it has to be a trail-race, and a road-race in the autumn, but what race?
This is a very important question as it more or less governs all my activity in both seasons, that is training and B- and C-priority races. So what are they?
Spring first:
First of all my A-priority race is to be done in the period late June to late July-a period of one month. Secondly it's going to be a 100 mile trail-race. What are the options then?

Several actually,


1. Europe:
-31th of July: Chiemgauer 100, Bergultralauf. Germany
-22th of July: Lakeland 100, GBR
-2th of July: Thuringen Ultra, Germany-thirdly choise

2. USA:
-30th of July: Burning River 100 mile Endurance Run-Ohio
-17th of July: Tahoe Rim Trail 100M Endurance Run-California
-16th of July: Vermont 100 Mile Endurance Race-New England-secondary choise
-8th of July: Hardrock Hundred Endurance Run-Colorado
-25th of June: Western States Endurance Run-California-primary choise

Who's it going to be?

Well, my primary race is Western States, but I wont know if this is going to happen before after the lottery the 4th of December this year. If I don't make it I will have to arrange for some additional alternative.
Since I prefer to race in the USA I'll chose my secondary race there. Hardrock is an natural choise, but I need to finish a qualifying race. That's a 100 miler-on trails. Hardrock is due then first in 2012.
Next pick of choise is Vermont 100 Mile Endurance Run. By doing that I'm able to participate in Kristins Runde at 25th of June in Norway. The third alternative(the last one) is Thuringen Ultra. In that case I'm not participating in Kristins Runde(just a week between the races). I will have a chanse, though, to participate in an additonal race at the end of July. Im definately participating in Kongsvinger skogsmaraton at the 6th of August.


What about autumn then?

Well, we're back on the road again. Allthough I take great joy in running marathons, and I will continue to do so, my aim is for longer distances. That is 100 km and beyond.
The options are(Europe only):

1. 20th of August: NM 6h, Romerike-Norway
2. 27th of August: Bornholm Ultramaraton, 100 km, Denmark
3. 10th of September: Run Winschoten, 100 km, Netherland
4. 26th of Nov: Bislett 24h, Norway

Anyway, this is how I feel about this now. I might alter later on. I'll conclude on this matter within the end of this year.

2011

During my transition period a few weeks ago I had some thoughts about what my main goals were going to be the next year. For some reason I made a distinction between trail running and street running. Well, there are reasons to do so, but my consern is to wether I'm chosing between them or integrate both in my programme.
After I've spent some weeks thinking about this I've decided to integrate both in my programme. In order to gain maximum effect of my efforts it's vital to make a periodization in my training schedule, conserning theese to different approaches to running.
My activity when it comes to competition and building periods are consentrated on the second and the third quarter of the year. After some consideration I've decided to dedicate trail-running to the second quarter and street running to the third quarter. There are several reasons for this. The second quarter allows me to use more time to build race-specific capasities than the third. Further on most trail-runs are scheduled in June and July.
In the third quarter I have limited time to build up race-spesific capasity, but I've already built a solid foundation through the second quarter. In the third I move my activity towards the street and consentrate mainly on that.
Competition period will be in end-June and July for the second quarter. For the third quarter It'll be in the end of September-the last two weeks(maybe just the last week).
It's important that my training in both quarters gravitate mainly towards respectively trail- and street running.
In short I run on trails in the second quarter on all workouts and in the street during the third quarter. It is possible that keeping a couple of workouts on trail in the third quarter, and a similar approach with street-running in the second quarter, could be wise. I'll decide on that later on.
The main thing is that deciding on what my primary focus should be in each quarter, allows me to be more spesific in my goal-setting. That again gives a lot better direction when scheduling workouts for the quarter in my training programme. 
The first move thereafter is to establish main-targets for the quarter.
I won't have more than two main-targets each quarter. Leading up in advance I'm scheduling one B-priority race a month and, if applicable, C-priority races in between as part of my training. I'm not tapering for C-priority races, but I will for B-priority races. The latter will be suitable in a monthly recovery-week.
Well then, the big question now is if this is going to affect anything in my sechedule this third quarter I'm about to work my way through. I need to think a little about that.

What now?

I'm in the middle of a transition week and this is a good time to reflect upon what to consentrate on further on when it comes to main targets. My preferance when it comes to sport is decided earlier on-running. My thoughts now are on what field in running I should consentrate on. It's clear that long-distance running is my main field, but there are different ways here to choose from. Marathon has been a good choise for me about half a dousin times, but I'm not so certain any more about that. Having runned a couple of Ultras this quarter I've experienced a greater pleasure in doing that than marathons. Why then should I spend any more time on marathons?
Frankly I don't know. Why should I? Maybe I'll just call it a day when it comes to marathons and consentrate completely on ultras? Why not if that's what I like best and what's works best for me?