So what are the plans now?

So the Connemara Ultra is over and I completed it without any major issues, over the past two weeks I've been trying to work out what I want to aim for before the years end and my ultimate aim will be without a doubt a sub 3:30 but ideally a sub 3:20 Dublin Marathon this year.

Although I'm not sure about sub 3:20 I know I can pull off sub 3:30 as I was on track for this last year until mile 18 when I experience some awful muscle pain which put that dream out the window.

I have the endurance built from doing the likes of Donadea and Connemara so I'm going to work on keeping that but I just now need to work on speed. I'm also going to keep the training consistent rather then dropping weekly miles during the summer month.

So with that in mind part of my training and race plans are:

- May: Limerick Marathon (pacing 5hours)
- June: Portumna 50km
- July: 10 in 10 Marathons: Day Three

I've not yet picked any event for August but my aim for Limerick will be purely to use it as part of my training for Portumna, for Portumna I'd like to hit the 4:20-4:30 target which I initially aimed for in February with Donadea.

In July I'm going to aim for sub 3:40 depending on what state I'm in after Portumna, sub 3:40 will beat last years PB set in Dublin of 3:41:44.

In some ways I'm disappointed as last year I figured I'd aim for the Portumna 100km this year, I think at this stage this would be a foolish move and whilst I "may" complete it I think it may do more harm then good.  Its still disappointing though to not go ahead with my initial plan.

I think for now I'm going to stick to marathons and the shorter ultra marathon distances and work on improving my times,

Doing Connemara Ultra has somewhat changed my outlook on marathons, whilst I may not do them in very sort times I look at them as less of a crazy distance then I once did.     A few days ago I mentioned to my wife I wanted to sign up to one of the days of 10 in 10 in July and when she asked how far it was I replied I  "don't worry, sure its only a marathon" :)

Finally, on a more serious note, my heart goes out to anyone affected by the events at the Boston marathon yesterday evening.  Due to the three deaths so far and likely a large amount of people receiving amputations (based on the news) its likely so many people's lives will never be the same again.