2014 was a rough year, my goals for the year were a sub twenty 5K and a sub 90 half marathon. The first 5K I raced I was 19 seconds over and discouraged, a month later I was injured and had to take over a month off while doing some PT work on my hips. My half marathon goal went out the window while I worked on just getting back into shape. The holiday run streak got me motivated again, but then a bad case of the flu in December set me back right as I was starting to feel "normal" running again. All of the races I have done through the past year have been for completion only, haven't been in racing shape since last spring. I am not sure where to go right now, I have a long term goal of running the Austin marathon in Feb 2016 (some friends down there) and achieving another BQ time but until this fall when I will start marathon training again, I'm not sure what to focus on. My mileage has been low, I don't feel great when running and not sure if I should just start to build up and incorporate some tempo and fartlek runs into my week and hope that I start to feel better, or if I should just sign up for a race and pick a training plan and force myself to get back to it.

Thinking it's time to just put the peddle to the metal and sign up for a race and start really running again, but if I do that I am not sure what distance to shoot for. I do want to be ready for marathon training by October of this year, so maybe a spring half marathon? or early fall half marathon?? What do you all think? Training log (for what it's worth) is open for anyone who cares to take a look

I was in a similar situation recently. I had to restart after a bad 2nd half of 2014. I was dealing with a nagging injury, my mileage was in the tank, and I was running races either to complete a series, or for my club with no real motivation and no hope of running well. I finally decided to hit "reset" and build from scratch.

Here's what worked (or seems to be working) for me starting in November of last year:

1. I set a goal marathon really far out (Memorial Day weekend 2015) and drew up an 18-week training plan by working backwards--one that was not super aggressive. The idea was to have a plan I knew I could handle and that would get me ready to race even if I "only" did the minimum of what was in the plan, BUT left room to do more if I was feeling it. That plan actually starts on Monday.

2. I drew up a little "base building" plan that got me to the start of the above plan. Again I just worked backwards and drew up the most gradual, easy build up I could in the number of weeks that I had (which turned out to be 11). I allowed myself to completely start over and build from almost zero. This way I could do the rehab I needed and let my injury heal without worrying about missing workouts or mileage goals. I'm in the last week of that 11 week "easy build up". Here's what it has looked like (hopefully this chart will show up right):

This week I should be just over 60 miles, which is where I wanted to be for the start of the 18-week plan that begins on Monday.

Ramping up so gradually AND having it all be part of a bigger plan has made it an incredibly easy build-up both mentally and physically. I feel (almost) totally healthy and refreshed and ready to go and haven't had any guilt or urge to be "doing more" at any point over the last 11 weeks because it was all part of a designed process. "Trust the process" has been my mantra.

And I'm already planning a rest period and restart after my goal marathon in May. Last year I got behind the 8-ball in my recovery and kept trying to cram for races I wasn't ready for and my training went into a death spiral. Everything I'm doing this year is designed to avoid that. I'm planning distinct periods to my training including prioritizing recovery at the right points in the year so that I can hopefully have two really good racing seasons (spring and fall).  We'll see.

Anyway, apologies for this mini-novella, but the question has been top of mind for me lately.

Well, Christirei, I'm another one in your boat so I can relate to not really knowing how to restart from a bad year!  2014 was the first year in about 8 years where I haven't PR'd in at least one or two race distances.  I was hampered by Plantar Fascitis since about Aug/Sep and it's still bothering me.  I am doing only bike riding right now but if and when I am ready to begin training again I'd do exactly what mikeymike has done (with the possible exception of setting a marathon goal as I hate those stupid races).  Best of luck coming back and have a great year!!