Boston Marathon, fitness test #1

I am not sure of the reasoning or methodology behind why I wanted to add mile intervals throughout the course of today's long run, but I figured it couldn't hurt. So the first 5 miles was pretty casual to the first track and the mile on the track was 558. then we ran 3 miles to the Harvard track and that mile was 553. At this point I wasn't feeling too bad, but figured it would be a good idea to have a accel-gel. We continued on to the MIT track which is about 3 miles then we did another one at 558. Still feeling pretty good about the run but I knew things were going to get tough in the next 20-30 minutes. We were about a mile from the MIT track when the pace dropped to the 630-635 pace until we reached the final track. At this point we just over 19 miles, 19.3 to be exact. The final mile on the track was 605, but felt much harder than that. From here I headed home and still felt pretty good as far as my ability to push a decent 630-640 pace the rest of the way home.

The run ended at 22 miles, 7 min avg pace for the run.
I had 2 accel gel during this run which I have no doubt that they contributed to my feelings of well being toward the end of the run.

Next weekend is the Great Stew Chase 15k. First road race of the winter. I'm thinking 6 minute pace!

Day 2 of Cold.

8, -2 wind chill degrees when I walked out the door Saturday monring. Thankfully it warmedup to 15 after about an hour into the run which felt pretty nice combined with the full sunshine. We ran for an an hour-forurty five minutes.
a little over 14 miles.

Now time to head out for the Sunday LR.

Information is good

The production quality isn't that great but the information makes up for it.

http://wpblogs.runningtimes.com/blogs/performancepodcasts/2010/01/28/training-qa-with-jack-daniels/

Bitter Cold

Coldest day yet! 18 degrees, 0 with wind chill. This called for 1 pair of tights under my running pants. A synthetic material tight shirt under a thick cotton sweatshirt, a thick pair of gloves and stocking cap over an ear headband. And the final touch was the face mask that was on and off during the run because it was hard to breathe but was absolutely necessary into the wind.

It was a pretty good run. 74 minutes.

This sunday should be a good run. Going to do a long run with the occasional stop at outdoor tracks (3 or 4, probably 4) along the way for a good mile at a faster-ish pace.

suck it up

Well I decided it was time to stop using a litle runny nose and some sneezing as an excuse to not run. Ran for 67 minutes today. Didn't feel great, but it felt much better than not running.

Boston race prep

This is the proposed race preparation for Boston. As I am not superhuman I don't think I'll be participating all of these.
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" Jan 29-30,Terrier at BU, race what ever you can...

Feb 7th, the Great Stew Chase 15km in Lynn, MA

Feb 13 Valentine Meet, same as Terrier

Feb 21, race 5 km at USATF meet at Harvard....end of indoor track for marathoners

Feb 28th Jones 10 mile in Amherst. Very important USATF Grand Prix race.

March 7th Stu's 30 km in Clinton, MA hilly, but being able to race a three-quarter's marathon is essential to being able to race a marathon.

March 21 New Bedford Half marathon, Very important USATF Grand Prix race.

There may be a 10km at Tufts that I will recommend, I think March 27th. Race a 10 km on the race on Sat and come back to race 20 miles on the road on Sunday, then you will be ready for a marathon. (just add the times together)
March 28th, ES 20 from Maine to Massachusetts. Again an essential prerequisite for racing a marathon.

April 10th 15 km Tune up in Upton.



I also want you all to get psyched and know the history of the Boston Marathon by reading my book.

Boston Marathon: The first Century of the World's Premiere Running Event, Human Kinetics 1996, or the slightly shorter first edition
The book is in most libraries or available used from Able books http://www.abebooks.com Type in my name. Don't buy the Blood Sweat and Cheers book. That's mostly photos.

The first reading assignment for women is the 1966 chapter and for men the 1970 chapter.

Mileage is the key to the marathon, the next key is racing up to the distance. The closer your daily milage is to the time of your marathon, the less important is the "long run." If you are a 2:20 marathoners running 100 miles a week then you spend about 2 hours a day running which is only 20 minutes shy of the time you will spend racing, but if you run 40 miles a week and run a 4 hour marathon...well, it is really a different event.

Of course this stuff is hard to do. The marathon is a hard event."

So I hope to participate in the majority of these events with the exception of the Terrier meet, the Valentine meet and the USATF meet. I may do one of these, but no as of today.
I am not sure about the 15k on april 10th either, as it may be too close to race day. Nor do I think I'll be doing the back to back 10k 20 miler, I will likely only do the 20 miler.

the end!

the streak ended monday. I am not sure if I have a sinus infection or a cold. Whatever it is,it exists and is really inconvenient. As a result, I took Monday off and cut the intervals off after 2 during the tuesday workout. The first was 528 the second was 536 and things just didn't feel right.

Hope this goes away sooner that later.

running induced cold

I was coughing all night last night after the mile. The same thing happened when I ran the mile 1 week ago. However this morning I woke feeling like I had a cold! I think this will pass.

One thing I am sure of is the mile hurts and I have the picture to prove it.

MPW

68.

14 consecutive days. Hope to keep this streak going.

Mile PR

30 minute run to the Harvard indoor track. Hung around for an hour then headed out for a 20 min warmup.
Ran in the 3rd heat, and ran a 443 mile. This hurt real bad, but I ran it almost even for the entire race. I know I left some time on the track because I was stuck in lane 2 for about 400 meters. Regardless it was a solid race, I feel. Then ran 40 minutes home.

I'll call it 10 for the day.

Day 13

Ran for 63 minutes

Today I ran.

83 minutes.

still going

3tr track workout of the week. I wasn't sure if I was going to make a run today, so I guess anything would be better that nothing. That pretty much sums up today's run.

25 minute warm up then 3*200 on the track (32,31,30). Afterwards I felt pretty good which was a new thing for the end of a track workout. I could actually feel my legs and feet. Then I went ahead and got in an easy 15 minute cool down.

I'll call it 5 miles for the day.


Going on 11 days in a row.

wednesday at the track

25 minutes warmup, 5k on the track (17:43,splits = 536,540,543) then 24 minutes cooldown. The legs were definately feeling the remains of the tuesday track workout but I call today a good effort.

Miles for the day = 13

I guess it still counts

I made a feble attempt to get in an hour run this morning, but I just didn't have it in my. I couldn't seem to get the turn over going. Maybe I wasn't recovered from the work out last night, or I just didn't have it in me this morning. I made it 2 miles before cutting my loses and turning around to head home. I did start to feel better once I was about 5 minutes from the house, but I decided I'd call it a morning. We are meeting at the track 3 times this week. Tue Wed and TR. Tonite we are doing 5k at 10k effort, which should be easy enough. I am expecting even 530 pace for the first 2 miles then maybe 5 sec or so faster for the last one because I doubt anyone in my group will run appropriate paces.

So far 4 miles today.

Tuesday milerS

26 minute warmup, then onto the track for a couple easy laps before the fun began.

The workout was 5 * 1600m with 400m recovery. It went like this, 530,529,522,529,526. Then we jogged around the indoor track for 20 minutes.


Miles for the day = 12

Slush run!

Rained, then snowed during the night and through the morning. Then the weather warmed to a balmy 34 degrees. Just enough for the snow and ice to me nice and soft and sloppy for afternoon run. I guess I had the day off so I decided to head out for 130pm run in the arboretunm, which was miserable once I got to the arboretum. Was forced to ru at 930 pace while there due to soft slush and unsure footing. Today, I ran 9 miles at 815 avg pace. After about an hour, once I got onto ground where I actually had traction I felt like I was ready to explode into a sprint, but at that point the run was almost over.

Miles = 9

Race pics

Sunday LR

Met a group for a 20 miler today. Well, I ran the 1.5 miles to the meeting spot and then we began the run. We ran to the firehouse in Newton and about a mile and a half past it, then turned around (turned around at mile 9, avg pace 708 at that point) and ran back thru the hills of the marathon course at which point the pace got pretty nasty as the faster group blazed thru the hills. Myself and a couple of other guys didn't try to hang with them but still gave a strong effort thru the hills.

We were back at our starting place by mile 16.5 at which point everyone headed toward their respective dwellings. At this point the run was in the books and it was just a cool down type run.
In all it was good to get out and push the pace in a long run. All being done with out stops and water/fuel made the run very hard by mile 19.5, and I don't think I could have continued on for another 4 if I had to. With fuel/water I think I would have been in pretty good shape though.

Another LR in the books and that much closer.

MIles this week 76-77.



LR paces::::::::


Miles
1-9: 651,830,710,728,702,647,649,642,656.

Miles 10-20: 651,630,617,617,631,625,629,711,714,652,743.

The mile

Ran from my apt to the harvard indoor track. Then I did some stretching and kinda cooled down. Waited til about 30 min before my race and warmed up with some strides and easy jogging.

Then ran a 447 mile. And ran some coolsown laps and ran 28 minutes home.

The first 200 was 35, 400 was in 74 800 was 228, then the rest is a blur, I just remember passing about 5-8 people the last 800. At that point in the race it is all about getting into that dark place and just running.

Friday

Easy 66 minutes.

Tune up for the mile!

With my first attempt at a 1 mile race, I figured it would be best to get in a good tune up on Thursday. This included 25 min WU and WD.

We ran 4 * 400's that ranged from 73,71,71,72, 400m recovery.
Then we did 4 * 200's which ranged from 30-32, 200m recovery.

The entire workout was done at a faster turnover rate and effort but I never felt like I was in an uncomfortable anaerobic state at any time.

This is a great work out for building confidence going onto the mile. As I don't expect my paces to be this fast except for maybe the last 600-800 of the mile. At that point alot comes down to running toughness and speed.

So, can I run a 450? I don't think so, but I do think I'll be w/in 5 sec of it. Nonetheless I think I am going to go out and run 73ish and hold it for 1000. Hopefully this pace doesn't cause me to huff and puff too much that way I can mash down on it for the last 600.


8 miles for the day

Tuesday wednesday

Track workout.
1600, 3200,1600,1600 @ 538, 1120, 538, 530 respectively. WU and WD.

11 miles

Wednesday:

73 minute run. Decent effort.

New week and well rested

Ran 61 miles last week on 5 days. Just can't seem to put together a really good week although I have had several solid 10 day sequences, but not a really good week. Their is still time for that, and I think I'm in a good place as far as my fitness is concerned.
Tonites run went really well. I felt like I was kind of pushing the pace the whole time, but stayed in a place that was comfortable with out heavy breathing or sacrificing a relaxed comfortable stride.
I'm not sure of the pace, but it felt kind of brisk. Time 60 minutes. The loop usually takes ~65 minutes.

Saturday

Friday was an off day. Saturday 14 miles. Was hoping for 18, so I could just get in 12 on Sunday for the 30 mile weekend but now it looks like I am going to have to put in the work on Sunday. Boooo!

Sad;...(

The announcers of this football game make me want to VOMIT and choke them at the same time!
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::
today I did a 30 min warmm up then went to the I door track and ran 4 400's with 200m recovery. Times 75 74 73 72. Then ran around the track for about 10 min and did I all over again, except the splits were 72 73 74 75.

The paces were not planned just happened to work out that way. The workout ended with a 20 minute cool down.

Our next indoor track meet is next weekend and i am hoping to come in below 5min.

Chewing on this...

" the marathon is a speed race not an endurance jog."

onehunredfourteenMinute run

Ugghhh! Not much fun after the 90 minute point. Over now. Might be a good week.

Tuesday

3 mile warm up. 1600,541. 3000@540 pace. 1600,531. 1600,529. 800 m recovery between intervals. 3 mile cool down.


13 miles for the day.

Monday

For breakfast I had 2 pieces of pizza, then I had 2 more for lunch. Combine that wiith 4-5 cups of coffee and I'd say I set my self up for a pretty good day. So, no one is perfect!
I ran for 59 minutes this evening, now to get ready for my spinach and broccoli salad for dinner with many large glass of ice water to flush the pizza toxins out of my body.

MPW

64.

Hard run

Snowed all day/night satruday and morning Sunday, though it was light and not a deep snow. As a result it is still possible to get in the LR for the week. Went 17.5 today, but it took 2he 20 min which included a sweet whipe out on the ice/snow. Note to self, not a good idea to plant and cut at the same time on the ice. The out come was a sore knee and broken sun glasses that I was carrying in my hand. In all best possible outcome.

Running up hill in this shit is ridiculous!

Food for thought....

I am still chewing on this, but when the wizard speaks I tend to listen, then it takes about a week for it to make sense.
I refer to Tom as the wzard or the professor. He is not the hands on type, tell you what to do type coach, but every now and then if you listen he provides running wisdom that proves to be quite useful.

" if you are training to run a 4hr then your long runs are very important, but if you want to run a 220 marathon then the time spent running on a daily basis is more important than "the long run". This gets you used to being on your feet. So, if you are runnig 100 mpw (nonchalantly spoken) your daily runs should take about 2 hrs sometimes less but many of them should be at MPG. Then combine with that lost of races like 30k, 25k, half marathon, and you should be ready for your race."

I must say that this hasn't quite sunk in. Now it is time to adapt this to my civilian marathon goal.

Mini meet

Ran 2 miles in the snow to the BU indoor track, then continued the warm up inside for about 15 more minutes. I was in the 3rd heat so his gave me some time to pace back and forth with the feeling that I was going to throw up before my race began. The nervous feeling that comes from track running never goes away I guess.
At the mile I was at 514. At that point the fun began and most of the group that went thru the mile at 510 were victims. Finished 4 th in the heat with a 935 time. Not bad considering I was expecting to struggle to run a 950.
After the race I did a 30 minute cool down then returned to the trAck to watch the mile. My day ended with a 55 minute run with some of the GBTC folks that ran in the mile also.