Boston Strong

Jekyll Island for Spring Break ... ran in afternoon, 88 degfrees ... 7 @ 8:11

8:51, 8:42, 8:27, 8:18, 7:57, 7:46, 7:15

Followed with 10 easy miles on bike ... 12.7 mph

First 4 @ 8:10 pace ... then ran into my son, dad, & niece, giving my mom a ride around the island on a Surrey Bike ... they were struggling, so I pushed from behind for 3 miles until we got to ice cream shop.

Easy run around island with a neihbor I met, 2hrs, 9:15AP

8:10 AP

6 mile bike to warmup, then was going to do an easy 8.

Got passed by a guy running 6:45 pace at 5.8 miles, so fell in behind him for a couple faster miles, then blew by him with a final quarter mile increased effort.  Was good to get in a couple faster miles, it appears my comfortable pace is about 8:10 right now ... but the edrenalin of faster runners helps ... so hopefully that will carry me 26.2 miles in 10 days!

8:43, 8:10, 8:12, 7:47, 8:02, 7:47, 6:43, 6:31

7:44 AP

Exactly 7 days from now, I will be enjoying Mile 6, wondering whether I should speed up or slow down!  Last week was a pretty good week, 2nd consecutive week of logging over 30 miles ... something that has not happened in 12 weeks.  After 4 consecutive days of running, I had no pain, but was feeling some lingering soreness around my knee, so I am taking a few more days off.  I can't really taper as I never built up my mileage, I guess my goal for the week will be to run an hour a day, and focus mainly on mental preparation, as that is what will carry me.  I guess dropping a couple pounds might help too ... since I have gained 8 pounds over my period of rest!

Even though I have no idea what next Monday will bring, I am excited to test my limits ... it is easier to surprise oneself when there is not much in the way of expectations!  Also need to decide this week if I am going to try to tackle NYC in November ... although I am leaning in that direction.

PM - 4 'faster' miles, then backed off ...

7:26, 7:16, 7:15, 7:01

8:12, 7:53, 7:38, 7:51

Today was a great confidence booster!  Did not really have a plan, other than run an hour, but I did put on my Boston race gear & took a GU ... I guess the adrenalin is starting, cuz I ran much faster than I imagined I would.  This is the first time I have been able to hold a sub 7 pace & not feel like I was taxing myself aerobically.  I never felt like I was pushing it, just tried to stay relaxed & find my stride.  Quite honestly, I was wishing I was in Boston, cuz I felt like I was ready to keep running all the way to downtown Boston!

10k - 41:47 - 6:44 AP .... then 3.8 miles cooldown with (6) 0.1 mile downhill strides - 8:10 AP

6:59, 6:47, 6:48, 6:43, 6:46, 6:30, 6:17 pace for last 0.2

Pushed a little harder last mile to come in under 42, but never pushed too hard, & felt like I could have kept going holding 6:45 pace for a while at least!   I am happy, not jumping to any crazy race expectations with one good training run ... but it certainly helps to get this one under my belt at what felt like a moderate effort level!

Planning to run an easy mile or two tonight after I get all my ducks in a row ... heading for airport at 6:00 tomorrow morning.

I honestly thought I had convinced myself that I was just going to just enjoy Boston, and not worry about my time.  However, as the days tick down, it just does not seem like a race without a goal!  Hence, I have settled on a goal of 3:10, a 7:15 pace ... this equates to a 45 minute 10k, which should be sustainable, at least for the first 16 miles! I do reserve the right to change my goal during the race, as many times as I want, as long as I finish somewhere between 2:59 & 3:30!  :)

The latest forecast I have seen calls for a 1% chance of snow, so that is what I am praying for ... although not sure how that could happen with a low of 50 & high of 71.  I think it is pretty safe to say that chances are the temps will be in the 60's during the race, maybe 50's at the start with a little luck.  10mph winds out of NNW, which is not a bad thing!  I am dropping a quick note to BAA, to see if they might consider moving the race start up 7 AM.

My bib number is 4608, if you care to be bothered with text updates, just text 'runner' to 345678, you will get a reply asking to enter bib number.  Text updates are at 10k, 1/2, 30k, and finish.  Since my goal is a 45 min 10k pace, please do not cheer when you get the first text saying 43:xx ... start praying instead please!  :)

Best of luck to everyone who is running!

Easy jog up & down Heartbreak hill while driving course ... enjoying Boston!  Met Amy, Becca, Mary, & Cheryl from blog at Expo ... and we had a fun dinner at Bertucci's!

Went to 5k, missed Andrea finish cause parking was hard to find (stayed in a suburb at a friends about an hour from downtown).  Met up with Jake, Andrea, Eric, Dan, and Rachelle at finish and we went for an easy 3 mile jog ... great to meet some more fellow bloggers.  Then I watched the Mile invitational HS Boys & Girl, Open Mens & Womens from the Grandstands ... exciting & fun ... scary fast runners!  It was 3 loops, & they had a big screen showing whole race, so you could really watch the races unfold.  Good stuff!  Stayed downtown all day & met up with some others I knew from Atlanta, then met my brother for dinner, as he drove up from NYC to watch race.

Awesome day ... I think you all know the conditions runners were faced with!

I had no real time goal, just wanted to make sure I stayed comfortable so I could enjoy the day, and if by some stroke of magic I had a chance at a good time, I would roll with it & push ... but was not concerned with time.

My brother dropped me off about a 1/4 mile from the start at 7:30 & I walked to athletes village ... where I just relaxed, hydrated, ate bananas & a bagel.  Met some cool people & before I knew it we were making our way to the start.  Most of the day I just ran with the flow of people ... started off at a 7:00 mile pace ... and while this was comfortable ... I knew this would be trouble ... so at about the 3/4 mile mark I jumped off the road for a quick pit stop ... which apparrently I needed from all my hydrating ... because it lasted about 30 seconds!  This was good, because when I jumped back in, the pace was a little slower.

By Mile 4, I realized just how hot things were going to get, and basically determined I had 2 options:  1) Push the pace & be miserable and still not be happy with my time, or 2)  Back off, enjoy the day, and not worry about my pace.  Option 2 was the only logical decision ... coming off knee injury and facing extreme heat conditions, pushing it would make no sense.  It was at this point that I started dumping water on my head at just about every opportunity I could ... which was pretty much whenever you wanted ... because the spectators were awesome in their support of the race ... water, ice, popsicles, bananas, cold sponges ... you could get pretty much whatever you wanted when you wanted it!

By Mile 7 I could feel myself overheating, so the water dousings became more frequent.  At this point I met up with a couple other runners from the Atlanta Track Club, and ran a few Miles with them around 7:30 pace.  After a while I let them go, because I wanted to stop more frequently to make sure I stayed cool & did not want to chase them down every time I did this ... but it was fun to run a couple miles with them ... in the end we had the same time anyway ... and I passed one of them in the last quarter mile.

Around Mile 10, my average pace started dropping pretty substantially, but I really was not running slower, just stopping more often to dump water on head, stand in front of a sprinkler, kiss girls fro Weelsley College, and just soak up the experience while I kept my body temp down ... I guess I did a good job of this as I experienced some chills ... not sure if this was a sign of overheating or over cooling ... but I was going to err on the side of the latter!

At no point in the race was I really uncomfortable, as I took all precautions against going there.  The crowds were awesome ... it was easy to get them riled up with high 5's while doing 100 yards pickups & pumping my fist.  Another fun thing to do was to get a glass of water & throw it on the boisterous college spectators & then take off in a sprint ... they loved that & and it always got a loud response from the crowd.  Of course, 50 yards down the road I would just slow back down.

The hills of Newton were not bad, of course I was running conservative and not racing ... I knew when I reached the top I was home free ... I have not run over 14 miles since I injured my knee in January.  I met my brother at Mile 21, hung out & chatted with him a minute or two ... it was great to see him at this point in the race.  He asked how I felt & I responded, "Great, I am just out for a jog in the park, there is plenty left in the tank."  I thought about ruuning hard the last 5, but it just did not make sense, I did do a bunch of spurts to energize the crowd, but just followed those with recoveries.  I think I had ice cubes in my cap about 10 of the last 13 miles!

All in all it was an awesome day ... and while I am a little stiff today ... the best thing about my conservative approach will be a quick recovery.  I will return to Boston another day to race!

Splits:            Pace

5k:      23:25      7:32

10k:    24:13      7:48

15k     24:22     7:51

20k     27:34     8:52

Half:    1:45:41

25k     27:11     8:45

30k     29:23     9:30

35k     32:43    10:32

40k     30:23     9:47

42k     12:32    10:05

3:52:08  8:52 Overall Avg Pace

Post marathon shuffle

Easy 6+ late at night ... or maybe it was early this morning ... impromptu run to the store while visiting a friend in Philly, because he had crashed & I did not have wheels.  Felt good ... not ready for speed, but fully recovered.

Felt pretty good, comfortably fast I would call it.  Hard to believe that last mile was goal marathon pace for a sub 3, but never say never ... for starters I need to lose the beer gut!

1- 8:44

2 - 8:18

3 - 7:59

4 - 8:05

5 - 7:49

6 - 7:54

7 - 7:44

8 - 7:37

9 - 7:45

10 - 6:48

 AP: 7:52

PM - Visiting my parents in PA for a little while & one of the beauties of that is the running path along the river out the front door ... let the doubles begin!

Easy miles in a refreshing steady rain ... 8:50, 8:40, 8:26 ... finished with a stride the last 0.1

Jogged to riverfront to watch local 5k.  They had over 750 runners for first year & raised over 50k for cause ... pretty cool. I thought about racing ... and should have as 20:25 won the 40-49 age group & they had some good loot ... Mizuno bag, $20 restaurant gift cert., 4 pairs of running socks ... not bad for an age group winner!  Of course, the thought of getting up & running 6:30 miles was not too appealing, but it was fun to watch & cheer on other runners.

The mind wants to run more/train harder ... but I am pretty much scared of injury ... and my old body tells me to take it easy.  Consistency is not something I have been able to maintain the last 3 months due to my knee issues ... and since those seem to have passed ... that is what I will strive to get back to!

Cold, wet, rainy day ... but rain finally let up so I could get out!  Felt pretty good, AP 7:34

8:15, 7:41, 7:46, 7:43, 7:39, 7:35, 7:25, 7:24, 7:23, 6:50

Beautiful sunny day, trying to decide if I will go long or fast today!  Ate pasta last night, so maybe I will try to go long ... fast seems to be a challenge for me mentally these days anyway!

I will be the 3:40 pacer for the Poconos marathon May 20!  That should be interesting, because I struggle talking & running ... and I will have to be a chatterbox as a motivator ... not to mention I will have to carry a sign the whole way.  Good news is it has 1800' of elevation drop & a 3:40 is only a 8:23 pace, so I should be in a comfort zone.  Although not sure it is possible to be comfortable beyond 18 miles!  lol

 Yesterday, I ran 10 miles & then ate half a bag of chocolate doughnuts, felt like I broke even!  Today I ran 20 ... before eating the other half!  :)  Ran the Capital Area Greenway Belt in Harrisburg, a fun 20 mile loop with varied scenery & some soft surface running trails ... about 800' of elevation gain & drop, with a good portion flat.

This was a good confidence builder for my pacing duties May 20 ... wanted to make sure I was not in over my head.  Pretty much a comfortable, steady effort & about 15 seconds faster than what I will have to pace .. so should be in good shape, particularly since the marathon has 1800' el drop.  Debated stopping at Mile 19 & walking it in, just to be cautious with my knee ... but decided I would gain mental fortitude experience by pushing on ... after all, that is about 90% of what the last 10k of a marathon boils down to!  I was on pace for a 3:33 marathon, almost 20 minutes faster than Boston ... to give you an idea of what running in 80 degree temps does to ones performance!

I was going to take a day of rest, but it was too nice out to miss an easy 6 mile recovery jog along the river!   9:18, 8:52, 8:54, 8:38, 8:18, 8:58

Well, I refrained from dropping $100 on the bright orange Boston jacket at the expo ... but have to admit the color grew on me over the race weekend ... as everyone was wearing one!  Anyway, checked on line this morning ... everything marked down 40% ... so got the jacket for $60, black track version for $54(was 90), string backback for $17 (was 28), & compression shorts for  $24 (was 40).

Wait ... I spent $155 ... not $100 ... dangit!  Oh well, it was my birthday last week!

Ugh ... these were tough miles ... may have to sign up for a 5k to jump start the legs!

First 3 were into wind, stopped briefly after 2, 3, & 4 to catch breath & drink some water

7:43, 7:10, 7:05, 6:40, 6:57  1/2 mile cool down jog.

Beautiful sunny afternoon, just wanted to run at my 'Happy' pace, & was very happy with what that pace was!

Second consecutive 50 mile week, with no knee issues, hopefully I can consistently stay around that mileage & stay free of injury!