My Secret Training in Lubbock

Some of you asked what I was doing in Lubbock a month before the marathon... I decided to disclose my secret training methods...

BAD FORM

I think this photo says a lot about my lousy form on Monday... I need to work on this for the next Marathon.

Boston Reunion

It's been six marathon registrations, three DNFs and two years since I had completed a marathon. There have been many moments in the past two years where I've questioned whether I had already completed my last marathon.  Well, yesterday I actually managed to stay on the course for the full distance and though I didn't set any records (personal or otherwise) it felt good to extricate that large, burdensome monkey from my back.

Monday was a great day for racing.  Sunshine, smiles and promise filled the crisp air of Hopkinton well before Joan Benoit-Samuelson fired the starter's pistol.  Though the least important marathoner in the crowd (Lance) garnered the most attention -- the focus of the crowd remained on the anonymous travelers that came from far and wide to run this beautiful, historic course.  

As the gun fired and I stopped and started and stopped and started my way across the first chip mat I was reminded of why I love to run marathons and why I especially love to run Boston.  It washed over me and consumed me through the early miles.  

I slapped the hands of the kids, engaged the willing crowd, chatted up my fellow runners and thoroughly enjoyed being a part of this magnificent event.  

The plan was to get to the halfway point in a position to post a respectable time and hope that I had the guts in the second half to pull out a good race.  As frequently happens at Boston (or virtually any marathon for that matter), the race didn't go exactly as planned.

I did get to the half at a respectable time (1:33 - which incidentally is the fastest half-marathon I've run in the past two years!) but then little by little fell apart more and more over the second half... and it was great.  I loved every minute of it.  

It was painful.  I was passed by a guy in a boy scout uniform, a fairy (a statement on his costume not sexual preference) in a pink singlet, pink running shoes and a pink too-too carrying a magic wand as well as a dude wearing a complete Paul Pierce Celtics uniform complete with high-tops and an afro wig. (Though I did catch and pass him on Boylston -- and that's the "Truth" (Paul Pierce's nickname for those of you that don't follow the Celts) baby.) That was part of the experience.  

The rolling and unrelenting hills on the course are honest.  They are always there and they are always the same.  Same goes for the crowd support.  My success or lack of it on this course has depended solely on what version of myself I've brought to the start line in each of my 5 Bostons.

I've run Chicago well on relatively poor training... same for Vegas and RNRAZ.  Not this one.  It punishes slackers... and though I took my lumps on Monday, I loved it.  

Congrats to Ed and Chris on their well-earned PRs.  Impressive and inspiring work.

Thanks for your encouragement as I've struggled to get to the start line over the past couple years.  Monday was a great reunion. I'm glad to be back.

RECAP

Well, I did not quite get the 2:37 I wanted but I will settle for the 2:41. All in all a 2 min PR and a 5 min PR from last years Boston... although I still think I could have done much better under a different set of circumstances. I will take it for now though.

The new goal? 2:30 (or 2:29:59) for Chi-town in October...

Training starts soon, stay tuned.

4 days left

By now I have had to skip the R-I workout given some leg pain -resulting from a combination of those fabulous 20 quarter miles and the tempo run chasing chris on saturday oh wait that was a fartlek- At any rate I went for a slow 3 mile jog. It seems like the combination ibuprofen + rest is helping, and I will be able to race next monday. The question is, how has this affected my pace (if at all) and what are the odds I will get really injured during the race?

I am calculating that the nature of the problem will allow me to run the entire race, but I suspect afterwards I will be out for some time. If I get my PR that wont matter much. If not, well, I dont really want to consider that possibility. It just is not an option.

In one week it will be over......

So I sit here one week from Boston and begin the despicable process of dissecting my prior training weeks looking for where I might have done more. Were there opportunities for better training runs, more gut-wrenching LTs, more mileage? The answer to all is "YES." But this winter was as bad as I've had in all my running years here in Chicago. We did the best we could (which meant running inside or nearly breaking our backs slipping on the icy lakefront).

I'm just looking forward to running this bear of a marathon. I heard Bill talking about "savoring the moment and enjoying" the race on Monday. Hogwash! I want to have my mind focused on nothing short of the task. I want to have unbearable pain and exhaustion as I head into Hereford St and down the long straightaway to the finish. My time will not break a world record, but I just hope to post another PR or at least something I won't be embarrassed to repeat in public in the next few months.

I'm still left with my last marathon experience of a DNF (many factors outside of my ability to finish factored into that one) in Chicago in October. I just want this one to be memorable for the right reasons.

So with this, I make a humble request to Mother Nature for Monday:

Give us no rain, a light cloud cover (or even some gentle sunlight), may there be no headwind--- rather, give us a tailwind from the west at about 12-14 mph.

Let's all make it to Monday injury-free so that we can have a good shot at making this run what we all have trained to make it.

FAST WORKOUT

20x400 @ 77-79 sec each. 1 lap jog between each. total with warm up and cool down 13 miles

SHORT LT

11 miler today, including 5 at the track at LT pace. The total was 28:40 for the 5 miles, which is a 5:44 pace... I'm happy with that for now.

change of strategy

I was feeling a bit burned out today, and really not in the mood to run. After speaking with chris on the phone, he had talked some sense into me. So I scrapped the sluggish 20 plus miler i had planned and replaced it with an up tempo 10 miler. I was not exactly flying, but the wind was brutal. So I did about 6:45 - 6:30's into the wind and slightly under 6 on the return. This was not really LT pace, and when I got home I was happy to see my HR never got beyond 75% of max, even when I clocked under 6.

Maybe the idea of tapering is not so bad...

Two weeks to go.....

Well, I guess the mild taper begins this week, then full-scale taper next week. Again, I hit the road for the hot spots of Philly, Dayton/Cincy, and Atlanta this week. No potential for running tomorrow with early AM and late evening flights. So.... a double today with 14 in the AM and 10.5 this evening. Per usual, the evening run was much more enjoyable and spry than the AM run. Chris was pounding out the speed, likely in the mid to low 6s, while Bosco and I trudged along in the low 7s. Just felt a bit tired this AM. This evening, the same speed was markedly easier.

So I have 25 of my 60 already in the pocket. Wooo hooo! More speed with Eduardo in town this weekend. Good for the final stretch... I'm gonna need it in Beantown.