Sunday, March 18, 2018

Boston Marathon Training Week # 14

I feel like I'm passing thru the dark night of the soul. The period Christian mystics endured when God seemed the farthest away, and remaining pious was most difficult. But like them I cling to the notion that its always darkest just before dawn, and keep disciplined in executing my runs one at a time, and one mile at a time.

Marathon training will break you down. In fact its a big reason when many plans are designed the way they are. They push the runner to the edge of their pyshiological thresholds, and then seem to demand just a little more. But get thru it, and new vistas sunny and clear stretch out before us.

So my legs endure it, and feel beat up. Now its my right foot that hurts on top, and also around the ankle areas which may be a touch of plantar fasciitis. Passed the one month marker on Thursday. Four weeks to go; its the final push.

Had the awesome pleasure of assisting a runner BQ yesterday while I was pacing at the Wrightsville Beach marathon. Helped (or tried) to help a few other runners along the way as well. Saw the gamut of emotions experienced by the daunting distance etched on so many faces. Got a little warm again, which hindered many a race.

Brought the mileage down into the 60s, and took 2 days off. Shifting the focus to quality, and getting to the start line as healthy as can be. Inspired by so many too, to run and race to my utmost capacity come April 16th. I'm ready to put it on the line, like so many did yesterday.


Week # 14 (3/12/18-3/18/18)

Total miles:  65.7


Monday:  Rest/ recovery

Tuesday:  14 mile. WO2. 6 +  (5 x 1000m, 2 min jog recovery) +  (4 x 400m, 400m jog recovery) + 2. Pretty solid workout considering some general fatigue in legs coming of the mileage last 2 week and 10k race last Saturday. Ran on dirt road on Farm. 1000m averaged in the 3:35- 4:40 range, with a fastest of 3:33 per Strava. 400s in the mid 1:20s, with a fastest of 1:19 (Strava). Run time- 1:15:18 (8:05 pace)

Wednesday:  10.4 miles. Ran a bunch on Magnolia Road on the Farm to get some distance in. Had to really get straight mentally just to get out, and get some decent mileage in. Looped into KB area and back and felt better once again, after the repeated segments on the dirt road. Searched for the magic, and found some there again. Easier miles. Run time- 1:26:41 (8:34 pace)

Thursday:  10.29 miles. Hill blasts in the Carolina Beach State Park, yellow blaze and sugar loaf trails/ hills. Again had to motivate myself to get out, and then to run the hills. Legs beat up and somewhat fatigued, but took hills fairly hard. DST helped all week as it now stays light for almost the entire runs when I go out about 5:45pm after work. Run time- 1:21:14 (7:54 pace)

Friday:  Rest/ recovery

Saturday:  26.38 miles. Pacing 3:40 at WB Marathon. Top of right foot pretty sore at the start, but got a little better as run went on. Ran with Billy Block first 14+ miles until he fell off. Good talks about all the marathons he's done including NYC and Boston. And training etc. Ate several gels and drank some water at the stops. Ran with Clay from about 15-23 mile marker until he fell off. Tired at end but could have kept running many more mile. Run time- 3:39:36 (8:19 pace)

Sunday:  5 miles. Easy to Farm and back. Legs not too beat up. Top of foot sore but maneagable. Run time- 47+ (9:32 pace)

Sunday, March 11, 2018

Boston Marathon Training Week # 13

Set a new 10k PR Saturday at the Cardinal Strut 10k of 37:06, which placed me 3rd overall, and top Masters. Stoked about the effort and the result, as it came during another eighty plus mile week, and after running eight miles beforehand.

Some pain has cropped up now in my left Achilles- noticed during the middle of the week. Though good news is that my right Achilles and top of right foot seem to be alright. Talking to Mike, a fellow Boston runner, who's having some tendon trouble behind is one knee- anyhow again the realization is that we are a little dinged and banged up at this point in the training cycle.

And a bit exhausted, physically and mentally. Struggled to find the motivation to get out several nights this week, and to get the mileage in that I knew I wanted to hit for the week. Went back to the farm and "Magnolia Road" one of those nights, which again really seemed to help. Maybe there's a little magic there in that couple of a tenths of a mile of dirt road. Whatever it is, I'll take it.

Felt pleased and pretty good with my other hard workout, which was marathon pace and threshold miles that I did Tuesday evening. Sort of pieced together the two prescribed workouts this week in lieu of the race Saturday.

Reading up a little more too on the race, race weekend logistics etc. And of course all the social media posts. Big news this week was wave and corral assignments, and bib numbers. I landed in wave 1, corral 7- about where others had told me I would. Cutoff for wave 1 was 3:09 and change.

So five weeks out and I'll likely start to bring the weekly mileage down a bit. Pacing the WB marathon this upcoming Saturday, so will do one workout probably Tuesday (haven't looked at weeks WOs yet), and adjust around the race. Plan way back when I started in December was to try and get the bulk of the heavy lifting done by the WB pacing, and have been fortunate enough to pretty much succeed in doing so.

Onto the next week...

Week # 13 (3/5/18- 3/11/18)

Total miles:  81.2


Monday:  8.05 miles. Easy, recovery miles felt ok from Sunday. Mostly in Carolina Beach State Park trails. Run time- 1:08:06 (8:28 pace)

Tuesday:  13.41 miles. WO2. Sort of a hybrid of the listed workout, but pretty much stuck to the premise of alternating some marathon paced miles with threshold miles. Went pretty hard from the get-go. Felt good especially coming off the hilly 20 miler Sunday in Umstead. Pushed last mile about as hard as I could. Splits: 7:50, 6:59, 6:45, 6:42, 6:31, 6:40, 6:46, 6:25, 6:43, 6:46, 6:46, 6:07, recovery in low 9s. Run time- 1:34:24 (7:02 pace)

Wednesday:  9.85 miles. Farm, magnolia road. Extended run then after dark into Kure Beach and back. Felt a wave of calmness kind of wash over me, as I was able to get some more miles in than I thought I'd be able to when I first headed out. Debated taking off too. Run time- 1:28:42 (9:00 pace).

Thursday:  13.22 miles. Hill blasts/ repeats in CBSP then ran roads to North end and back. Took hills fairly hard, responded pretty well. Again searched for and found a little nighttime magic to get the miles in, and stay on task. Can tell though that the grind taking its toll, and a part of me is looking forward to all of it being done. But another part wants to keep going and going. Dancing on the knife blade. More cognizant of left Achilles pain on roads last several miles. Run time- 1:46:35 (8:04 pace).

Friday:  6 miles. Easy to Farm and back, some roads off Ocean Blvd. Thoughts about the race Saturday and getting miles in over the weekend. Run time- 51:43 (8:26 pace)

Saturday:  16.36 miles. 8 miles on roads from Holly Tree Elem school and back. Beasly and Kelly Road. Very enjoyable run running streets / neighborhoods had never run before. Beautiful morning too. Ran past Neva's old house. Hi 7s pace average. Then Cardinal Strut 10k. Spits: 6:16, 6:05, 5:54, 5:48, 6:01, 5:54, 5:30 (pace). Wound pace down and able to rock the PR. Lot of lactic acid after 5:47 mile. Some wind but alternated head/ tail. Cool down 2 miles with Rob, Harrison (2nd place), and Mike. Nice time, chats. Stoked about race.

Sunday:  14.3 miles. CB + mostly CBSP trails. Easy paced. Last 4+ w/ Amie, Sawyer, and Danner. Noticed left Achilles more. Saturday it did not bother me. Wanted to top out mileage over 80 mpw again, and did. Run time- 2:11:26 (9:10 pace).

Tuesday, March 6, 2018

Boston Marathon Training Week # 12

The previous week's injuries were runnable this week, and am left with just some dull pain at times on the top of my right foot. Continue to ice and monitor.

Pretty good week overall- a bit of a step down in mileage to the mid to high 70s. Which is a testament to the volume and training that I am doing that such a high number would be a step back or cut back. But as I get within 6 weeks of the Big Day, I'm thinking I should be less focused on mileage totals, and more focused on staying healthy and sharp, and putting myself in the best possible position to get there in one piece

Had a great workout during the week, which reinforced the idea that I can go sub3. Perhaps not at this specific race in Boston; but I know I have what it takes to do it somewhere, sometime.

Great run up at Umstead with some members and friends in the Wilmington Road Runners. Invaluable firsthand advice about Boston, and some excellent hill work spread out over the course of a 20 mile run.

Best thought while running this week- sometimes we have to run tens, hundreds, thousands of miles to get to the magic. Or don't leave until the miracle happens. Hmm, sounded better a few days ago!  Oh well, run on my friends.

On to week 13, and the final third of the training plan.

Week # 12 (2/26/18- 3/4/18)

Total miles= 76.7


Monday: Rest/ recovery. First day off in 15 days.

Tuesday: 9.49 miles. Easier paced miles in Carolina Beach State park and last few after dark on roads. 2+ miles back and forth on hills by Yellow blaze and Sugarloaf. Run time- 1:30:29 (8:29 pace)

Wednesday: 15 miles. WO2. 3 + 8M + 3T + 1.  Roads mostly to Fort Fisher and back in dark and some rain. Really pushed hard and steady, and felt good about the results. Getting more comfortable at the 6:40s pace. Hammered last mile to see what I had in the tank. All splits: 7:44, 7:03, 6:59, 6:42, 6:42, 6:40, 6:33, 6:45, 6:30, 6:39, 6:39, 6:34, 6:09, 8:05, 8:09. Tweaked parameters of WO a bit. Run time 1:43:49 (6:55 pace)

Thursday: 8.72 miles. CBSP til dark + CB roads. 2 miles of easy running on hill. Overall felt ok from the WO. Run time- 1:17:10 (8:51 pace)

Friday: 9 miles. CBSP + CB. Blasted 10 x yellow blaze hill. Felt pretty good, tough bursts of running. Run time- 1:15:53 (8:25 pace)

Saturday: 14.46 miles. Almost all off road, and mainly in CBSP. Very enjoyable run, as the miles just seemed to float on by. Hence the magic coming. One of those days when I felt like all the hard work was coming together into some transcendent bliss. I'll take it, no matter how transitory it may prove to be. Goal was to run for 2 hours, mix things up a bit. Run time- 2:00:04 (8:18 pace)

Sunday: 20 miles. Umstead. Ran with Brenda, Leslie, Kiera mostly. Colin, Heather, Rhonda. Brian, and Patrick. Awesome group run from hotel and back. 17 miles off road, and plenty of tough, challenging hills. Great Boston training run, and conversations about training and the race itself. Run time- 2:49:09 (8:26 pace)