April 28, 2013

Back on my feet: Training for April 16 through 28th

After Boston I took my planned four days off. Nothing except homework during that time period. Fun.  Pleased with how I felt after a PR, legs were stiff up until Wednesday this past week and things starting to come around really nicely. Signed up for Fredericton Marathon on May 2th with Ty and looks like i'll run Bay of Fundy Marathon on June 23rd also if everything works out. If i complete these races in the next couple of months that would get me Marathon Maniac status at the minimum level of 3 marathons in a 90 day period. Didn't think I would do anything like that at this point in my life. Looks like there's lots in store for this summer. Adventure races, relay races, some planned long trail runs with friends. Can't wait!

Sat-4/20: 4 easy in the forest. quads and hamstrings soar and tired. ran with the dog.
Sun-4/21: 5 easy. Quads still soar but i'm starting to feel like i know how to run again. such an odd feeling.
Mon-4/22: 5 easy. still the quads.
Tue: 8 moderate. explored some new trail at the Bangor City Forest. Found this great website that lists all of the trails in this area. At some point I want to get a super long run in on some of them. I'd think getting a group together for something like this would be sweet as well.
Wed: 6.3 easy met up with Erik M. He wants to steal me fro the Maineiacs team.  I'm excited for Cabbot
Thurs: 8 moderate. explored some trail off of the River trail here in Orono.
Fri: AM-8.3  Again at the Bangor City forest. Explored more trails. I think i can run from my house. spend 1.5miles on road and run all the way to Bangor on trails. Gotta do that someday as well. PM-5.5 miles. Two loops of Beech Hill. I miss running hills like this.

Sat: PM: 2.3 easy with a bunch of Crow's at 3Crow Resteraunt and Bar. Fun time. Wasn't expecting 20+ people to show up! Peter walked in 20 minutes later after i had finished a beer and said he had covered most of the Camden Hills and he wanted to get Ragged Mountain in. I was all for it but just had ordered another beer. Needless to say the first 2 miles up Ragged were a bit bumpy, but my head cleared on the way down thankfully. PM: 4.6 miles


Sun: 5 miles easy. legs soar. explored some more trails quickly in Owls Head.

Total: 53 miles this week.
155.5 miles for April
822.7 miles year to date

Quite the week for sure. Kept things interesting by exploring lots of trails and new places. Gotta keep things lively and moving about. Lots of great things happening this summer, so hard to decide. Take care till next time!

April 18, 2013

Boston Marathon 2013: Mind blowing.

It's taken some time for me to piece all the events that happened pre and post race. The clash of adrenaline pumping through my veins and total devastation as I sat a Wendy in Wellesley was heartbreaking.

As most people that afternoon myself and Brittany both went to the phones and social media sites make sure our friends who were in town were safe, and to let our families know we were safe. Utter disbelief over the next 5 hours as family, friends, and even our landlord called, text and messaged us to make sure we were ok. Thank-you to everyone.

I'm not sure really where to start, but I think in order to show these B*stards that we (our nation)  won't stand for this incredibly selfish act, we need ponder and reflect on our achievements from this day.

Supporting the families affected by this horrific event and  events such as the one in Texas should always be a reminder to everyone that this world isn't perfect, but by picking each other up during hard times we can stand stronger than ever before.

I'll do my best to recall the achievements of Monday Morning and leave the afternoon where it belongs.

Pre-race (morning)

I previously posted  goals going into Boston this year. I felt like it was achievable but I also didn't want to get stuck in a similar position like last year where I ran 3:29. I decided to play it safe and run at least the first couple of miles, if not more with a group that included Ty, and Reno who were planning on 2:50-2:55 pace. Seemed right in the ball-park for me.

The night before as we finished dinner, Ty invited me to join him at Reno's friends house where we could stay warm have bathrooms without lines a mile long and just relax only 2 blocks from the start. How sweet that was indeed. 9:30am rolls on by and Gary Allen passes by. Ty and I don't waste a moment and flag him down. He goes on to tell us he was just heading down to the start line to wish Shalane Flanagan good luck. He just gets to roam around the elite wave just like he was one of them, how cool is that.

Race Time

Starting in corral 3 instead of corral 2 I was thinking I might be able to take it out a little slower, how wrong I was.
Mile 1- 6:38: Ok a little fast, back it off. Stay controlled, this could make or break it. Reno and his group quickly disappeared in the crowd. Ty and I had found Matt and Tim and we non-verbally decided to stick together.


Miles 2-7: Ty and I kept running together. Took my first Honey Stinger at 6. The pace felt controlled but it should have because of the net downhill. We were rolling off 6:20's like nothing. Dam!

Miles 7-13: Lost Ty around 9 maybe 10 miles in. Tim still around but he was looking good and I soon began to fade averaging 6:30's. Great...First half in 1:24:59, little fast. I didn't see this split and really didn't pay attention to any split during the race except the first mile.

Miles 13-20: I was by myself at this point. Tim was within grasp through 16 miles than got away from me. I was feeling tired by 15  but didn't fade all that much still consistently in high 6:20's. The hills at 17 and 18 were a bit nerve racking as I did slow down and I was afraid that might do me in.

Miles 21, 22, 23 - 6:49, 6:32, 6:36: I could have been more aggressive on heart break hill but at this point I almost wanted it to be over with. The crowds were starting to get on my nerves, dodging other runners was beginning to be a pain in the ass and a real nuisance at water stops. Somewhere during the long downhill I passed Marathon-Junkie and thought to myself, "well dam I should say something, he looks like he's in pain."I was too shy and just kept on pushing ahead. I do remember this photo he posted the night before. He still went on to run really well with a 2:55. Finally the CITGO sign appears in the distance and it's the only god-dam thing i see. Tunnel vision has set in. Legs still feeling tired but no crash.

Mile 24 and 25 - 6:39, 6:42: I'm passing more people than people passing me. That's a good sign, but i'm starting to slow and really starting to worry if the small cramps in my calves and hamstrings are going to blow up on me. They never do.

Mile 26.2: 6:34 + some (my garmin had another .44 at 5:58 pace): Going under the overpass and coming up the last little climb felt tough, but passing some more people felt great. I kept pushing. At this point you might want to skip to the end. Fair Warning;  As I made the turn onto Hereford Street right before the final stretch onto Boylston. I passed a man who has Sh*t his pants. Aaarrg, the smell was horrible even from a 100 feet away. Running down his legs, I chuckled and than pushed hard at that point and just wanted to get past him. Thank you dude who ever you were you made me work just a bit harder.

Although Official results haven't come out yet I ran a 2:52:13 which is 1:50 personal best. Amidst all of this
chaos, triumphs and accomplishments happened. The events that unfolded over the hours afterwards were terrible and ruined the day for many. By letting these terrorist, terrorize and take away a celebratory holiday such as Patriots day and all of our hard work we aren't gaining anything. Let us celebrate our accomplishments and come back stronger than ever.

April 12, 2013

ATT Athlete Alert- Boston Marathon

ATT Athlete Alert:

So you wanna follow me race day. You have a couple of options.
1. Follow and watch the race Live on Universal Sports on TV.
2. Watch online via Baa.com
3. Sign up for ATT Athlete alert Via the link above.

My bib number is 1647.

Know someone else running? You can search the entrants list (yes all 26,000+ runners) here.

April 5, 2013

Thoughts about Boston 2013



"Few things in life match the thrill of a marathon." - Fred Lebow:


With just 9 days until Boston Marathon 2013 I'm starting to get jittery. It's a wonderful feeling. All this hard work over the last 3 month comes down to just 3 hours of running.


Everything hasn't gone perfectly during this cycle, but what cycle can be perfect with so many other things going on in life. School, work, life events and such all get in the way and it gets to a point where you can't get in your workout and must make a sacrifice Is this going to effect one race or tomorrow's run? No, and it won't effect the whole cycle either as runners we learn to set aside that feeling that we've missed something and move on to the the next day.


Last year at this time I had covered 876 miles! Along with numerous 20 milers both solo and with great friends week after week, and really strong workouts. Do i feel less prepared this year, compared to last year? NO!


Yes, last year I set a half-marathon PR, while this year didn't run quite as well on a different course. So far this year I've covered only 700 miles, which is by far the second most I've covered in a 6 month period. I ran a really strong 5k just a couple weeks back, and have had some really great workouts such as a 5 mile tempo, 2x3.5 mile tempo and some marathon pace work over hilly courses.


It was a rough start to 2013 with my right knee problems, but after spending time with Gary, ok 21 miles, I got strong once again pretty fast. I started off with only 8.8 miles in the first week of January, quickly building the next 3 weeks to 40 miles. From there I haven't looked back much. I'm well on my way to 2500 miles for this year by averaging 52.1 miles/week or 7.4 miles/day.


So what does Boston 2013 hold for me?
Goals:


Based on the half-marathon, 5k and some calculators kicking around the internet and a semi-conservative approach to the marathon I should be able to run under 2:54 which is my PR. I think this is totally reasonable. During last years event I never felt the course was all that hard. Yes the heat set me back quite a bit, but i believe that course is not as tough as people say. You just need to run smart, wicked smaaht guy.






I go into each marathon with a set of goals. 1. Always finish. Never start something your not sure you can finish. 2. Sub 3 hour marathon. This would be year number 4 for me. 3. PR. Something under 2:54 would be spectacular. 4. 2:50 There it's stated. I've gone back and forth with 2:55 and 2:50 now for some weeks and just couldn't hold a solid goal. I've decided it's doable and it's possible. If i start to feel bad after the first 10 miles I'll back off a little, but the goals written down and now big things await!






Good luck to everyone running The Boston Marathon this year, so far so good on the weather!

April 3, 2013

Training: 3/25 through 3/31 2013

A solid final week to training. Some would say the Hay's in the barn. From past years I've taken these next two weeks very easy with less than ideal running involved. I will complete the 100 day challenge in 10 days so that should keep me going up until next week. Feeling ready and already nervous. So far weather is looking promising. More on that in the middle of next week probably.

Monday: 7mi easy. Some soreness from the back-to-back long run's last weekend. Pleased how i feel at this point.
Tuesday: 9 miles easy w/ strides over the last 2 miles.
Wednesday: 8 miles easy and 2.4 miles walking. Had a workout planned today but the phone died at school, no communication with the mechanic where the car was left me stranded. Thank-goodness from friends who work downtown.
Thursday: 2mi easy, 2x3.5 tempo, 6x30sec strides, 2.5 easy. Excellent workout. Very pleased with my fitness at this point and pleasantly surprised that I could handle this. Felt great on the warm up. The goal was to hit 6:05's for the tempo portion. First 3.5 in 20:59 (6:00 min avg), .75 recovery, second 3.5 in 20:23 (5:50 min avg). This was a big workout for me. Originally i had it as a full 7 mile tempo but I wanted to break it up and get a little more speed in. The strides afterwards were also for speed which I need (or at least I think so).
Friday: 5 hours in a woodlot working with a friend. getting lost only once. walking nearly 5 miles did me in for the day. Considering i planned on racing tomorrow I didn't need much more.
Saturday: 3.7 easy warm up. 3.03 (by the Garmin) (5K) in 16:33~!! 3.3 easy warm down. Felt great during the warm up and just let things fall together as I ran the course. Let me tell you first off this was very flat with some downhill after 1.5 that helped push me just a tad faster that i thought i could run. Split: 5:31, 5:28, 5:25, 0:07 (.03). 1st place win. I think it equates to just below sub 17 5k. Which i can be extremely happy with as i haven't hit that mark since 2009. Results, Running Log.
Sunday:  14 miles medium-long run. Legs again feeling great. First 7 miles with the dog. After dropping him off I kept the pace consistently under 6:50. Over the last three miles i threw in strides for 45-60 seconds.

Like i said excellent weekend. Taper or sharpening time! Whatever floats your boat.

Total: 68.8 miles with 2 core sessions.
Days in the Streak: 90 days ( surpassed my old days personal record, but 100 miles less than last year)
Days till Boston: 15 days