Base Training Week 5 Workouts

12/27: Progression Run- Once again, I was on the treadmill to pound out a progression run. This morning I chose to do 11 miles and finish down near 10k pace again. I did an easy mile in 7:15 then ran the following splits: 6:48, 6:39, 6:37, 6:30, 6:17, 6:10, 5:59, 5:51, 5:45, 5:40, 7:28. It was a good run. I did some lunges and squats on Sunday evening and my legs were still very stiff from that. They only started to loosen up about halfway through this.

12/31: Tempo Run- This morning I went over to Newport to do a charity run at the Newport Fitness Center. It was 6 total hours of running per team. My team consisted of four guys: Chris Martin, Skip, Mont and I. I did the last 80 minutes (well, at least most of it). My goal was to run several miles (6-7ish) at 1/2 marathon race pace (6:00 pc), and I got pretty close. After about a 2 mile warm-up I ran the next 5 miles at 6:00 pc, but I was having some problems. I had a very upset stomach which was making me miserable. Add to that the fact that the gym was 700 degrees with no air flow, and that I had just gotten done a 12-hour midnight shift and I had the perfect storm for a whining session. Needless to say, my workout got tubed after 30 minutes, and my total run went from 11.5 to 10 miles. I ended up having to call it quits and tag out to Mont who jogged the last 10 minutes for me. The good news: The holidays are over, and its time to train! See you next week.

Week of 12/25 - 12/31

25- 9 miles (7:02 pc)
26- 11.5 miles w/Mont (7:03 pc)
27- AM 11 mile progression run / PM 6 miles easy
28- 9 miles w/Rusty and Brandon (7:22 pc)
29- AM 8.5 miles w/Mont (7:06 pc) / PM 3.5 miles w/Rusty
30- 13.5 miles (6 solo/7.5 w/Mont) (7:07 pc)
31- 10 miles (64:30)

Total- 82 miles
2011 Year-to-Date- 3287.5 miles

Base Training Week 4 Workouts

12/20- 4-mile Tempo Run: Today's workout was on the treadmill again. It was 9 total miles with 4 of them at T pace. I am enjoying the base building phase, but frankly, I want to do more. I am having to use great restraint to stick to the plan. Anyway, I did a 3-mile warm-up with some strides then rolled into four miles at tempo pace. My splits were 5;52, 5;49, 5:49, 5:43. I felt terrific the whole time and could have kept going. I guess that is the point. The sub-5:50 pc is definitely easier now and I will be able to hold that for longer (5-6 mile) efforts.

12/22- White Hill: This is not really a workout, but it is certainly worthy of a short note. I am trying to do this loop once a week. It is 11 total miles and climbs 811 feet over the middle 4ish miles. The final climb summits White Hill, which is just under a half mile long and climbs 406' to the top. It is absolutely brutal! Last week I made it to the top in a lung searing 4:58. This week I shaved 40 seconds off that and summitted the bastard in 4:18. It is the worst 4+ minutes imagineable and when you reach the pavement it literally feels like your chest/legs are going to explode. It was a great way to tune-up for tomorrow's long run. See you next week White Hill!

Christmas Eve- Fast Finish Long Run: This morning Justin and I ran along the rail trail from his house. We ran out for 9 miles and turned around there. The trip out was just under 7:00 pc. When we got to 12 miles we stepped up the pace until we were running a little faster than my marathon pace. The goal was to do 4ish miles at the end around 6:15 pc. We ended up doing 4+ at 6:06 pace. My legs felt good and I definitely had more to give. It was reassuring. We cooled down with a couple easy miles back to the start giving us a grand total of 18 miles at 6:42 pace overall. Merry Christmas!!!

Week of 12/18 - 12/24

18- 10 miles w/Mont (6:26 pc)
19- AM 10 miles w/Mont (7:08 pc) / PM 6 miles (7:11 pc)
20- AM 7 miles w/Mont (7:10 pc) / PM 9 miles w/4 @ 5:48 pc
21- 8 miles (6:59 pc)
22- 11 miles w/White's Hill (7:04 pc)
23- 9 miles (7:00 pc)
24- 18 miles w/Mont (6:42 O/A pc)

Total- 88 miles

2012 Miles for Miracles

Dear Friends and Family,

I am proud to tell you that I will be running the 116th Boston Marathon on April 16, 2012 as a member of the Children’s Hospital Boston Marathon team. I have plenty of training ahead of me and I need your help to cross the finish line!

As you may already know, our second son, Connor, was born on December 5, 2009 at Beth Israel Medical Center in Boston, MA. Shortly after his birth, he underwent surgery at Children’s Hospital Boston to treat a rare medical condition. He was under their care for approximately two months before we were finally able to bring him home. Since his initial surgery, we have continued to travel to Children’s Hospital Boston for follow-up appointments and treatments. It is unfortunate that Connor has had such a tough start to his young life, but we take comfort in the fact that he has been cared for by some of the best medical professionals in the world.

Connor has developed a wonderful personality and is full of energy. He is active, happy, and reminds us every day about how lucky we are. We are truly indebted to the people at Children’s Hospital for all they have done for our family.

The 2012 Boston Marathon will be my sixth marathon. This past September, at the Lehigh Valley Marathon I improved my personal best time by twelve minutes, completing it in 2:56:45. Since then I have continued to train very hard and I hope to run Boston in about 2:45:00. Achieving this goal will require me to run a lot during the upcoming winter. However, my past experience of running on the Miles for Miracles Team proved that every donation I received made a huge impact on my motivation to brave the elements and put in the hard work.

Please consider making a pledge towards my run and help our family say thank you to the great people at Children’s Hospital. My goal is to raise $1,000 towards this awesome cause. Don’t forget, charitable donations are tax deductible! To make an online donation you simply click on the link at the right side of this page and it will take you directly to our donation page. I will continue to update my online training log and you can watch my training progress each week leading up to the race.

Thank you for your generosity,

Brent, Sara, Matthew and Connor Wilmot

Base Training Week 3 Workouts

12/11- Long & Hard: Today the plan was to run to Rusty's house from mine. I kinda wanted to run the last few miles around GMP (6:20ish). I got out quick from the start and just never really backed off. I really worked on just running the terrain early on and not pushing the pace. I committed to running a good rhythm up the hills and staying in the same effort range. I ran the 4th and 5th miles (both uphill) in 6:52 and 6:56, respectively. I then dropped back to 6:48 (up/flat) for the next mile. After that my next 9 miles were: 6:33, 6:01, 6:27, 6:20, 6:25, 6:19, 6:19, 6:22, and 6:14. I did a nice easy 2-mile cool-down and ended up at just over 17miles to Rusty's front door. The first 15 miles were done in 1:37:30, exactly 6:30 pace. I am pleased with this, and it was totally unplanned. I am going to re-think my workouts for the rest of the week, but I am toiling with the idea of a hill workout on Thursday. I will probably scrap the progression run until next week. Now, time for some shake-outs and mileage chasing until then.

12/14- Progression Run (Treadmill): I ran inside this afternoon because fatherly responsibilites obligated it. A 10-mile progression run was on the agenda, which I was excited to do. I really enjoy this workout because your body builds into the faster pace and it never really shocks the system too bad. Anyway, the way I prefer is to do a 1-mile warm-up, followed by 8 progressive miles, and finishing with an easy shake-out mile at the end. Today, I decided to work down to 10k pace (5:38 pc). I didn't really find the need to go all the way to 5k pace (5:24 pc) right now, because that is so far away from what I am training for at the moment. The run went great, and I felt pretty comfortable the whole time. The final mile was a bit of a push, but I certainly didn't feel out of control at any point. I finished the 10 miles in a total time of 63:22, which represented a 6:20 overall pace (Goal marathon pace interestingly!!!). Here were my splits: 7:12, 6:39, 6:29, 6:17, 6:06, 5:59, 5:52, 5:47, 5:37, 7:19. Back to chasing miles. Maybe some hills on Friday, but it is too soon to tell.

Week of 12/11 - 12/17

11- 17 miles w/15 @ 6:30 pc avg.
12- AM 4 miles (7:22 pc) / PM 6 miles (7:15 pc)
13- 9 miles w/Mont (7:13 pc)
14- AM 6 miles (7:20 pc) / PM 10 mile progression run (63:20)
15- 7 miles (7:12 pc)
16- AM 5 miles (7:15 pc) / PM 11 miles w/ lots o' hills (7:30 pc)
17- 10 miles (6:59 pc)

Total- 85 miles

Base Training Week 2 Workouts

12/6- Tempo Run: This morning I did an 11 miler w/20:00 at tempo pace. I wanted to do a little longer, but once I got out there I didn't have the energy. I am still getting used to my new work schedule and I have been exhausted lately. Anyway, the first 2 ish miles of this run are on Sugar River Drive/Chandler Mills Road. I did the first mile (uphill) in 5:51. When I turned onto the trail I was at 5:48 overall pace. The next 8-10 minutes or so turned quite ugly. The trail was wet and soft and I couldn't get anything back from the ground. I ended up bagging it at 20:00 with 3.4 miles and 5:54 overall pace to show for it. A decent base training workout. I am not putting too much emphasis on any of these.

12/9- Hills: Tonight Rusty, Mont and I hit a hill workout on Leslie Ave. My best guess based on the Garmin is that this hill is somewhere between 10 and 15% grade. The hill is almost exactly 400m, so we added a little bit of flat running at the top to make it perfect. This was a tough workout, but it is nice to do these different types of workouts that we don't get to during the rest of the year. I am liking this phase right now. Here were my splits: 96, 97, 96, 95, 95, 97, 99, 95. The 6th and 7th repeat were very tough for me. On the final one, Justin started a few seconds behind me and chased me up the hill. We both ran our fastest rep on that one. Gotta love friendly competition.

Week of 12/4 - 12/10

4- 17 miles w/Mont & Skip (6:52 pc)
5- 8 miles (7:06 pc)
6- AM 11 miles w/20:00 @ T pc / PM 5 miles (7:24 pc)
7- 7 miles (7:17 pc)
8- 10 miles (7:06 pc)
9- AM 6 miles (7:09 pc) / PM 10 miles w/hill workout
10- 11 miles (7:06 pc)

Total- 85 miles

Base Training Week 1 Workouts

11/29- Tempo Run: Today I did an 11 miler in Newport with 4 miles at tempo pace (5:45) along Route 10. I started at the Oak Street/Rt. 10 intersection and went north for two miles. The first two miles I covered in about 11:27, the final two miles I probably did closer to 11:33. I thought that I would have been a little quicker on the back half because it is "uphill" on the way out and "downhill" on the way back. I went a little too hard on the run and should have probably been closer to 5:50 pace overall. The last mile was pretty tough and I wouldn't have wanted to do much more than I did.

12/2- Hill Repeats: Today Mont, Rusty and I linked up and did some hill bangs at Pine Hill Mobile Home Park in Claremont. It was about a 3-mile warm-up to get to the hill from the RR Junction where we parked our cars. I had previously measured the hill and found it to be exactly 600 meters from the bottom to the top. The hill goes up for about 200m, then it levels off for about 200m, and climbs another 200m to the finish. It was a pretty interesting workout. The flat 200 in the middle of the rep really puts a different spin on things. My goal was to run them hard and stay consistent. For the most part, I did just that. I was a few seconds slower towards the end, but overall they were pretty close. Here is what I got

2:26
2:26
2:27
2:31
2:31
2:31

10.5 miles overall on the afternoon with 3600m (2.25 mi) at a hard pace. Of those 3600m, 2400 (1.5 mi) were uphill. It was nice to round out base training week I with this workout. There will be many more to follow over the next seven weeks.