Boston Marathon Training Week 3 Workouts

2/5- TLT workout: This is probably the workout I dread the most. There are others that are faster and some that are longer, but this is just daunting from beginning to end. The only time I feel like I get a mental break is during the final cool-down. Otherwise, there is always more hard work looming ahead and it is hard to have a chipper attitude. Justin and I started out with a three-mile warm-up and did a couple strides to get loose. The plan was to do 4 x mile at tempo pace, then do 8+ miles easy, then I was planning on doing the Pigskin 5k as my second tempo run, and a couple more easy miles to cool-down. Anyway, the tempo stuff was hard. My splits were 5:41, 5:50, and 5:58. My hips and legs felt pretty tight and after the steady decline in the splits I decided to scrap the fourth repeat and save it for the race. I did another easy mile by myself then linked up with Justin for 7.5 more with him. I was in a horrible mood and we barely spoke over the next 50 minutes. I think the thought of racing a 5k with sore legs and a new found stomach ache were chiefly responsible for my poor disposition. After this part of the workout I had about 20 minutes of standing around and waiting to get my bib before the race started. Rod Viens showed up which made it more fun. I settled into third place after the first steep downhill and ran a good tempo pace most of the way. I had several opportunities to pass the second place guy, but my mind was shot and I couldn't muster the energy to make the requisite move. When I finished the time on the clock was 18:50, but it was way long by everyone's account. I had 5:56 pace on my watch, which was commensurate to the effort I gave. I shook my legs out with another 2.5 miles of easy running, which gave me a nice round 20 on the day. The workout left me feeling depleted and I passed out for a couple hours during the afternoon. I think I also lost a couple toe nails during this process. I may shoot for 100 miles this week.

2/8- Mile Repeats: I went down to Keene this afternoon for this workout. It was a nice 3-mile warm-up followed by a couple strides. The goal for the workout was 4 x mile between 5:20-5:25 each with about 3:00 rest between them. Justin Fyffe and Greg Hammett decided to join me, which was interesting because they decided to take an easier day and I guess mine got exponentially harder when this decision was made. My splits were 5:15, 5:16, and 5:24. I pulled the plug after the third because I was really starting to suffer. I ended up doing 2 x 800 in 2:37 and 2:42to finish it out. I ended up with 12 miles on the afternoon and 21 for the day which made for some pretty heavy legs. Overall, it was a great workout and I am pleased that I did what I did. I would have been happy with 4 x 5:20, but sometimes its fun to just hang it out there a little bit and let go of the controls. This was my last really hard (5k-type) workout before Boston. I am pleased with it!