Boston Marathon Training Week 10 Workouts

3/25- Long MP Run: Today was the last long workout before the taper. I have been looking at this one the entire cycle as the key workout. I am very pleased with how it went, and I am even happier to start seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Justin and I did a nice easy 3-mile warm-up then started this out on Old Church Road. It took me forever to come up with a good route, but after all was said and done, I think this was the best we could have come up with. It was another "honest route" that included hills and was an out-and-back so we had zero net elevation gain/loss. My "A" goal for the marathon is 2:45, meaning I need to run 6:19 pc. During this run I hit the turn at exactly 6:19 pc. However, the trip out was the tougher of the directions and I started feeling really good at about 6.5 miles. After the turn I ran about 6:10 pc the rest of the way to the end, leaving the overall effort at 6:15 for the 15 miles. I was very happy. Interestingly, the 3-mile cool-down wasn't too bad and there was a delicious breakfast waiting for Justin and I at the end. His workout also went very well, as he averaged 5:55 pace for the 15 miles. He is definitely going to be in the mid 2:30s at Boston. 21 days left as I write this up! On deck this week is a 3, 2, 1 tempo workout on Wednesday and about 75-78 miles for the week.

3/28: Tempo Intervals- This morning I did a 3, 2, 1 tempo workout at the track. The recovery was 3:00 after the 3-mile and 2:00 after the 2-mile. I felt surprisingly well after Sunday's workout and was definitely ready to run hard again today. The weather was pretty good for the first half, but it turned awful halfway through the 2-mile interval. My splits were 17:23 (5:47 pc), 11:32 (5:46 pc), and 5:37. Within each set my laps were even, or a tad progressive. I am pumped about how this worked out. I got 11 miles total on the morning. I think that my legs are starting to come to life...perfect timing!

Week of 3/25 - 3/31

25- 21 miles w/workout
26- AM 6 miles w/Mont (7:19 pc) / PM 5 miles (7:08 pc)
27- 8 miles (7:09 pc)
28- 11 miles w/workout
29- 0 (long work day)
30- 11 miles (7:07 pc)
31- 9 miles w/Mont (6:55 pc)

Total- 71 miles
2012 YTD- 1096 miles

Boston Marathon Training Week 9 Workouts

3/18: Marathon Pace Intervals- Today Justin and I did another big MP workout. We started with a 3-mile warm-up then did 3 x 5 miles at Goal Marathon Pace with a 1/2 mile recovery jog between each. The workout was done on Maple Ave/Plains Road. We both enjoyed the St. Patrick's day festivities last night, so it was an interesting morning when we started this run. Anyway, when the intervals got underway I thought they actually went pretty well. They were tough, but definitely manageable. My times for the repeats were 31:05, 31:21 and 31:09. The route may be a tad longer than 5 miles, but I am calling it an even 5. The route is a good honest effort with hills, wind and turns. The paces worked out to 6:13, 6:15 and 6:14, respectively. I was shooting for 6:20 to start and getting progressively faster (if I felt good) throughout the workout. I am pleased with how this went down though. Justin also ran very well. The way I see it, next Sunday is our last epic workout and everything is easier from there. A 6-mile tempo run this Wednesday and a bunch of miles to fill in the rest of the week. This is the final week that I will be hunting for miles.

Week of 3/18 - 3/24

18- 21 miles w/workout
19- 7 miles w/Mont (7:07 pc)
20- AM 8 miles w/Mont (7:01 pc) / PM 6 miles in Moody Park (7:18 pc)
21- 5 miles (7:15 pc)
22- 12 miles w/Mont (6:58 pc) very hot!!!
23- AM 5 miles w/Mont (7:15 pc) / PM 8 miles (7:20 pc)
24- 9 miles (6:57 pc)

Total- 81 miles
2012 YTD- 1025 miles

Boston Marathon Training Week 8 Workouts

3/12-Marathon Pace Workout: Today I did 20 miles with the middle 12 at Goal Marathon Pace. It was a little different trying to do a long run like this in the afternoon before work. I spent much of the evening in agony fighting with my tired legs. The course I chose started on Washington Street near Roberts Hill and came back towards town. I then went north on Rt. 120 to Red Water Brook Road. I ran that all the way to Main Street then went east to Union and then down Sullivan Street to the bottom of Airport Hill. It was a good, honest course with lots of undulation. Overall, my pace for the 12 miles was 6:10 which is a bit faster than it should have been. In total it was 12.05 miles in 74:25. I really am not ready to run a marathon at that pace yet. I think on a good day, with fresh legs and in a race I can run closer to 6:20 pace. It is awesome to do these workouts because they really show you a lot about your fitness. Over the next couple weeks I am going to have the ability to hone in on that pace a lot more. For the 15 mile version which I will be doing on 3/25 I think that I will be starting closer to 6:25 pace and cutting the pace down ever so slightly. Ideally, I would like to finish that closer to 6:20 overall pace. Back to chasing miles...only a few weeks left.

3/15-Cruise Intervals: Today's workout was 3 x 2 miles at Tempo pace with a 2:00 recovery jog between each set. I had some mileage to chase so I ended up doing a longer warm-up and cool-down to get 15 miles total on the afternoon. My plan was to run the first set at 89s laps (5:56 pc), the second set at 88s laps (5:52 pc), and the final set at 87s laps (5:48 pc). I gave myself an out and said that I would only cut the pace down if things felt good. I guess I had a good day (for me), because my splits were 11:40 (5:51 & 5:49), 11:31 (5:48 & 5:43), and 11:25 (5:45 & 5:40). Each mile in the workout was progressively faster than the one before it. I felt great the entire time, and it only got really tough during the last mile. It is very encouraging to be hitting good workouts right now. As I see it, I have another week and a half of really hard training before I start thinking about a taper! Here we go!!!

Week of 3/11 - 3/17

11- AM 6 miles w/Skip (7:47 pc) / PM 5 miles (7:12 pc)
12- 20 miles w/workout
13- 9 miles (7:16 pc)
14- AM 8 miles w/Mont (7:16 pc) / PM 7 miles (7:15 pc)
15- 15 miles w/workout
16- AM 6 miles w/Mont (7:12 pc) / PM 7 miles w/Mont (6:30 pc)
17- 8 miles (7:19 pc)

Total- 91 miles
2012 YTD- 944 miles

Boston Marathon Training Week 7 Workouts

3/5: MP workout- Today Justin and I did our first of four consecutive weekends of Marathon Pace training. Today's workout called for a warm-up followed by 2 x 6 miles at GMP w/5:00 easy jogging between them. Skipping ahead to the workout, my two sets both went very well. The loop that we chose started at Draper's Corners, went down Maple Ave and around the Ellis & Ainsworth Loops. We then climbed back up the Maple Ave hill and finished back at the Bourdon Center. There were hills, flats and turns. It is about 6.1 miles long and is a good, honest route. The first loop I covered in 37:47 (6:12 pc), and the second one I did in 37:32 (6:10 pc). My "A" goal for Boston is 2:45:xx which is about a 6:19 pace overall. Considering that I was nearly 10 seconds per mile faster makes me giddy. My legs were definitely tired by the end of the second repeat, but I was still able to push the pace down around 6:00 to close out the workout during the final mile. The cool-down was horrendous and I bonked very badly. I still ended up getting 19 total miles in for the morning, which was a great start to the week. I am pretty excited that this went off so well. Hopefully it signifies good things to come for the next few weeks. The hunt for miles is on this week.

3/7: Tempo Run- Spring is here! Today was almost 50 degrees which made this run very pleasant...kinda. The schedule called for a 6-mile tempo run, which I decided to put in the middle of a 12-miler. I did it on Maple Ave and around the Ainsworth and Ellis loops. It was a good honest route with hills, turns and wind. It was very similar to Sunday's loop, only I started by the Maple Ave School and ran towards Draper's Corners to begin the workout. I then turned up Buena Vista and went down Charlestown Road to Drapers. I headed back down Maple Ave to the junction and did the two loops. I wanted to be in the mid 5:50 range, but I would have been happy with anything under 6:00pc. I have been struggling with this notion that every workout needs to be a PR. Over the last couple years I have steadily made improvements, and I tend to get carried away with that in workouts. When it doesn't happen I get frustrated and convince myself that I am sliding backwards. The worse part is that I know its all in my head, but I can't seem to fix it. Well, over the next few weeks I have committed myself to running the appropriate paces to get me to a 2:45 marathon in Boston, and it seems to have taken some pressure off these harder runs. Anyway, back to the task at hand. I am very happy with how the run went this afternoon. I hit the first mile in about 5:55 and got to the two-mile mark in about 11:50. After that I dropped the pace down to 5:52 overall and held it there until the last mile. There was a brutal headwind as I was coming back to the junction on Plains Road and it felt like I was standing still. I still did the mile in 6:00, but it was probably closer to a 5:30 effort. Total time was 36:18 for 6.16 miles of hard running, representing a 5:53 overall pace. This whole run was done by effort and feel and I didn't stare at my watch the entire time. yaaay!!! I shook my legs out with a few miles of easy running at the end. Now its back to chasing miles for the rest of the week, and I don't have another workout scheduled until next Monday!

Week of 3/4 - 3/10

4- 19 miles w/workout
5- 9 miles (7:14 pc)
6- AM 9 miles w/Mont (7:11 pc) / PM 6 miles (7:12 pc)
7- 12 miles w/workout
8- AM 7 miles (6:50 pc) / PM 6 miles (7:00 pc)
9- 16 miles w/Skip (7:00 pc)
10- 8 miles w/Mont (7:07 pc)

Total- 92 miles
2012 YTD- 853 miles