Thursday, April 16, 2015

road2boston: ready to crush it




  • 20 weeks of training
  • 108 runs
  • 4 elliptical/bike sessions (injured)
  • 1 strained calf
  • 1661 kilometers (1032 miles)
  • 8539 minutes
  • All boiled down to how fast I can run 26.2 on 4-20-2015
It's been a long, cold journey and the day of reckoning is nearly upon those of us who have been battering ourselves in preparation for Boston. I'm not going to wax poetic about the virtues and challenges of the marathon, or go on about how it will call out any deficiency you have on race day. That's been done time and again. From the first day of training through the end of the race it's always about a journey of self-discovery. Those who have committed themselves to this path before know what I'm talking about. 

With all humility and respect for the unpredictability of the marathon, I'm ready to crush this one. In every way, from increased volume, to increased intensity, to better mental preparedness, to proper nutrition I've upped my game for this race. Rather than blather on about how I've made that happen this training cycle, I'll simply highlight a few training runs that fill me with confidence heading into Marathon Monday and leave it at that. These are pulled directly from my training log.

Wednesday, Feb 11:
MP Long run (111min, 26k) 20k @ MP w/last 3k sub MP - Nailed this workout. Although it wasn't without a bit of trepidation. After 5k I was thinking, "this is pretty tough." After 8k or so, I was thinking, "there's no way in hell I'm going to be able to do this." Then I intentionally shifted my thinking, focused a bit more on my breathing, and embraced the suffer. Rather than thinking about getting to the end (never a good approach), I focused on banging out each kilometer like a metronome and being efficient. I had multiple km splits in the middle of the run at 4:09-4:10, including four in a row at 4:09, and two in row at exactly 4:08:83 according the old Garmin. Sometime around 12k into the MP effort I just knew I had this workout in the bag. I'd say at least 10 of the 20 splits were below the 4:10 per km splits I'm targeting at this point for Boston (2:55:48), and my last 3k were in the 4:06-4:07 range. This was easily the most marathon specific workout I've ever done outside of a race (ATB 30k), so I'm happy with the effort, especially coming on my 6th day in a row of running, which included a 37km effort on Saturday. That said, this workout was by no means easy. It kicked my arse, and tested my mettle for sure, but I think it was the perfect amount of stimulus and encouragement I needed with 10 weeks still to go of training.

Tuesday, Mar 17:
VO2 max treadmill repeats (77min, ~16k) 6 x 4:30 @ 5k w/3min jog - I bumped each rep up by 30 seconds from the last time I did this workout. I hit my groove after the second repeat. My heart rate got up to 170bpm a couple times, but I'd say I was mostly working at about 168bpm a couple minutes into each repetition. I think is the last "true" VO2 max workout I'll do leading into Boston. Nice to finish this aspect of my training strong.

Friday, Mar 20:
Threshold run 2 x 7k w/4min jog (96min, 21.4k) - My last significant true threshold run before Boston. Slightly hilly route and sunny and relatively warm outside (~8C). I'm glad I got a tougher workout in in the heat considering Boston could be warmer. Salt dump. Overall, I felt pretty good during this workout. The very end of my first interval got hilly so it cooked me a bit. My right leg was all wonky from about 4k on during the first interval. I felt pretty good during the second interval (it was a ever so slightly slower), and probably could've kept that pace up for a while longer. The hills really seem to be kicking my ass lately, so that has me slightly concerned. (K5)
First interval: 3:59, 4, 3:57, 3:53, 3:57, 3:55, 3:57
Second interval: 3:55, 3:59, 4:03, 3:58, 4:03, 3:58, 3:57

Monday, Mar 23:
Marathon simulator run (151min, 34k) 6k easy, 20k just over MP, 5k sub-MP, 3k easy
-This workout is what everything has been leading up to, and I pretty much nailed it. I came out it with confidence in my fitness and ability to deliver a valiant effort on race day. I meant to run the entire 25k at +5sec per km over MP, but pretty much right from the start I was feeling good so I went with for the most part. I had several km at or below MP and a few times I intentionally backed it down to stay above MP. That isn't to say this was a cruise effort. I hit some rough patches, which is good, and I intentionally mapped out an undulating route to trash the legs a bit. I also made sure I hit a hilly section around the 26k mark to somewhat mimic Boston, although it comes a bit later in the race and it's tough to truly mimic how demoralizing those Newton Hills can be on tired legs. In all, the Garmin read 475ft of elevation gain and loss, which is a pretty solid effort. I really felt good 20k into the MP portion cruising along a dirt section of Forestell Road, and I naturally brought the pace down close to 4min km. I paid for it a couple km later when I hit pavement again, but I dug down an kept the turnover going somewhat. The last 7km were 4:10, 4:09, 4:06, 4:05, 4:08, 4:10, and 4:04. In total, for the 25km MP portion of the workout I was just 17 seconds over my goal marathon pace. Stoked about that, and it gives me confidence that I can out very easy (4:15 pace) in Boston and potentially save some precious energy while still being able to hit my target time.

Friday, April 3:
Tempo run (86min, 20k) 1k MP, 2k HMP, 4k subMP, 1k MP, 3k sub-MP, 2k HMP, 1k subMP
-So, in all I ran a 14k tempo run with a couple 2k sessions approaching threshold. The middle 8k were meant to be at MP, but I was felling great today just wearing shorts and a shirt (no tights, no base layer, no Buff, no gloves), so I went with it. This was probably my best "hard" effort of my entire road2boston training block. I ran in complete control and was really cruising at paces near MP. This was my last long tempo-type run and it was a great confidence booster heading into Boston. At this point the hay is in the barn and it's all about maintenance and a couple more shorter quality sessions these final two weeks. (1500s)
Splits: 4:12, 3:57, 3:57, 4:06, 4:07, 4:06, 4:05, 4:14, 4:06, 4:09, 4:08, 3:59, 3:54, 4:05 

It's time to pack.

E

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