In 24 hours from when I am typing this I will be crossing the start line of the Boston Marathon. Almost go time.
Been struggling with the race plan as far as pace and goals all week. My left ankle and achilles have been flared up all week. This is not new by any means, I have been dealing with this on and off since last spring before Leadman. Just bad timing with it flaring up this week. So with that said the plan is to go out at about 1:22 to 1:25 for the first 13.1 miles and then see what the second half gives me. If the achilles is barking hard at me then I will pull up and enjoy the jog into the finish line and chug a few beers along the route. If all systems are a go and everything feels ok then it is on for time.
Ran a quick report from the log to see year to date on the training, hopefully it is enough.
Some photos I have taken the past couple of days down in Dartmouth MA where and I am staying with my college roommate Shawn along with a few photos from Newport RI where he took me yesterday to hang out. Kind of nice not to be in the craziness of the city.
Think this is a great theme song for me leading into Boston this year considering everything that is has happened the past 4 to 5 months. It came on the radio as I was driving home from my last long run today before the taper and just reminded me of everything I had to push through leading up to this upcoming adventure. I could have easily just scrapped the whole thing and wallowed in self pity but that is not who I am and I'm very lucky to have good friends that remind me of that when it is needed. This song just seemed right in today's reflections.
Anyways onto the reason for this post, trying to come up with a race plan/goal. When I signed up for Boston the whole goal was to just break 3 hours, yes I used the word "just" and you will see why here in a second. Based on workouts the past month or so and input from the GOMs, I've had seed planted in my head that maybe I am short changing myself a bit like I did last year if I am only shooting for a 2:59. To me 2:59 is hard enough to wrap my mind around considering my marathon PR right now is 3:11 yet alone 2:50 which is the time the discussion has been around. But based on a long run I did on last weekend (3/27) where on tired/sore legs from running/lifting all week I did 1 mile warmup/ 18 at marathon effort/ 1 mile cooldown so 20 miles total and ended up with a 6:33 average pace including the warmup/cooldown in that average (Strava data). That has me wondering, am I short changing myself? Are the GOMs right? My biggest fear is going out to fast for my fitness and slogging in over 3 hours. That fear was reaffirmed on today's last long run where I was supposed to do a "Steady" 20 miles. In my mind a "Steady" pace would have been 7 minute miles or so but my average was only 7:26 (Strava data), yes I did get in 1500 feet of vertical, yes it was hotter today than I am used to, and yes it has been a big week for me mileage wise (just shy of 80) with throwing in a lot of intensity work but those are all just excuses in my mind. It could be hot on race day, it is a hilly course, yadda yadda yadda... excuses.
So with all that rambling you can see where my head is right now, swimming in BS. I could go on and on and on but I will spare you that internal talk that I am having with myself right now. At least the work is done and now I have two weeks to get my head straight, come up with a pacing/fueling plan, and maybe not feel so lethargic every time I run or workout. Hopefully I will turn the corner this week sometime. At least I am really looking forward to the trip and seeing my college roommate Shawn and his family. No matter what happens on race day it is going to be a fun and exciting weekend.
That is it for now, at least until I come up with my strategy. Then I will be back. Until then, as Donald always says, Peace!
Not quite the month I was shooting for leading up to Boston but I will take it. I was hoping to be more in the range of 340ish miles instead rolled in at just under 300. There was 4 complete days off from running that were not planned and a few days where I shortened the run that I felt that I needed to otherwise I would have easily been over 340. Oh well, better to come out with a little less mileage uninjured instead of hurt which I was flirting with a few times. I had a 3 scares this month, a shoulder from a hard fall at the Salida Marathon, lower back from deadlifting, and currently struggling with either a bruised heel or plantar (can't tell which it is). Also been struggling with energy levels and motivation in general. So this has made me become a lot more conservative over the past month than I would have liked. Think it is good that the taper is almost here.
One thing I was thinking about was even with my lack of doing vertical and trail running the past few months I was able to have what I thought was a very successful race at the Salida Marathon which is a trail race with almost 4000ft of climb and mostly single track. Maybe just doing quality running and not just putting in the miles on the trail is the way to go. This will require a little bit of a shift in my thinking after Boston as I try and figure out the best way to get ready for Bighorn 100 in June. Do I keep up with the quality runs? Scrap the quality and just focus on vertical and trails? Do a mixture of both? Lots to think about, one thing for sure, the bike has to come back into the mix more. Lucho has my saddle right now doing some custom leather work on it so I am excited to see what the final product is and get that back.
Oh got this in the mail this past week also. Maybe he is not such a douche after all. Thanks bud.
