Quest For Boston

 New years day run with the island running community.  Always a good time.  Showed up early and ran 5 with some of the die hards before everyone else showed up.  Post race brunch was a lot of fun.  Caught up with some of my old running friends that I haven't seen in a while.  My chile was a big hit and I brought home an empty pan as usual.  Lonf day tommorrow.

12.13 easy miles today with Dave.  He's been gone for 2 weeks so it was good to hook up and catch up on life.  I felt pretty good considering the 10 yesterday.  Off day tommorrow.

Managed to get a quick 5 miles in after work tonight.  It felt pretty good.  Heading over to sign up for the Boston Prep 16 miler in Derry New Hampshire in 2 weeks.  Should give me an idea of where I'm at.

Mile warm up followed by 3- 1 mile repeats at 6:30 pace.  Holding pace was tough today.  I'd have to say I would have struggled to run 6:30's for 10k.  I got through it though and am headed out to yoga soon.

4 miles on the tread mill with tired legs.  Started out with 15 minutes of stairclimber at 12 for 112 flights.  Made the move to the treadmill tough.  Followed up the workout with a half hour of stretching.

Long run with Dave for the first 9.  Threw in a 7 minute mile at 10 just to see if I could.  I felt pretty good other than the obligatory tight hip and hamstring on the left side. Averaged 8:29 for the run.

Time to get serious. Only 12 weeks till Boston and I have a long way to go.  It's nice getting in some cross training but I need to increase the mileage at the same time.  I need to make some more time in my schedule for training. Less sleep?

3 mile tempo run at 6:50.  The legs were really heavy today and I almost blew off the tempo run but decided I needed to do some tired running.  I muddled through and am glad I did.   Looking forwards to tommorrows cross training day.

Took a tumble down into a basement today at work.  I managed to brace myself pretty well but scrapped my left side up and tweeked my knee.  I think I'll be taking a couple days off of running.

Took a little test run this morning and everything went well.  Power yoga to start the day and an easy run. The knee felt o.k.. Hopefully my long run tommorrow goes as well.

11.5 easy miles with Dave and Larry.  I was wearing way to much clothing as I probably lost a good 1/2 allon to sweat.  My clothes were drenched. Yuk. I felt resonably good and feel I'll be ready to run the 16 miler next Sunday up in Derry. Still a little soar from the fall but nothing I can't deal with.

4 miles on the dreadmill tonight.  Freezing rain drove me inside and the rules of the health club forced me into a 1/2 hour limit.  5 minute warm up followed by slope and speed increase every 2.5 minutes made for more intense and less boring run.  Maxed out at 7 minute pace with a 5 degree slope and then laddered back down.  Followed that up with 3 intense miles on the life cycle.  It definetly hit different area of the thighs.

1 mile warm up and then 75 floors on the stairmaster.  1+ hour of yoga.

Tried out my new tights today.  Wow, what a difference with the insulation. I can't believe I'v been freezing my lower region or no reason.  They could be a bit warm though with anything over 30 degrees.  The run felt good except the new shoes started to bother the bottom of my  right foot  just below the toe area.  Snow moving into the area again tonight.

Took todays run as a chance to feel how 7:30's was going to feel on Sunday.  I really felt like I was working hard to maintain the pace but I got through it and it seemed to get easier as the miles went by.  Not sure how that's going to translate.

4 easy miles with Pat today just to get the blood flowing and try out my new insulated tights.  Weather is supposed to be close to zero tommorrow so warmth is a factor.  To be honest, I'm a little concerned.  I thought Pat might want to cancel out with the 10 inches of snow and cold weather but neither one of us is going to blink. :)  Icy roads will definetly force me to turn the race into a run.

Interesting race to say the least.  I woke up at 4:30 a.m. to see the thermometer sitting at 4 degrees.  So much for hoping the weather man was wrong.  Jumped in the shower to wake up and ate a bowl of oatmeal and a banana to fuel up.  Then it was off to the boat for the trip to the mainland.  The 45 minute boat ride was followed by a 2 hour drive north of the border to Derry New Hampshire and the start of the race.  Pat, Larry and I kept our eyes on the temps as we drove north and kept cringing as the temps continued to drop.  We got down to about 4 below before the sun came up and temps started creeping back up.  By the time we got to the starting line it had gone up to 14 degrees and I put freezing to death off my list of fears for the day.

     I ended up wearing a long sleeve tech shirt with a short sleeve over that and a wind shell to finish off my top.  The bottom of my outfit was just my new tights.  Topped off the whole thing with a hat and gloves and for the first time I wore a neck scarf.  The outfit was pretty on for the conditions.  The only problem I had was with my hanbds so I need to find a better solution, maybe mitten types as gloves with fingers cause me to lose feeling in the fingers.

     Now to the race itself.  I ran this race last year when I felt I was in much better shape and I took a completely different approach than this year.  In 2010 I went out nice and easy with the idea of negative splits ans that's exactly what I did. averaging 7:25 for the first half and finishing with a 7:15 pace.  Tough to do as this course is especialy hilly over the miles of 9 to 13.  This year my goal coming in was to run 7:30's for as long as I could and hopefully get under 2 hour for the day.

     Unlike last year where I was late to the start and lost a minute, this year I was on time and managed to get within 15 seconds of the starting line.  The first mile has a 200 foot elevation rise which you barely notice with the crowd and adrenaline.  I came through in 7:42 with a bit of weaving and was feeling good.  The next mile was 6:58 and pretty effortless which surprised me after Fridays temp run.  At this point I gave myself permission to just run like I was feeling.  The next 2 miles were both around 7 flat before another 300 foot rise brought me back to a 7:45. Still feeling good but I know the second half is going to be rough.  I just let myself relax ovwer the next few until mile 9 when the hills began.  They didn't let up until 12.5.  You end up with a net 400+ rise consisting of a lot of up and downs and a couple of really steep spots where the majority of the field comes to a walk.  I stayed moving throughout the entire race and managed to move by a couple people on the steep sections. My splits for 9-11 were right below the 8 minute pace and I was definetly struggling at this point.  With 3 to go I was thinking about letting up and coasting in at 8's which would have given me my 2 hour race but I decided, as is my personality to go for it.  I increased my effort and felt and heard my left foot slapping the ground a little more than I would have liked so I backed off a little to try and minumize any potential injury.  I have to remember the prize is Boston, not today's race.  My last threee were at 7's so I was thrilled. 

     Extremely cold by the end so instead of jogging back and encouraging the other runners, like I would usually do, I headed into the gym to warm up and get some dry clothes on.  My final time was a surprise as it was only about 30 seconds slower that last year. Considering my milage I'm extremely happy. I think the thing that excites me more than anything is that I ran a different kind of race today and didn't crash and burn. Some thing to think about as Boston approaches.

Final splits are as follows.

7:42

6:58

6:52

7:09

7:45

6:52

7:03

7:08

7:18

7:57

7:56

7:51

7:17

7:03

6:54

6:56

No end in sight to the bad weather. I managed to drag myself out to the gym after work tonight and at least get an easy 3.5 in the treadmill.  The legs were definetly sluggish but a surprising lack of tightness except for the calves.  More cold and precipitation expected on Saturday. I wish it would either rain or snow.  This combination is making a mess of everyhing.

Slow and easy run today.  I felt  a lot better than I did on Thursday as I ran on the thin layer of fresh new snow. Temp was in the upper 20's.  I'm feeling a bit of pain in the left hip but nothing out of the usual.  Have to get back to yoga.

lsd with Dave, Pat and Larry.  My right hip was a ittle tender to start but loosened up nicely and didn't have a problem with it after that.  It felt really good all things considered.

Tried to get out and run today after work but my legs were having none of it.  Too many miles this weekend?