Back to Boston Redux

My best (and second fastest) marathon started off with frost on the grass. Wore a throwaway hoodie and tossed it after I warmed up and did the rest in shorts and a tech T. It was fabulous. I was generating so much body heat that I never felt cold.

That said, and Murphy's Law being what is is, it'll probably end up being warm.

Anyway, good luck on the recovery run, Michele. Embrace the slow.

Good tempo run on Thursday night - 5 miles dropping from 8:24 to 7:35 with 2 miles warm up and 1 mile cool down (it started to rain a bit harder).  It felt good even with speed earlier in the week and once we had to begin to drop the pace, I ran alone which is good for mental training too.  Hilly 16 miler today done as a fast finish.  Last 6 were at marathon effort and last 4 were slightly below marathon pace - the reason for this effort to pace change was the terrain as the first 2 miles of the loop were uphill and the last 4 were basically down with only one significant climb at the end/start of the 6th mile.

Friend from Philly is here visiting.  She is running her first Boston this year - planning 8 tomorrow as part of her longer run that she can do with the Cleveland group.

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:Good tempo run on Thursday night - 5 miles dropping from 8:24 to 7:35 with 2 miles warm up and 1 mile cool down (it started to rain a bit harder).  

 I can only dream of a tempo run like that...I guess that's the difference between a very successful lifelong runner and a converted shot putter.

Good today Michele! Glad to see that you are handling the faster pace well...I think you are ready!

Decent 1st week of taper beginning with a good speed session on Tuesday (2k @ 7:40 pace, 1 mile @ 7:25, 1K @ 7:10 pace, and a 3:24 800m), followed by an easy 5 mile recovery run on Wednesday and a solid tempo run (3 miles in the middle at tempo pace 0 7:49, 7:47, 7:38) on Thursday.  Thursday it pretty much rained all day with thunder, etc. as a warm front rolled through.  It was actually 65F and about 99% humidity for the run - that was fun.

Saturday was our last double digit run with a hilly 10 miler down in Hinckley.  I ran with (behind) the three other women from the group who are also doing Boston. They are much faster than I normally although two of them ran 3:42 and 3:48 at Boston last year (both ran 3:25 at Columbus) and I ran 3:51, so you never know -lol.  I think that they have both done 100 miles over the Hinckley hills this year though so I expect to see great races from them.  Shoot, I did 60 miles over those hills plus a hilly race in Atlanta (13.1 miles) and NYC and the bridges in the Bahamas.  I seem to have recovered from my melt down at the beginning of February and I feel rested and ready, I think.  Ran an easy 6 this morning with a good hill climb at the end and felt good with only slightly heavy legs.  I did run the 10 yesterday in 1:25:38 which is the fastest 10 miles that I have run there since 2004 and I really wasn't trying to do that.  My goal was to run that last 4 at near MP, well, MP effort since there is quite a climb from 6.5 to 8 miles, and I accomplished that.  My slowest miles were the first two (which are uphill as well).  https://www.strava.com/activities/283255170

Don't think I adjust my MP any however and I'll stick with the 8:40ish.  I am so going to try better at a successful cut down at Boston this year as I have nothing to lose - so my strategy is to run 9-9:05 for the first 2 miles, then 8:50-8:55 for the next 2, then 8:40-8:45 and settle in.  We will see as those downhill miles are tough to slow down on.  That is my goal however, and I have done it at Big Sur, St. George, Ridge to Bridge and other races in the past where the beginning miles were easy or downhill.

So, what kind of a hill is Hinckley?  Is it good for length or uphilliness or both? 

I'll be looking forward to reading about the days leading up to yet another Boston, ma'am.

Sure looks like you're ready to go!

ounce wrote:So, what kind of a hill is Hinckley?  Is it good for length or uphilliness or both? 

I'll be looking forward to reading about the days leading up to yet another Boston, ma'am.

Kind  of both - does this strava link work?

https://www.strava.com/activities/283255170

I've got a good feeling about your Boston race this year, Michele. Here's hoping the weather cooperates.

Nice going, Miche1e!!!  You nosed out Nick! 

Great work, Michele! I'm eager to read your report!

So a bit less than a week after Boston, I raced a half marathon.  My original plan was to pace a friend through the first 7 or so and drop out at a relay exchange, but I felt so good after Boston (you can tell that I didn't push much on Monday), that I decided to just see how it would go once I got to 7. The start was quite crowded with the half and full starting together (and remaining together until mile 9) and I lost my friend in the 2nd mile.  I tucked in behind the 1:47 pacer who was going a bit too fast and just moved along.  Felt good, pushed through, and decided to see how long it would last. It lasted until 13.1 miles.  My HR was in the right zone and I finished 3rd in my AG feeling very good even sprinting the last half mile.  Pretty even splits all along the course.

https://www.strava.com/activities/293146947

Now if I could only figure out how to run a marathon feeling that good.  I know it is 13.1 more miles, but.....

Nicely done! 13.1 is a good distance for you.

That would be an impressive run any day but the week after Boston!  Nice!

Been very lax on the blog front, but I haven't really been doing too much.  Yes, I've been running putting in about 40 mpw but its really been all about recovery and heat acclimation.  I did run the Cleveland Half Marathon pacing two women and then walked 5.2 miles of the full with a friend who was really suffering in the heat.  I knew that he had heat stroke, but there was no medical in that entire 5 miles and I figure if I kept him moving, talking, laughing, etc. he'd be ok.  I got him into the med tent after we crossed the finish line only to find he had a temp of 105F and he spent the next few minutes sitting in ice water in a baby pool.  

I'm going to pace a couple of half marathons in the local area this summer with the first one being on June 7th.  I'm a bit concerned about its hilly profile and heat acclimation, but it certainly isn't worse than any hilly half marathon that I've run in Georgia. I just need to be smart in the heat so I dug out my neck cooler to be sure I had it to wear.  The 2nd one is on August 23rd and it is flat, flat, flat.  If it wasn't in late August, it would indeed be a PR course - as (did I mention) it is flat, flat, flat with a slight downhill from mile 8-10.  The map below is for the race on June 7th.  There is certainly as much down as up and the long uphill is only 2.3%.  I'm thinking that 2 hrs isn't a stretch.  I did run 2 hrs easily in Cleveland even in the first blast of summer that we had and I felt fine - others died, but I was more than comfortable and could have run faster.  In fact, the woman that I paced actually fell off in the last 2 miles which we uphill on that course.  

http://www.mapmyrun.com/us/chesterland-oh/lake-health-half-marathon-route-213189891

As for the fall, I am focusing on the Columbus Marathon on October 19th with NY as my back up.  I m already registered for NY as I do like the course and I have run well on it.  However, Columbus is supposed to be fast and I'd really like to see if I can get fit enough to run a "PR" for my early 50s before I can't anymore.  I'm hoping to be close to 3:45 and maybe even edge towards 3:40.  It's not impossible, but I do need to look at my training ans tailor it better.  One mistake that I made after NY last year and leading into Boston this year (even with my crash and burn) was once again running my long runs too fast and therefore, not really allowing myself time to recover properly.  Like most masters runners who ran at a higher level when younger (and no, I was not near elite, but I was quicker), I tend to still run most mileage too fast.  Still.  I know I have slowed done, but again, I ran those long runs quick again once I felt fit.  I know, I know - always a work in progress.

You need somebody slower to pace you, like a bulldog.  We haven't hit 90 degrees this year, which is pretty unheard of in these parts.  I think we'll get there. 

Houston might be a fast course for you and I think you'd get a guaranteed entry for running under 4 hours until May 31 (Sunday).  And you might know somebody there.  January 17 and I'll personally guarantee that it won't be 90 degrees, that day!

You've been pushing Houston for years, Ounce.  Maybe 2017 - maybe.

So I switched to the 2:10 group for Sunday's pacing assignment as the guy who had 2:10 is faster than I and it is a hilly course.  It could also be hot like it was this past Saturday and I don't want to do my pace group a disservice.  

I've decided to go back to some basics this summer with my training so as not to "overdo" like I did earlier this year.  I'm going to take Mondays off (I have a meeting every Monday morning so this works best) and then use Friday mornings for an early morning ride or other form of xtraining if the weather is bad for cycling.  We can get those nasty t-storms in the summer off the lake(s).  I can substitute kayaking as a form of xtraining as well.  I'm also going to work on slowing down my long runs again.  It helps that in the summer I often end up running long runs by myself and that it is hilly (and warm, but you do get used to that).  I am, of course, that Masters runner who is guilty of running too fast most of the time.  I know that you do need to run slow to race fast, and it has worked for me, but like many of us, I get caught up in the faster running.  I am so guilty of leaving my race in training although I have really gotten better in recent years, but I still cooked myself in Jan/Feb of this past year as I never really let down after NY in November.

Any way, the summer is long, there are still 20+ wks to Columbus and as usual, I am still an experiment of one.

Interesting that you also have to watch your pace on long runs...I would have thought that was a novice runner's problem but I guess we're all a bit to competitive sometimes. 

Hope the pacing goes well on Sunday.

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:You've been pushing Houston for years, Ounce.  Maybe 2017 - maybe.

Alright.  I'll shut up.  But if your daughter goes to the Metroplex for her teaching career, the Cowtown Marathon is not flat, so you should like it and it's the last Saturday in February, I think.

She has not yet ruled out Texas, but is seriously thinking of Columbus (OH) - weird, I know.

It sounds like you've got a good plan for the summer, Michele. I like the idea of working in some other activity, if only to help give your ambitions/expectations something to focus on other than racking up the running miles.

I think we all struggle with wanting to go faster than we should. I got a rude shock when I did a VO2max test and discovered that my "low HR" target for years was actually flirting with my lactate threshold. Oops. Maybe that's why I tended to blow up so spectacularly in marathons...

Anyway, have you ever used a HR monitor? Even if you don't get all pseudo-scientific with it, a monitor can be a good way to remind yourself to ease back on the throttle.

Since C-Bus training started this week, I'm reminded by Nick to shut down this blog, so I am.