The Long Run

Traveled to Boston.  My brother Jim picked me up at the airport and we were in downtown Boston before noon.  Went to the expo for a bit but did not stay long as we were trying to catch a game.  Had time for a Sam Adams beer sample and a pull-up contest.  Jim beat me with about 21 pull-ups to my 16, although mine were palms facing away and I'd like to think I had better form, lol.  Fortunately, I started doing pull-ups again otherwise it would've been much worse.  Pretty happy I can crank out 16 but I think I can boost that to over 20.

Saw the game with Jim and Andy, really nice day out.  Toward the end of the game we left a little early and stopped at the bar that's built into the bottom of the stadium with door outside but a big glass window looking out to the field.

Still had time to swing back by the expo and make a couple of signs.  Mine had "Go Tom!" and a couple other things, Jim had his decorated with a Buffalo Bills logo that he talke a young woman at the expo into drawing.

Then, over to the hotel in Framingham and dinner at Legal Seafoods next to the hotel.

Didn't stay up too late as I wanted to get up early enough for 50 minute run, get ready, back to the hotel, and then walk about 2 miles to the course.  From there we'd take an Uber to near the finish area.

5.58@8:59  HR   145 bpm

Ran from hotel to downtown Framingham, then a little bit parallel to train tracks before turning back.  A lot of the run was on sidewalk which can be distracting but I was able to keep a steady pace except for a couple of traffic lights.  Couple of small hills but overall a pretty easy feeling run.  

I had the sleep pattern as if I was doing the race today - wake up once every hour, look at the time then go back to sleep.

Walked to the course in plenty of time and got coffee from the shop that was doing grand opening two years ago with the dancing Scooby outside.  Then waited.

I think first racers were the fastest hand crank racers, then sometime after that were elite men, and then elite women.  My friend Claudia was racing in Duo catagory with a woman named Amy riding in the cart she was pushing.  Claudia had been injured and unable to run for a while but did what she could to train.  She came by looking strong at about an 8:10 pace.  I shouted and waved and jumped up and down to cheer as she went by.

Next came the fastest of wave 1 corral 1 and in that group we saw Tom cruising by looking strong I think about a 5:40 pace.

Once there was a break, crossed back over the street then waited for an Uber which we took to near Fenway park and the big Citgo sign.  Whole time I was refreshing the tracking app, seeing Tom hold a steady pace until a slight slow down going into the Newton hills.  Weather had warmed up and most of the cloud cover was gone.  It was one of those days if you were in shade and had a breeze it felt chilly, but no breeze and full sun it switched straight to hot.

Jim's wife's niece (who goes to Boston College) got a picture of Tom around heartbreak hill.  Once again we saw the elite men and women then the lead pack of non-elites.  Saw Tom again as he went by, he was holding on with now just a mile to go and then soon got notification of his finish time at 2:35, another great race for him despite worse weather than last few marathons.

Always fun to go to Boston marathon to race or spectate. Hopefully make it back soon as a runner.

5.07@8:07   HR  144 bpm

Today's run was basically a repeat of Saturday's run, 5 minute warmup, 20 minutes @8:19-9:19, then 10 minutes @6:19-6:39.   One more try of the carbon shoes.  This time I hit the pace for the 10 minute portion with 6:33 for one mile, then the remainder to 10 minutes at 6:31 pace.

Saturday's run was in the Hyperion Tempo but on flat ground with today's run in Hyperion Elite in Westlake Village with some rolling in the course.  Fortunately, despite the day in Boston and the flight back I was not tired but ready to go.

Back to non-carbon next workout, see if it was the shoes or if I'm making progress or maybe a little bit of both.

AM 5.68@8:51    HR 141 bpm

50 minute easy run in Westlake Village.  I played around with a few short walk breaks, seemed to help, it was 30 seconds on each 5 minute mark.  Still kept pace about the same.

PM 3.71@9:44  HR  132 bpm

Humpday Hustle run with Evan, did the loop starting near the church, heart rate just about where I wanted it to be

5.87@8:44

Sprints workout with 6 x 1 minute@6:09-6:29, then 6 x 30 seconds @5:09-5:29

No problem with the 1 minute intervals, but kept on coming in a little too slow on pace for the 30 second sprints, need more footwork, more energy

Run was in Westlake Village

Walked 3.71 miles, in and around outside of Westlake village

12.14@8:47  HR  150 bpm

Long/easy run which ended up running up the heart rate higher than expected.  Earlier in the week I had good luck with some short walking breaks, but they didn't help this time, was taking a 30 second break on each 5 minute mark.  I felt pretty good overall, just not that light feeling, shins were a litte tight at the start of the run.

Ran up and down Starkey Blvd and into the park, just past the planets.

After the run drove Stella back to Andy's apartment.