sub-3 or blow-up trying

Ran 3.5 miles on the TM, raced over to pick up two of my children from track practice, and then ran another 7 miles, 6 @ 8:25 pace through trails and a slow jog back on the road to home- 10.5 miles total.

Went to the track, 40 degrees, sunny and 20mph winds.  Did 1-mile warm-up and then 4x3x2x1- all at mp with a couple minutes break between sets to get gu/water.  Here's the break down

4 miles (7:02,6:59,6:48,6:42)

3 miles (6:52,6:49,6:36)

2 miles (6:42,6:34)

1 mile (6:20)

Felt good about the workout, especially having to fight the wind and not caving in to cutting the workout short.  11 miles total. 

I was pretty sluggish today, so kept it slow, short and mostly on trails- 7.25 miles total.  Also weighed myself at the gym and have dropped 6 lbs in the last 2 1/2 weeks.  Still a little heavy for a marathon, but closer to my preferred range. 

Got outdoors and did first 2-miles on the road (8min pace), next 5-miles on trails (7:48 pace), and then jogged the last two slowly back on the road- 9 miles total.

Ran 7 slow miles with my wife- 5 of them on trails. 

Ran w/my 13-year-old a 10k this morning.  It was sunny, windy (18-20mph), and high 30's out.  Probably 200-300 runners, partly 5k and 10k.  Decided to run a firm race, but not sure if I'd go for my pr on this course (39:58).  Runners were off and a good pack of 10-12 were ahead of me.  Decided to keep things around the 6:20-25 range.  Gradual rolling hills throughout, so uphill I was keeping 6:35 pace or so and downhill 6:05-10 range.  We hit the 1.5 mark and the 5k'ers began a turnaround and I suddenly realized I was in 2nd place.  Held second place all the way through mile 4 and then 2 runners passed me.  They drug me along to the finish which by my watch I was right on target to break 40 by 10-12 seconds, but 6.2 came and the finish line was still a football field or two away.  Finished in 40 minutes flat.  Bummed a tiny bit because I would have loved to shave my pr a few seconds and had it in me.  At the same time, pleased to get a good, firm run in and keep steady pace 1 week before Boston (fastest mile was 6:07 and slowest was 6:36- it was the same stretch but opposite sides of the slope).  My 13-year-old daughter finished just under 53 minutes to place 2nd in her age group as well.  It was a nice day for the two of us and we celebrated by a lunch at subway. 

Broke out a new pair of shoes for next week's marathon- brooks pure cadence and they fit like a glove! Felt great straight out of the box. Ran on TM with them- 1 mile warm-up, 3 miles @ mp (7:08) and .25 cooldown- 4.25 total.

6.2 miles @ a nice easy pace with my wife.

1 week until Boston, so got my last 10-miler in with two 3-mile tempos mixed in. Jogged 1 and then did my first tempo (6:54,6:50,6:41), jogged 2 and then did a 2nd tempo (6:47,6:42,6:20). Had to take potty break behind a tree after mile 2 which gave me extra energy for the final firm mile. Jogged the rest of the way home for 11.5 miles total.

Ran on TM:  2.5 progressively down to 7:30 pace (slow mp) and then held for 3 miles before a .5 mile cooldown- 6 miles total. 

Cool and drizzling a bit- did 3 miles mp (7:13,7:02,6:54) and then jogged the last 2.5 slowly for 5.4 miles total.

Last run before Boston- 1 mile progressively picking up speed to mp half way in (8:17), three miles @ mp or a little faster (7:01,6:57,6:34) and then jogged the rest home- 5.4 miles total. 

6 weeks ago I thought Boston would be impossible for me to run this year due to injuries and inconsistent running schedule.  However, I've been able to average just over 10 miles per day since then, I've lost 9 pounds, and my legs feel as healthy as they've been for quite a long time.  I wish I had an extra month to prepare, but I still think I can salvage a decent run.  I'll state goals tomorrow on the blog. 

Good luck to others who will be in Boston this weekend!

It was a crazy hot day out there!  I started the first 3-4 miles just sticking with the flow of traffic and realized today would just be a survival run.  I've never run an ultra, but mentally I decided to treat this race like one.  I took stopped to take two cups of gatorade at every stop (46 cups total), dumped 2 cups of water at each stop, collected 2 bags of ice, three ice pops, 5-6 oranges, two full bottles of water from friendly by-standers, slapped hands with dozens of kids, riled up about 1/2 dozen different groups of fans by raising my arms, hugged my wife and 6 kids at mile 17, stopped once for a 2-minute bathroom break, and just kept a nice easy shuffle until the end.  Picked it up on the last half mile to see what I had left in the tank and could easily hit 6:48 pace.  So basically had a pretty awesome training run and enjoyed the marathon probably more than any of my other Boston experiences.  The fans were awesome and it was amazing that there were no major medical issues with any of the runners (especially having witnessed some of the "carnage" from mile 18 on).  I feel good about having run and can probably continue my training with very little break.  Pretty much felt fine afterwards except for a little bit of soreness in the calves.  I look forward to reading the other reports! 

Felt pretty decent today, so ran 7 miles slowly (6 of them on trails) and then did 20-minutes weights at the gym. This is my first Boston without a need for a month's worth of recovery.

Ran w/my wife 2 miles down to the track...did 8 x 400 w/1 lap jog in between (84,82,80,79,79,79,80,72) jogged 2 miles of trail and then another 2 back on the road to the house- 10 miles total. Feel good for having run a marathon on Monday. Never really had to push anything in Boston, so I feel like I've really developed a strong base to build on going into a marathon for next Fall. My hope to maintain a strong mileage base and work on speed for the next couple months before stretching out the tempo runs. May try the 2x per/week "big workouts" some of the folks on our blog swear by, starting with 10-12miles next week and building up to 2 20-mile days by the end of summer.

9 miles @ just over a 9min pace- 5 of them through trails. 

Ran another 6.2 miles- started out towards Goshen and right past Foreman school (8:57,8:35,8:29) and on my way back was feeling good, so picked it up for 2 miles (7:13,6:29) before slowing down for the final 1.2 miles.

Raining out- 6 miles on the TM.

Today is big workout #2 day.  I threw down a quick base right before supper of 7.5 miles before gettting a few mp miles and a track workout.  These "big workouts" will get progressively larger over the next few months.  My hope is to do 2 "b.w.'s" per week leading into my next marathon.  My goal for a Fall marathon is to break my pr by 10 minutes (3:06:59 to 2:56:59).  It's going to take discipline, consistency, good health, and a decent day of weather.  I'm definitely due for a good marathon day and I have a very strong base to be patient in my upcoming training.  Off to dinner!

Ate a quick dinner and within 20 minutes eating I was outdoor to beat darkness. 1st three miles were tempo (6:44,6:40,6:26) and then jogged a mile before making it to the track. The plan was to run 400's on the track, but a h.s. meet was still going on (almost 6:30p.m.). Kind of bummed but decided to switch to fartleks- track is way more comfortable, but this would toughen me up. Did 8 x 400 @ anywhere from 5:15-6:15 pace (depending on uphill or downhill). Finished up with slow jog back home- 9 miles total.

5 miles on the TM @ the gym + 15 minutes weights. 

4 more miles on TM @ home. 

Ran 5.75 miles @ 7:45 pace- 2/3 of it was on trails. 

8 miles with my wife @ just over 9min pace- 6 of them on trails. 

I'm recording this before doing the second half of my ran.  Ran a 7-mile course with my 12 and 13-year-old.  My 12-year-old has been beating my older daughter in track and field, yet this was a chance for my older one to show her there's a difference between speed and endurance.  Mile 5 my younger daughter began to "crash", so I handed my garmin to the older one and started running back and forth to keep them both within my sight.  Part way through mile 6 I caught up with the older one and saw that if she could maintain an 8-minute pace she would break an hour for 7-miles- she ended up running pretty fast and ran 7 in 59:41- a personal record by 1 minute and 20 second.  My 12-year-old made it to the end by 1:02:00 and I estimate I ran a total of 7.25 (+ .5 mile cooldown).  I'm recorded this quickly to get back out on the road with my wife and then attempt a little bit of track work.  Big day #3...got back out quickly, ran 1.25 with my wife and then broke into a 4-mile tempo (6:36,6:27,6:32,6:24)- I'd love to call them marathon pace miles, but at this stage they are still threshold, especially being miles 10-13.  Jogged another mile to the track and then did 4x400 on tired legs (81,80,81,76)...I was encouraged by how well I held myself together, especially on a windy track (20-30mph).  Jogged the last two home to finish off 18 miles for the day.  Felt good! 

Ran 9 miles, half through trails @ just under 8min for the first 7 and then a slow jog uphill against the wind for the last two. 

9 slow miles.