Rhett

Ab and Core work

20 minutes stair speed intervals

30 minutes elliptical

It's April!  Boston is this month!  I'm getting pumped!

Wow, today was my last long run before Boston.  I can't believe it.  I decided to do 16 miles and since I was feeling good to just run and have fun with it, not worry about splits, and just keep the effort at the hard end of easy.  I did just that on a super hilly course.  When all was said and done, and I went back and looked at my splits, I was surprised at how fast I ran.  I ended up doing 6 of the 16 miles at or faster than mp, but they were gravitationally aided so I'll still call them easy miles.

Total run 16 miles, 1:54:11, AP 7:08

Legs felt great and it was fun to let loose and run a bit.  My longest run left on the schedule will be next Saturday when I pace the Havasu Half Marathon. 

1 hour stationary bike

This was probably my last session on the bike before Boston.  I'm counting all my lasts. :)

Had a nice easy tempo run this morning.  TM 1%

3 miles @ 7:30

3 miles @ 6:18

3 miles @ 7:30

Total run 9 miles 1:03:54

Two weeks from right now I should be coming down the back side of Heartbreak Hill!!!!!!

Abs and core work

30 minutes elliptical

20 minutes stair speed intervals

Today was probably my last day of stairs before Boston.  I sure felt strong on the stairs today though.  I guess the taper is already kicking in.

I wanted to get in some easy speed work today so I did my on/off workout but slowed the fast pace down to about 5K pace (10mph) and picked up the slow pace to 7.5 mph.

After a 10 minute warm up at 7:30, I started into the on/off workout switching speeds every 60 seconds and did 20 sets and then did a little less than a mile cool down for a total of 8 miles run. It was a great workout, definitely easier than my on/offs I usually do at 11mph/5.5mph.  It has left me feeling fresh and invigorated today like I want to get out and run some more.  I won't though.

Tomorrow I will take a rare complete rest day that isn't a Sunday.  I have to go to Palm Springs for the day to do some continuing education.  I'll have to leave the house around 4:30am and won't get home intil after 9pm so I'll just take the day off.

After sitting for 16 hours staight yesterday (6 driving and 10 in classes) my legs were a bit stiff this morning.  They feel much better with a nice easy workout.

30 minutes elliptical

Abs and core wore

Tomorrow I pace the 1:30 group at the Havasu Half marathon.  It should be fun as long as this darn cold I got a few days ago doesn't keep me from breathing.

We woke up today at 6 am and it was already 66 degrees outside and new that it was going to get warm.  By race time at 7:30 it was probably 70 and still getting warmer.  By the end of the race it was 77.  I sure hope it is much cooler next week in Boston.  

I was a 1:30 pacer for the race which should be right at marathon pace for me.  We got started and I had about 10 people in my pace group.  The wind was blowing pretty strong and I mentioned to those in our group that we should bank some time going out because the flags were whipping  (I'm guess close to 20 miles per hour.) and we were going to have to run back into the wind for the last 4 1/2 miles.  Those in the group wanted me to keep it at a steady 6:52 so I said OK.  By the time we hit the turn around (we had only banked 10 seconds) spot I had dropped everyone but one runner.  When we turned around we were hit with a serious wall of wind.  I told the one guy with me to get behind me and I would block the wind for as long as I could go.  I was able to hold onto the pace for about 1 mile and a half, but it was just too strong and I had to back off.  I told him I couldn't hold it any more and he kindly went ahead and let me draft off him for a couple miles until he started fading a bit and then I went back ahead, but he couldn't go with me.  He ended up finishing a bit more than a minute behind me.  

I crossed the finish line in 1:30:53 feeling like I had worked way to hard to run that pace, but really I just worked way to hard running into the wind at the end of the race.

My splits were:

1 6:48

2 6:47

3 6:53

4 6:56

5 6:48

6 6:51

7 6:48

8 6:57

9 6:51

10 7:07

11 7:15

12 7:25

13 7:03

13.1  6:56 pace

I ended up getting 7th overall and 3 place in my AG and received a nice little plaque.  

I ran a nice easy 6 miler this morning with 5 one minute strides at about half marathon pace.  It was a nice refreshing run.

AP 7:34

Abs and core work

30 minutes elliptical

I guess that will be the last of the ab and core work until after Boston.  It's so weird doing such little exercise.  The crazy thing is I'm loosing weight doing it.  I stepped on the scale and read 155 this morning.  That's the lightest I've been since last year right before Boston.  I guess that's good as long as I'm feeling strong.

Down another pound to 154 this morning.  I'm not sure why.  I guess I've been focusing on eating more carbs and maybe the change in diet is causing it.  I feel strong and healthy so I guess it is good.  When I get serious about carb loading on Saturday and Sunday I'll probably put a few pounds back on anyways. 

Did a nice easy run this morning with 2 easy, 2 mp, then 2 easy.

6 miles AP 7:27

This is so weird sitting here checking email and everyone's blogs instead of either being out running or at the gym, but I'm taking a rest day and I think I kind of like it.  I still have an hour before I have to be at work and I'm all ready to go, so I'm just goofing off on the computer.  I think I'll pack tonight so I don't have to worry about it after work tomorrow.  We have to take off around 4 pm to catch our 8:15 flight out Vegas tomorrow.  We then fly the wrong direction to L.A. have about an hour layover and then fly from there to Boston.  That'll be a long flight, but with the right drugs I should be able to sleep the whole thing away.  I can't believe that next week at this time I will have already been back at work for a full day.  That's sad.  I hope the weekend goes slow.  I'm looking forward to seeing every on Saturday.  Travel safely and have fun.

Rest Day:  Zero miles, Zero Cross Training , Zero time.

Maybe I'll stretch and roll my legs a bit.  That would probably be a good use of this extra time. 

It was really weird only running 4 miles this morning.  I didn't feel like I ever got warmed up.  I ran 4 easy miles with the first minute of the last 3 miles at 5k pace.  It all felt great.

AP 7:16

To continue my weight loss saga, yesterday I rested completely and really focused on eating carbs all day and drinking a lot of water.  I fully expected to have gained a couple pounds when I hopped on the scale for my morning weigh in.  I alway weigh myself first thing every morning when I get out of bed.  To my suprise, I dropped another pound down to 153.  Go figure.  I guess I'll just have to be more hard core about my eating on Saturday and Sunday in Boston.  Too bad Gary (Smooth's Bro in Law) won't be there to guide me in the art of power eating.  It was amazing to watch him eat last year.

ACTUAL RACE REPORT STARTS AT NEXT HEADING A FEW PARAGRAPHS DOWN. FEEL FREE TO SKIP INTRO.

 Wow! What a great weekend. Doone (my wonderful wife) and I took the red eye out of Vegas Friday night and arrived in Boston at about 7:30 Saturday morning. With a few drugs I was able to fall asleep before take off and wake up upon landing. We took the T into downtown Boston and checked into our hotel then headed over to the expo and arrived about 10 minutes before they opened the doors at 9 am. We had a great time doing the expo and managed to control our spending pretty well this year. After what felt like about an hour but was really 3 1/2 hours we took off and had lunch at Legal Seafood. Yum!

We spent the after noon resting in our room before we met the gang for dinner. It was so great to see everyone. Smooth and Larry, Teena and Ryan, Marc E, Lark, Canyon, Kathie, and Lucy (from the fast running blog) and her two kids all went out for a wonderful Chinese Dinner in China town. The food was wonderful and the company even better. It was great to see everyone again. Being in Boston with the gang makes for an amazing weekend. They are all great runners and even better people. I am honored to be included in the group.

Sunday morning Doone and I slept in and then went for a Sunday brunch at the Westin which was to die for. We then met most of the gang in the lobby and headed to church. Surprise though, the building was locked up. We figure it was stake conference. Smooth found a door which looked like a utility door that was unlocked and we went in and held our own worship service complete with opening song (accompanied by another runner who was outside the building wondering when church started) prayer, a few talks, and closing song and prayer. The highlight of the meeting was Smooth's telling of her conversion story. The more I know Smooth, the more I love her. Our own little meeting was an experience I'll never forget and that alone made our trip to Boston worth it, but it kept getting better and better.

Back to the hotel for some R and R and then, we met up again to go to the pre-race pasta dinner. If there was anything bad this weekend it was the food at that dinner. YUCK! Next year we have to go to the North End for real Italian food on the night before the race. I'll even make reservations. Most everyone stopped and bought real food on the way back to the hotel.

After getting my race gear ready I fell asleep around 9 pm and slept soundly until 2 am. That's like a ton more sleep than I ever get before a good race, so I was happy with that and spent the next 3 hours laying in bed and pondering. It was actually really nice. At 5 I got up showered, got dressed, and had some breakfast. We all met up at 6 in the lobby and headed over to the busses. The weather was amazing and for the first time in my 4 Bostons, we were not going to have a headwind. It was mostly a cross wind a little more at our back then and front. We all hung together in the athletes village for a while before setting out for the starting corals.

RACE REPORT STARTS HERE

I relaxed in the coral a bit and before we knew it, the race was under way. With the coral system (I was in # 2) we got off to race pace right at the beginning. The first mile is the steepest downhill and when we passed the first mile around 6:35 I think. (Oh a quick side note, my Garmin got messed up on the way to Boston and when I fixed it and reset it I forgot to set the auto splits. It took me about 8 miles before I started trying to manually hit the splits and I was bad at it, so I don't have mile splits.) Without the garmin giving me the instant feedback I'm used to I decided I would start running by feel and paying attention to my 5K splits trying to keep each one under 21:00.

I ran next to Minnie Mouse (actually a petite asian man), a ninja in a full black outfit from head to toe, and a few other characters for a while. I kept taking stock on how I was feeling and I kept feeling good so I kept on running. The ladies and Wellesley were loud enough to hurt my eardrums this year. I stayed far to left until the very end when I went over and high fived the last 20 yards or so of them for a nice little adrenalin rush. I hit the halfway mark at 1:26:54. This was definitely faster than anticipated, but I was still feeling good, so I kept on running.

The next few miles were easy, but the Newton Hill were approaching. Since I had a decent amount of time banked I decided I would take the hills easy and hopefully make up the time heading back down them. This strategy seemed to work well for my and by the time I topped Heart Break Hill at mile 21 I was still feeling strong. I took of down the back of Heart Break with a couple miles around 6:40. I then just had to hang on for the last few miles. I did have to dig deep to keep the pace right around 7:00 but was able to keep it up. I turned right onto Hartford street getting ready for my big turn onto Boylston and my first sight of the finish line. In honor of last year's run and my 6 month recovery from the ruptured PF tendon, I did the airplane as I turned onto Boyleston. I dug deep and ran that last .2 miles (actually a bit more) as strong as I could and crossed the finish line with a new PR 2:58:03!!!!!! I was pumped.

 5K Splits:

 K   Mile   Time

5   3.1   20:21

10   6.2   20:27

15   9.3   20:42

20   12.4   20:52

25   15.5   20:58

30   18.6   21:35 (first 2 Newton hills)

35   21.7   21:53 (last 2 hills. The mile with Heart Break was my slowest at 7:28)

40   24.8   21:37

?  26.2   10:38

END OF RACE REPORT

 After finishing I sped off to my hotel and showered and changed into street close and headed back to the finish line to see the others. My parents called me from their mission in Tansania. That was awesome. I found Doone, Larry, and Ryan and was able to Teena, Kathie, and Smooth finish. We missed the others. That night we met up and celebrated with a fabulous dinner at Legal Seafood, followed by Ben and Jerry's, and then a quick trip to the post race party. It was sad to have to say good bye to everyone. They are all amazing. Thanks for making my weekend so special. You guys are the best!!!!!! IF YOU READ ALL THAT YOU DESERVE A FINISHER'S MEDAL.

Abs and Core Work

1 hour elliptical

Calfs and pretty sore, everything else feels great.

Lower Body Weights

40 minutes elliptical

Calfs are mildly sore everything else feels 100%.  I'll probably do a recovery run tomorrow.

Ran a nice easy recovery run this morning.  I thought about doing 6 miles, but the calfs were still a bit too sore so I cut it to 4 miles.  All other muscles felt perfect. 

AP 7:37

1 hour stationary bike

10 minutes elliptical

Ab work

I really hope the legs feel good on Monday.  I'm craving a good run.

Walking around and going up and down my stairs and everything was feeling 100% over the weekend, so I went to the gym with the intention on doing a tempo run.  I started the run easy at 7:30 and quickly realized that my calfs are still not 100% for running, so I just kept it at 7:30 for 8 miles (1 hour) on TM 1% incline.  I'll try again on Wednesday, but it may be next week before I get to run fast again.  :-(

Abs and Core

Lower body weights

30 minutes elliptical

The rest of the week, I'll be off my normal schedule since Doone is heading to women's conference tomorrow morning and won't be back until Sunday.  I'll have to try and get in some exercise while being a "single dad" for a few days.  I don't know how single parents survive.  When ever I have the kids for a few days by myself it wears me out big time.

I took the kids to the gym after work so I could get in some miles.  I planned on getting in 8 miles.  I started off easy (7:30) and everything was feeling good, so I was contemplating throwing in a couple faster miles at (6:30), but after a couple miles, my calves started tightening up a liittle.  I decided I'd just keep it at 7:30, but still do 8 miles.  But all of the sudden both my calves really tightened up around the 5.5 mile mark.  Being that Scott just tore his calf muscle yesterday, I was being extra cautious and decided to stop my run there and live to run another day.   I got on the stationary bike for 10 minutes and then called it a night. 

Total run 5.5 miles,  TM 1%,  AP 7:30

I had a break in my schedule so I snuck off to the gym for a TM 1 %  run.  My calves felt good finally. 

2 miles at 7:30

4 miles at 6:30

2 miles at 7:30

Felt great to run fast again.  I'm going to start calling 6:30 my mp even though it's not.  By training at a 6:40 mp for Boston I think I really helped me PR there.  I figure it's mostly mental, so from now on MP is 6:30 for my training purposes.

Total run 8 miles,  56:00,  AP 7:00