Writing this post as I fly east today via Chicago to VA for meetings through Wednesday. It's always a challenge -- especially late in a marathon training cycle to incorporate in work travel with striking a training balance over the last 2-3 weeks. I've found over the years that after any flight of more than a couple of hours, my training the next day will be mediocre at best and a slog at worst. I'm hoping tomorrow and Wednesday to at least get 2 hours of aerobic volume in running on the hotel treadmill -- which is always a hit-or-miss proposition.
Three weeks from right now I should be through my first 5K of the Boston Marathon on April 18. I'm still working through a lower right leg tendon rehabilitation; but with a lot of PT it appears to be holding up. This last week I managed to runs of substance on the Alter-g for my intervals and tempo workouts followed by a pair of outdoor runs on Saturday and Sunday that were 10 miles each. Given I ran 22 miles last Saturday, I normally would've run a 14 on Saturday 3 weeks out but wanted to load up 10 miles on Saturday afternoon and then run a 10-mile cutdown run Sunday early before Easter festivities kicked in. I felt especially strong on Saturday's run with temperatures in the low 60's, no wind nor rain and running in shorts and a t-shirt. Rolled 8:20's on a 5 mile out and back tossing in a 7:17 mile-4 and a 7:42 mile 9 for good measure. Sunday's workout was a cutdown run with a 1 mile warm-up followed by a progression from 8:30 down to miles 8 and 9 at 7:30's pace. As luck would have it, the sky opened up and it was torrential rain (and about 45 degrees) from miles 5 - 7 which slowed me a bit (at one point I could barely see the running path in front of me as I was quickly soaked and chilled to the bone thinking it wouldn't rain on my run). I managed to dig a little deeper and got miles 8 and 9 down to 7:45 and 7:40 respectively before an easy jog in for mile 10.
While it's too early to predict what time I will run in this year's Boston Marathon (I qualified with a 3:27:30 in the 2014 Portland Marathon), I will say that 44" of rain in Seattle from October through March and training for 2 marathons (Honolulu in December) has prepared me for the absolute worst that Boston has to offer on April 18 (short of a hot day in the upper 80's which is what I got the first time I raced there).
Stay tuned, the next couple of weeks will be interesting with a final 18-20 mile Boston Newton Hills simulation and a couple of more pacing sessions.
Three weeks from right now I should be through my first 5K of the Boston Marathon on April 18. I'm still working through a lower right leg tendon rehabilitation; but with a lot of PT it appears to be holding up. This last week I managed to runs of substance on the Alter-g for my intervals and tempo workouts followed by a pair of outdoor runs on Saturday and Sunday that were 10 miles each. Given I ran 22 miles last Saturday, I normally would've run a 14 on Saturday 3 weeks out but wanted to load up 10 miles on Saturday afternoon and then run a 10-mile cutdown run Sunday early before Easter festivities kicked in. I felt especially strong on Saturday's run with temperatures in the low 60's, no wind nor rain and running in shorts and a t-shirt. Rolled 8:20's on a 5 mile out and back tossing in a 7:17 mile-4 and a 7:42 mile 9 for good measure. Sunday's workout was a cutdown run with a 1 mile warm-up followed by a progression from 8:30 down to miles 8 and 9 at 7:30's pace. As luck would have it, the sky opened up and it was torrential rain (and about 45 degrees) from miles 5 - 7 which slowed me a bit (at one point I could barely see the running path in front of me as I was quickly soaked and chilled to the bone thinking it wouldn't rain on my run). I managed to dig a little deeper and got miles 8 and 9 down to 7:45 and 7:40 respectively before an easy jog in for mile 10.
While it's too early to predict what time I will run in this year's Boston Marathon (I qualified with a 3:27:30 in the 2014 Portland Marathon), I will say that 44" of rain in Seattle from October through March and training for 2 marathons (Honolulu in December) has prepared me for the absolute worst that Boston has to offer on April 18 (short of a hot day in the upper 80's which is what I got the first time I raced there).
Stay tuned, the next couple of weeks will be interesting with a final 18-20 mile Boston Newton Hills simulation and a couple of more pacing sessions.
No comments:
Post a Comment