3/14 - 3/20, BM Training Week #11

This week is puzzling. I was tight for a lot of runs, but I ended up feeling OK for New Bedford, except for a stomach issue which began at mile 7 and ended up in misery for much of Sunday evening. Still PR'd in the half marathon with a good marathon pace workout.

Monday: Described this mainly in the last entry. Finally have run every inch of the marathon course! 12.25 miles.

Tuesday: OFF

Wednesday: Ran the Blackstone River Bikeway from Woonsocket 6.55 miles and back to make it a half marathon. Averaged 7:26, starting a little slow. Legs were tight for pretty much the entire run. 13.1 miles.

Thursday: Long warm-up and cool-down in Worcester and Millbury with a 4 x 1 mile at 6:20 pace. Ran them in 6:17, 6:20, 6:14, 6:19 with a 1/3 mile jog recovery. Felt pretty good, legs were tight for the cool-down. 12 miles.

Friday: An easy run with Adam that averaged 7:46, but my legs felt very heavy and tight. 7 miles.

Saturday: Ran very slow up to Winnekenni Castle and around the basin. Not too much snow left, but a lot in areas that don't see much sun. I really felt terrible on this run, and it was an average of like 8:45 pace. Didn't seem like a good sign. 2.65 miles.

Sunday: Even though it was a tough week, I reminded myself that I had a strong workout on Thursday. An ice bath Saturday really helped the muscles. I told myself that I would be fine. This was going to be a marathon pace workout for 10 miles and even faster for the last 5K if I could. I know I could race a half marathon faster than what I did in New Bedford, but that's not what this was about. This was about preparation for Boston.

I warmed up with 2 easy miles and then stretched pretty good. I reminded myself to start conservatively at 6:30 pace. I started the first two miles on the flat terrain with a pair of 6:28's. I got passed by so many people, but I knew I would reel many of them in later. Mile 3 had the first hill, but I ran strong and started to make several passes here. I actually ran mile 3 in 6:19, but it had a good downhill as well. The hardest hill was after mile 3, and I ran that and the 4th mile in 6:26.

From the 4 mile mark to perhaps mile 9 is a cruising stretch. It's pretty flat and I got passed a lot from 4-6, but my speed was very consistent so I didn't care. I passed many back from 7-9. These miles were 6:26, 6:23, 6:23, 6:26, and 6:27.

From 9 to 10, you start changing direction back toward the harbor and away from the open water. The winds were more of a cross-wind here, although it wasn't too breezy. I started picking up the pace at 9.5. My stomach was starting to get cramps from about mile 8, but fortunately I was able to tolerate it. Mile 10 was 6:24. I just got in a comfortable zone from there on out, making the occasional pass and never getting passed myself. Miles 11 and 12 were 6:20 and 6:17. It was time for the half mile hill.

Even though the hill was hard, I had toughness. I fought through the pain and made a couple passes. Even though I lost time on the hill, I got it back on the flat part on top. Running past that McDonald's was nasty having to smell those fries, but I finally made it to that right hand turn and just turned on the jets making yet another pass. Finally I was on the final stretch after another right and I was cranked. Mile 13 ended up being 6:16 and the Garmin showed everything after mile 13 averaging 5:02 pace, so I had a great kick. I finished in a PR time of 1:23:34 and felt like garbage after. I managed a short cool-down slightly over a mile, and experienced nasty stomach bug symptoms for the rest of the day. It was awful! Happy with the race, but still very hungry to get a lot better. I think sub-2:50 for Boston 2011 is absolutely obtainable. I didn't realize this until after the race, but 1:23:00 or faster would have gotten me an guaranteed entry into NYC. Not to fear, 2:55:00 or better in the full will get you in too, and I'm fully expecting to have it. 16.25 miles.

Week: 63.25
March: 177.64
2011: 687.56