Well, the week is done for me. That means I am CA bound in the early AM. I'll be in charge of the Avia Wildflower Triathlon this weekend. I can't wait to get out there and watch my athletes compete in the Olympic and 1/2 Ironman events. The event will also be four nights of camping; can't wait to get out there.
I have still been in recovery mode this week, which means not too much running. The few runs I have done have not been very long or hard. I am definitely missing it. In the words of New Balance; I saw Running today, and Running looked great. But I still have a couple more weeks before I am back in full on training mode. I have a 10k event on CO in late May. Along the lines of recovery, I promised some video of what I am recovering from; my weekend at the 113th Boston Marathon. After watching, click the "Comments" tab at the bottom of the post and leave one.

That's all for now. Time to start packing for my trip.

So, I’m sure everyone is wondering how the 113th Boston Marathon went. So here it is.

I started out fast, then I picked it up and went even faster, and then I used up everything I had left!!

And then for the second mile……..

No, no, no, just kidding.

The race was amazing, and it went pretty well. I must say though, Boston is a tough course. Toughest I have run yet. It is neither for the faint of heart or weak of foot. The hills, both up and down, are positioned to break even the best of runners. The race begins 26.2 miles straight shot West of center Boston in the town of Hopkinton.

The course starts for the first 16 miles with a huge net elevation decrease. But don’t let that fool you, there are quite a few rollers throughout. Once at 16, for the next 4-5 miles, you have a series of 3 large hills rolling right back up to where you started. Once you crest the third (the infamous Heartbreak Hill) you are confronted with another series of downhills bringing you right back down to the bottom again. You have another brief uphill on your way to the finish for a little under a mile, and then for the first time in the race you have flat road (2/10 of a mile) as you coast to the finish.

I trained very well, with quite a bit of hill work. The uphills went splendidly. However, underestimating the role of downhills in this race, those bad boys broke me by the end. I rolled into the 13.1 mile mark right on time at 1:30:00 (yes, exact; how’s that for great pacing). Everything was going to plan. I continued my pace through 16. Having a touch of time to spare, I pulled back on the hills just a smidge, to prepare for the last 5 miles. Body felt great going up the hills. I could hardly feel them (made me love all those hills I hated doing in my training). Then I crested Heartbreak Hill (still feeling great, nothing I haven’t done a hundred times in training), and was hit with more downhills. About 30 seconds into the downhill stretch, I realized my quads were blown apart by all the downhill running in the beginning. Then it occurred to me, this race requires as much downhill training as it does uphill training. Those next 5 miles felt like someone had ripped my leg muscles right clean out of me L. At that point, I realized that I might not hit my goal of under three hours. I decided to start damage control right away, and readjust. I decided since I wasn’t going to make the 3, then just control myself, and make sure I make the qualify time for the next year (under 3:10:59). That is exactly what I did. I strolled into the finish line at 3:09:27. Not bad. It was an amazing day, perfect weather, AMAZING crowd support. Really was one of the best days of racing I have ever had; I almost don’t even care at all that I didn’t hit my goal; I know I’ll do it next time. And, I can’t wait for next time, I’ll train even harder and faster then I did this time, and I’ll include downhill training this time too.

So, that is my race. I’ll get some footage and pics up soon. Leave a comment, I’d love to hear your thoughts. No major training for the next couple of weeks, just small easy exercising. Real training will resume in about 3 weeks. Looking forward to it. Until the next entry, go out and enjoy the nice weather.

Cheers!!

Practice Race

Today was a brief and easy practice race. It was a 10k, and my goal was to hit 8's. I just needed to practice holding back, and behaving. That is exactly what I did. My goal was achieved, and I was able to average out my splits to just above an 8 minute mile. We are looking good for next Boston, next Monday. I carried a touch fast going down some of the hills, which I guess just means I need to practice holding back even more. It was a rainy 45 degrees today. It was perfect weather to do a short race in, keeps the body temp perfectly regulated. It was also a Team In Training event for us, so we had a lot of athletes from TNT representing, and a lot of course support. It ws a great event.
The event, The Scottland 10K, was put on by NYRR. All entrants were entered to win a trip for 2 to Scottland, and entry into the Lochnes Marathon. Your's truly did not win. Oh well, what are you gonna do?
All in all, it was a great day.
The rest of training this past week, has been going well. It's is just a taper period, so that means nothing hard or strenuous. Name of the game right now is rest, relax, and rebuild the muscles and body to peak performance for next week.
Bring it Boston!!!

Whirl Wind

It has been a few whirl wind days for me. Had family come in for the weekend :) , which is always a lot of fun. Went to STK for dinner Friday night, had some great wine, and steak. Nothing better then the pairing of a great wine, and a great cut of meat...mmmmmmm. Although, going out Saturday morning for a 15 miler was a bit. I could definitely tell I did not fuel with the best options (wine and cocktails) the night before. But hey, what are you going to do? Saturday was fun too, went out and hung out for the day. Did a little clothes shopping, and picked up some new jeans for the first time in a while. I don't know when the last time I bought clothes that weren't made of spandex, Lycra, or coolmax. Then went out to Maz Mezcal for some awesome chicken mole, and margaritas. Great night with great people, and some indulgent food. It's good for you every once in a while. Or at least that's what I tell myself.

The training the past few days has been great. Nice and easy is the name of the game now. The intensity is down, and now the mileage is coming down. Dipped down into single digit mileage for the first time in a long while. Starting a nice two week taper before the big day. It's all about resting the body up, and letting all the ware and tear from the past couple months heal back up. Another tempo workout tonight, i'll let you know how that goes later. Ok, time to get some more work done. Later!!

RunNYC

Hey everyone!!
Tonight was an okay night. The run was great, although it wasn't the workout I was suppose to do. I went to the Nike Town run tonight, which is conducted by my old coach, and he pushed me kinda hard, but that always feels great. I went there thinking I would be able to do the workout my present coach gave me. So, what does all this mean? Let me break it down for you.

Scheduled Workout:
5 Mile Warm Up
5 Mile marathon pace (6:52miles)

Actual Workout:
5 Mile Warm Up (to NikeTown and joined group)
1 Mile Easy
5 Mile Tempo Pace (6:10miles)

So, to sum up, I did one mile extra, and the hard 5 was 42 seconds faster per mile then scheduled. Hhhhmmmm. Felt great out there though, running with some quick folks and being pushed always helps. Even after the workout though, I feel terrific, refreshed, and still have tons of energy. Since that was my last hard workout, that means I now enter a full on taper. Its been a hard, challenging season, and I think it paid off. We'll see in two weeks. Bring it Boston!!!
**A mini shout out to my Sis Susan, who ran her longest distance ever this past weekend 12 miles, in preparation for her first ever half marathon. The big shout out comes when she finishes.**

Argh

Went out for my run lastnight. We discussed priorities the previous night, and there was another example of it last nigth. I had a meeting at work until five (of course it ran over) so I had to rush home, and fit in my workout, because I wanted to attend a concert downtown at night. (amazing concert btw. The band, Playing For Change, is a band comprised of individuals from around the world who come together and play to try and inspire peaceful change in the world. They ar non profit, so all proceeds go towards their charity which builds music school in impoverished areas around the world, because the feel music is the universal language that can inspire peace accross all cultures. Again, they are amazing, check out their site, and keep your eyes peeled for when they play again. This was their first time playing in NYC. Again, AMAZING. But, I digress...) Regardless, I had to rush home to fit in the workout. It was an okay workout:
3 mile warm up
4 Mile Tempo (no watch, no timer, no anything)
3 mile cool down

5 minutes into the warm up I had the worst cramp in the world in my left rib area. Only kept getting worse as the run progressed. I usually don't get cramps, so I wonder if it was due to my rushing around, and being stressed on my run about a time constraint, or if maybe I ate something bad. Hhhhmmm, I don't know. We'll see how tonight's run goes. Maybe I just need a good massage, to work out all the tensions and knots. Time to go.
Later, Enjoy the day.