smally

somehow found the tm before going to work, felt good.

great day outside bit of a rolling track for Windsor.  Don't like running on the side walks but the good news was no abductor pain or groin pain.

10 miles - 107.48

did get a stitch right side with .5 miles to go but other than that it was great.  hate for that to happen in a marathon hard to run a good pace.  probably the crappy food and the 2 beers at the hockey party last night.

1 mile MP with a .25  5 % hill

then ran some speed.  alternated between 9.3 for a minute and 10.3 for 20 mins, pretty tired.

5 miles total.

wanted to take a full rest but needed to get some energy.  Ran for 20 mins increasing the speed.

So tired and a bit stressed, kids have chicken pox and it was a late night!

with the kids sick and no help it was a great idea to skip the 10 mile race.

tm during nap time ran 9.6 with some 10 for a total of 38:24 for 10k.  Considering I ran a 35:31 and last week 37 the day after 22 miles this was so hard, I wanted to quit at 4 and 5 miles but I again told myself that I would feel that with a few miles to go so get used to it especially if I am close to sub 3, you never know what that special day will bring and how you will achieve it.  personally I hope its with a min at least in the bank!

rested with pooring sweat for 5 mins then decided to get back on the tm for 1.8 at 6:47 avg to complete 8 miles, felt good.

walking later felt a bit of a right side thing so i will regardless how good i feel rest tomorrow with NO running.

Officially tapering!!  Rest day.

Review of the last 18 weeks:

I have averaged 51.5 miles/week for the 18 weeks.

Eleven long runs 17 miles to 22 miles, four runs over 20 miles.

PR's :

- 35:31 - 10k

- 59:09 - 10 miles

- 17:05 - 5k

Ran most if not all weeks at least 1 - 10k under 40 mins.  Which has helped with leg turnover tremendously.

No real injury except week one but 2 days off was all I needed.

Only 1 race, 5k - 18:04, won my age group, terrible weather, cold, rain and wind, fun.

20 and 21 mile runs 6:55 pace and 6:58 pace.  The last long run was a great negative split to run under 7 min mile pace.

Going to taper properly and work on the mental game. 

snowing today, windy so I decided to do my speed workout.  8 times 800's but I will wait until the track for that, I would rather run a fast 5k instead.

5k- 17:27 ( stumbled with the increase button, took 19 seconds to get up to 10.8)  Felt great, day off really had my legs moving, I ran the first 2 miles at 10.8 but then took it down a couple times to 10.5 because I was worried about form.  I love this workout, 10k's are even more fun!  Maybe fun is not the right description.

Took a breather for 2 mins then got on the TM and ran 1 mile @ 6:45 then picked it up for another mile @ 5:44.

No tweaks, feel pretty good.

Fun run, lots of visualizing about Boston.

42:08 - 10k, nice control.

Schedule had 20 mins alternating between 30 seconds at 5:15 pace and 6:30 pace.

Decided to stick at 10.8 and instead of going down in speed I flirted with 11.2 a bit.  I decided at 1.5 miles to try and break 17 miles.  At the same time I told myself not to be stupid and avoid a tweak or injury, hard to do when your feeling on top of the world. 

5k - 17:03 ( just missed it )

walked for probably a minute then picked it up to marathon pace plus about 6:45 but it seemed so easy so I ran 6:18's until 5 miles and to my surprise I was under 30 minutes, I ran the 1.2 just under 6 min pace finishing in 36:37, fun run.

10k - 36:37

.3 - cool down.

After I put the kids I ran 3 miles easy watching hockey, wanted to work off the cake I ate...

G and I decided to hang out with the family this afternoon instead of running 10 miles, I think our significant others appreciated it.  Plus I think the total rest at this point is worth more.

Nice family day.

10k - TM at the gym before work with G.

39:17

tired from last nights dinner in detroit, fun night.

family etc so I ran while naps where going down to feel good for dinner.

5k with a simulation of hrt break hill - 20:55

1 mile easy 7:15

one week from now we will be watching a movie in the room, tradition before a marathon for G and I.

Plan for the week, feed back welcome;

Mon - 8-10 (6:50 - 7 pace)

Tue - Total rest

wed - 5k quick (18 mins to 18:30)

Thur - Total rest

Frid - 4

Sat - 2 or total rest.

Sun - expo, rest

6 degrees, overcast and quite windy 25km with gusts from the east mostly.

9 miles - 6:49 avg.

Did not push, felt strong especially after 10k, need to stay strong mentally for the first 10k where I don't feel great often.  I need to remind myself that if I stay patient I will get a good punch of energy and hopefully bank a little time for the last 10k.

So excited.

no run day.

feeling good about this weeks taper more than the past.

5k - 20.35

was going to rest but needed afternoon energy, saw over 110 patients.

had a good run, pace felt great, visualized running mid race in boston.

This is Wed. entry, I forgot to post it.

Ran 5k quite hard - 18:11, took 2 min break then ran 2 miles 6:40 avg.

Was going to rest today (thursday) but needed a pick me up for the afternoon.

2 MP

Felt good on Friday, rested as much as I could.

Hind sight don't think I could of done anything more.  So why the stitch???

flew to Boston after work, busy morning about 50 pts but no new pts so I was not exhausted.

flew out with g at 4pm, arrived at 9pm, fun night, decent sleep except that I woke up early because of the heat, G turned it up.

expo at 9ish

rested

lunch at a great pasta place.

rested most of the day.

night we had take out in the room and rested but I was a bit stressed which started to give me a headache.

decent sleep

Boston Marathon!!

We took a hired car to the marathon which worked out very well hind site.  The only down part is not knowing if you will get there and how far you will have to walk if you can't get through.  This is something I will do for sure next year.  We did have to walk about a mile to the villiage which would have been ok if we had more chuck away clothes.  I think when your nervous especially the first Boston you start to shiver a bit more.

Got to the villiage and G had to stand in line for 1 hour for the bathroom so I had a pee 2 times in the bushes and waited for him.  By the time he was done it was time to start walking to the corals, therefore we did not get to the athletes villiage which was kind of a bummer.  Walked to the corals about a mile and waited for the start, pretty smooth if you ask me.

I was in awe for most of the start with the amount of runners and the down slope we were running, I thought to myself " they all were not exagerating"  I did not panic and stayed with the flow thinking this would help me out and keep me from going out too fast.  To my surprise I was on pace for a 3 hour marathon at 5k.  I was a bit emotional at that crossing becasue I could all my support back home as my first time was posted.  The first 5k I did feel slugish but I said to myself that's ok, no problem it will pass.  It did pass and I started to pick up the pace not knowing it, I looked at the garmin and I was as low as 6:15's, I decided to keep a good pace but not push it.  At 10k I was 258 predicted and 15k I was predicted at 258 finish as well so I was told by everyone watching the splits. 

Around mile 8 I started to feel my right side which is what eventually what seemed like the end of the world at the time.  The stitch really hit me hard at mile 10 and I even had to walk, I could not figure out why now and why BOSTON!!  I fought my way to half way at 130 and thought it might pass and moved my goal to 305 but only a mile later before the toughest part of the course I had thoughts about quiting it was just too much pain to handle.  I was basically running most of the way bent over by 20 degrees and at times holding my side with my fingures.  I had to walk about 5-8 times before heartbreak hill, I only walked for 30 seconds or less but nevertheless it was such a hopeless feeling. 

When I got to heart break hill I told myself to shuffle all the way to the top without stopping so that is what I did.  When I was at the time I started doing the math and decided that I would fight all the way to the finish without walking, I did not care if it was 10 min miles I was going to finish my first Boston Marathon. 

I started to actually get into a groove and felt no need to stop and made sure I did not look at the pace on my watch either because it felt like I was crawling but actually my 35-42.2 was better than 25-35, notice I did not say faster! 

Anyways 314:21 great considering and I am so proud of what a any person can do when their back is against the wall and in retrospect I am sure that this marathon will be much more memerable than the day I do break 3 hours.

Booked my hotel room before we left on Tuesday!  By the way if anyone is reading this, our hotel is directly at the finish line, I was in my buddies room that had a window and we sat and watched so many people crossing the finish line whild sipping on a nice cold beer, fantastic.  The hotel is called the Charlesmark, awesome boutique hotel.

Congratulations everyone who ran the 2009 Boston Marathon.

Sorry, I wrote this quickly back to reality, work. 

So nice to run again today without a stitch!!!

did not plan on running this morning seeing Boston was only 48 hours ago but I was a bit stressed so I thought I would test the legs.

turned out to be a bit of a special run for me.  ran the first mile at 8 min pace and the legs felt good, then I sped up to 7:30 pace and started thinking about Boston and how I had a hard time running under 8 min pace at times because of the stitch.

I decided to run 6:52's for the last 3 miles and pretend that it was the last 3 miles of Boston.  My legs are obviously sore but I had no stitch today so I started to visualize my original dream of finishing strong with screaming quads and trying hard to break 3 hours.  I finished the last 2 miles under 6:50 and I was able to refresh my experience at Boston.

5 miles 36:50

Went to the gym to run on the TM easy.  My legs feel pretty good considering Boston was on Monday.

5 miles - 33:58 (6:48)

No signs of a stitch, looking into nutrition and had a massage today.

4 miles this morning.

5k - 19:47, ran the first half at marathon pace and the last half at 6 min miles.  Finished a cool down to 4 miles total at mp.

golfed, cut the grass and had a chance to run another 5k - 6:40 avg.

surprised the legs are pretty decent considering how tough boston was.  I think its because the stitch made me slow down so the legs actually are not totally spent. 

not sure about running in 83 degrees, wow what a change.

before work.

impressed that my legs have recovered so quickly after Boston.

10-13 easy tomorrow with G if the legs want.

tm at home, 42:27

legs feel awesome but i fatigue quickly for obvious reasons.

wanted to go outside but my watch and ipod had no life to them so i drove to the gym.  decided to run a type of tempo to test the legs.

3.1 at 10.2 - 18:15 (felt awesome and wanted to run 10k that pace but faded quickly)

instead of stopping and taking a break i wanted to similate what its like to not stop while being close to death!!  i ran at 6:35 pace but added 6 min mile pace here and there.

ended up running 38:16 for 10k, happy considering I finished Boston only a week ago.

need to plan out a race schedule and program.

feeling better no fatigue today.

39:21 - 10k

Outside run, first since Boston. 

6 degrees but windy, worked into the wind the first 5 miles or so and ran just under 35 mins.  Had a bit of a twinge on my right knee but nothing alarming.  33 mins for the last 5 miles with the wind.

Good negative split.  I am starting to feel like I can do some regular training.

easy run, long run tomorrow.