Weekly Training Report for 2011-01-30

 Training Log  Comments Off on Weekly Training Report for 2011-01-30
Jan 292011
 

Workouts 4
Time 284 min
Running 26.2 miles

  • mon: Recovery from long run. Easy pace 1.5 – 2 minutes behind marathon pace. Ran 4.0 miles for 49 minutes at 12:27 pace. Easy run on treadmill
  • tue: Alternate between 1 minutes of hard running followed by 4 minutes of easy running. Ran 4.0 miles for 40 minutes at 10:03 pace. Did workout on treadmill
  • fri: 45-60 minutes with heart rate in aerobic zone (<160). Ran 6.2 miles for 60 minutes at 9:40 pace. Rowing
  • sun: Long run with walk breaks. Ran 12.0 miles for 134 minutes at 11:12 pace. Ran on an indoor 200 meter track at Latitude in Peabody. Ran out of time and the place closed. Hopefully there will be no long term consequences to training.
 Posted by at 8:00 pm

Week 13 update

 2011 Boston Marathon Training  Comments Off on Week 13 update
Jan 232011
 

I hope that everyone had an excellent holiday and is enjoying our snowy January!   Today marks the end of the 13th week of training, which I started in October.  Prior to October the longest I had run in the last 20 years was about 3-4 miles, so I had to take on a 6 month training program to (hopefully) bring me to a point where I can complete the 26.2 mile run in under 6 hours without injury.  I have had a number of people ask me what training consists of, so I will take a brief moment to explain that.  You run 4 days a week and cross-train 2, with 1 rest day each week.  The four running days are a mixture of easy running, speed work and one “long run” a week.  The cross training can be rowing, swimming or cycling.  The “long-run” increases from week to week with occasional “set-back” weeks to aid in reducing over training fatigue.  The total number of miles you run each week increases steadily until a couple of weeks before the marathon, when you taper off in order to be as strong as possible for the marathon itself. 

At just a little over half way through the training I am running around 30 miles a week, which is about right for someone of my age and relative lack of training compared to elite athletes who run vastly longer distances and much higher paces than I could hope to do.   That brings the total to about 265 miles I have run since I started training.  I have been doing many of my long runs with the rest of the Miles for Miracles charity team on the actual Boston Marathon course through Wellesley and Newton.

Yesterday, however, I did my 15 miles long run solo through the towns of Lynnfield and North Reading.  It was a brisk 12 degrees and within an hour my water bottles had frozen solid.  I guess I need to figure out a better solution for liquids!  The 15 miles took me a little over 3 hours and I finished feeling extremely tired.  I have confidence that the next 3 months will get me to where I need to be, but sometimes it is hard to believe it!

I leave you with this thought:  If you are driving and see a runner on the road please slow down and move to the left.  The life you save might be mine.

 Posted by at 9:09 am

Weekly Training Report for 2011-01-23

 Training Log  Comments Off on Weekly Training Report for 2011-01-23
Jan 222011
 

Workouts 5
Time 385 min
Running 28.4 miles

  • mon: Recovery from long run. Easy pace 1.5 – 2 minutes behind marathon pace. Ran 4.0 miles for 46 minutes at 11:33 pace. Easy recovery run
  • tue: Alternate between 1 minutes of hard running followed by 4 minutes of easy running. Ran 4.0 miles for 43 minutes at 10:48 pace. No issues
  • thu: 1 Mile warm up, 3 miles of marathon pace, 1 mile cool down. Ran 4.0 miles for 43 minutes at 10:57 pace. Workouts3.csv
  • fri: 45-60 minutes with heart rate in aerobic zone (<160). Ran 1.4 miles for 60 minutes at 43:48 pace. Workouts3.csv
  • sat: Long run with walk breaks. Ran 15.0 miles for 192 minutes at 12:46 pace. Very cold. Water bottles froze. Roads were snowy and difficult to navigate. Very beat up from this run.
 Posted by at 8:00 pm

Weekly Training Report for 2011-01-16

 Training Log  Comments Off on Weekly Training Report for 2011-01-16
Jan 152011
 

Workouts 6
Time 420 min
Running 28.9 miles

  • mon: Recovery from long run. Easy pace 1.5 – 2 minutes behind marathon pace. Ran 4.0 miles for 45 minutes at 11:15 pace. Nice easy run, no issues
  • tue: Alternate between 1 minutes of hard running followed by 4 minutes of easy running. Ran 4.0 miles for 45 minutes at 11:15 pace. Did fartleks continuously without stopping
  • thu: 1 Mile warm up, 3 miles of marathon pace, 1 mile cool down. Ran 5.0 miles for 60 minutes at 12:00 pace. Felt tired so just ran the miles easy
  • fri: 45-60 minutes with heart rate in aerobic zone (<160). Ran 1.4 miles for 60 minutes at 43:48 pace. No issues
  • sat: Long run with walk breaks. Ran 13.2 miles for 150 minutes at 11:25 pace. Run was in Wellsely and Newton on marathon course. Extremely cold. (9 degrees), roads were in bad shape. I was very beat up
  • sun: 45-60 minutes with heart rate in aerobic zone (<160). Ran 1.4 miles for 60 minutes at 43:48 pace. Workouts3.csv
 Posted by at 8:00 pm

Weekly Training Report for 2011-01-09

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Jan 082011
 

Workouts 3
Time 123 min
Running 10.7 miles

  • tue: Recovery from long run. Pace marathon pace + 1 Intervals of Run 3min, walk 30 seconds. Should be about 4.5 – 5 miles. Ran 2.5 miles for 30 minutes at 12:00 pace. Very sore and in some pain after the 13 mile Sat long run. Had to cut this recovery run short
  • wed: Longer mid week easy run. This is mostly to build miles for the week.. Ran 4.7 miles for 52 minutes at 11:14 pace. Felt great until last mile then left leg started to really hurt
  • thu: Longer mid week easy run. This is mostly to build miles for the week.. Ran 3.5 miles for 40 minutes at 11:29 pace. Had to stop and have my wife come get me. Lot of pain in left leg
 Posted by at 8:00 pm

Week 10 update

 2011 Boston Marathon Training  Comments Off on Week 10 update
Jan 032011
 

This weekend I finished week 10 of the 26 week training schedule for the Boston Marathon with a total of 200 training miles run so far.   Yesterday I completed my longest run to date at 13.1 miles which took me 2 hours and 30 minutes.  This brought last week to a total 31.15 miles of training runs.   I have been doing part of the training on the actual marathon course in Wellesley and Newton to acclimate myself to the course.  I wish I could say that progress on the training is raising my confidence and optimism about being able to do this, but to be honest I am finding this a monumental struggle.  I sure wish I was 25 and not 45!

So far you have helped raise $6,537 for Children’s Hospital and I am really amazed at everyone’s generosity!  If you have not yet had an opportunity to register your sponsorship you can do so here.

 Posted by at 6:27 am

Weekly Training Report for 2011-01-02

 Training Log  Comments Off on Weekly Training Report for 2011-01-02
Jan 012011
 

Workouts 5
Time 380 min
Running 31.2 miles

  • mon: Recovery from long run. Pace marathon pace + 1 Intervals of Run 3min, walk 30 seconds. Should be about 4.5 – 5 miles. Ran 5.2 miles for 73 minutes at 14:12 pace. Blizzard out so I did this on the treadmill. I worked to keep my heart rate under 160, which seemed to be about 15 minmile pace.
  • wed: Longer mid week easy run. This is mostly to build miles for the week.. Ran 7.0 miles for 89 minutes at 12:45 pace. I ran this continuously without a break. I ran it keeping my heart rate at or under 160.
  • fri: Tempo run. Ran 2.7 miles for 29 minutes at 10:51 pace. Garmin Edge 205305
  • sat: First 5k race of the year. Looking to improve my PR of 33:09 (10:41 pace) from the Doug Floutie 5K in the fall. Ran 3.2 miles for 31 minutes at 9:47 pace. Race went pretty well with an average pace of 9:43 (6.2 mh) Legs felt great. Only limiting factor was HR which I pushed into the red zone for the entire race.
  • sun: Long run at 90 second behind marathon pace. RunWalk ratio of 5m1m. Ran 13.0 miles for 156 minutes at 12:01 pace. Felt great. Took food and water with me this time and this really helped. I am feeling some pain in my left ankle later in the day. will RICE
 Posted by at 8:00 pm

“First Run” 5K in Lowell MA

 Race Reports  Comments Off on “First Run” 5K in Lowell MA
Jan 012011
 

Every year Lowell hosts a 5K / 10K race on the first of January called “First Run”.  I thought I would give it a try and see if I had improved much since the Flutie 5K in the fall.  It was a gorgeous day and even though many of the participants were probably suffering from hangovers, the spirits seemt o be running high.

I managed to pull off a PR of 30:58, roughly 3 minutes faster than the fall.  Here is a video of the race:

 Posted by at 12:59 pm