Over The Hill

This first thing I want to mention is that you have so far raised $10,300 for Children’s Hospital by sponsoring me in the Boston Marathon.  This is an unusually high number for a charity runner to raise and it is due entirely to the generosity of all of you.  If you have not had an opportunity to register your sponsorship and feel you are able to contribute then you can do so here

Continue reading »

Newbie mistake of the week: “Going out too fast”

Continue reading »

I have something weighing on my mind as I write this.

I just need to express my frustration at my pace. I cannot believe how many runners who look much more out of shape then me can sustain far faster paces than I. I see a lot of men with bear bellies and heavily overweight ladies moving at 9:00 paces for their training runs, while I (whose MP is 10:00) am doing long training runs at 11-11:30. Out of the 100 members of my charity I am the slowest, by a far margin. When weather is bad and I use a local indoor track I have occasion to see a lot of runners and observe them carefully. I just can’t figure out why they are all moving so fast except the obvious… their cardiovascular system are in far, far better shape than mine. This of course undermines my own pathetic reasons for running slowly (I am 45, I could still lose 20 pounds, etc). I watched one older guy (60ish) running in regular cargo shorts. He looked to me to be about 245, 5’9 with that tight as a drum beer belly that implies a lot of visceral fat around his organs, and he ran with this shambling, bouncing step… for 6 straight miles at a far faster pace than me. I found it really disillusioning to me since I am 5’10 175 pounds, running 40 miles a week with a smooth efficient stride. I do my fartleks and my tempo runs and my long runs. I read tons of books on running (just finished Hal’s how to run fast) The only thing that seems to hold me back is my Vo2 max. Yes, I had 20 years of no exercise, and I was 70 pounds heaver a few years ago and I only started running seriously in October, but should I not be further along at this point? Someone please tell me it takes 2-3 years to get to a pace of 7mm-9mm no matter how hard you try so I can stop trying to rush it!

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.

Today I finished week 7 of my 26 week training schedule for the Boston Marathon with a total of  126 training miles run so far.   Last Saturday I completed a 11.2 mile long run without even having to call my wife to rescue me!   I met with the team coaches and the rest of the Miles for Miracles marathon team last week.  It was nice to put some faces to the names!   Next week the long run bumps up to 13 miles, so wish me luck.

So far you have helped raise $4,137 towards my goal of $6,000 for Children’s Hospital and I think that is great progress at this point!  If you have not yet had an opportunity to register your sponsorship you can do so here.