Boston Recap (In the words of Marian)

This Boston Recap is what Marian posted on her Strands Page. She can put her thoughts into the perfect words that truly covers all the feelings that goes through our heads! I wish I could write like this but I can't so I will just post what she had to say about the Boston Marathon Race:

I’ve had a lot of time to think about things since Monday’s race. Really, I have a lot to say and very little at the same time. As far as my race went, I’m just not sure what happened. It wasn’t one of those things I could think about at the time and know what went wrong. There’s not one point I can remember where things went bad. I don’t know why I lost it—I just did. I was on my hopeful pace throughout the first 11 miles (I think). I thought I was being so smart running down the fist part of Boston. Maybe I wasn’t as tough as I thought I was—the mentality of putting on your running brakes for the first portion of the course and then finding your groove sounded like something I could do….but I didn’t. I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s best not to overthink Monday’s race. Yes—I trained for this race for a long time. And yes, people knew I wanted to do well here. These are things that make it a little hard to take—like a punch in the stomach. But what feels worse is just wanting it for yourself and then failing to come through.

I run for a lot of reasons. I love the sense of joy I get from being outside—just me and the world. I can always count on my body to take me places I couldn’t find without running; and my legs always bring me home. I love the friends I’ve made out on the roads—friends I wouldn’t have without running. I love getting up early in the morning and starting out my day before the sunrise—when it’s still dark outside and the shadows are all mysterious. Yet when the sun comes up everything becomes clear and beautiful. I guess I see running as being sort of like a sunrise. I can go out with a foggy head and not knowing anything—unanswered questions float around in my head all murky and sometimes a little dark and scary. And when I’m done, I realize I don’t need to know anything—because everything will take a shape and shine and I just don’t need to worry.

When I enter a race, I want to do well. Not against anyone else necessarily—but just for the joy of pushing myself. I don’t like to over think anything during a race. I like to go out and push until I have nothing left to give. It’s fun to improve and to reach new heights. It’s easy to think that if you push yourself and give all you have, then you have nothing to be disappointed about. But when you have goals and you miss them by a long shot, then disappointment can seep in. I guess that’s the trouble with putting pressure on yourself—there’s room to mess up. At the same time—I’d not like never putting any pressure on myself. I think I’d just get complacent and I’d miss the joy in trying.It’s funny, something that can bring your mind such clarity can also make you so confused. But you know, what would life be without a little uncertainty? There’s beauty in not knowing. I don’t have to know what went wrong with me to be okay. I’m so lucky to even be able to wonder. I’m happy for any minute I get to run—with the wind blowing by and the air on my skin. I’m not sad about my race now—I just needed a little time to gather my feelings and to put them in writing. Boston was special—the sense of belonging—with thousands upon thousands of runners beside you and even more people showing such support and love for humanity—the world is so much more than yourself. I’m so happy I got to run in the race—and I’m especially happy to have finished. : )

"The Boston Build"

I started with the Boston Build 24 weeks ago, after taking roughly 2 weeks of very easy running post Columbus Marathon. Things started off sort of rough as far as things clicking and I was actually feeling a lot like I did all last winter/spring through the middle of January with this build. But I kept doing things as close to plan as possible and went into the ING Miami Half at the end of January juts looking to hit roughly goal MP. That day went smooth and things seemed to really come around the months of February/March.

I have done 4 races this build, using two of them as more of a planned hard workout.
1) ING Miami Half Marathon (tried to run close to goal MP) 1:12.38/5:32pace
2) Winter Series 5miler (ran hard to test things on a tough course) 25:49/5:10pace
3) Shamrock Half Marathon, Va Beach (Far off goal but still not a bad day looking back on things) 1:10.34/5:23 pace
4) Joker 4-Miler (I wanted a hard tempo like effort and walked away very pleased especially since I ran slightly longer course due to missing the turn around) 20:19/5:05pace

Probably the most important aspect of Marathon Training out of all the miles, tempo work, intervals, and hills is the LONG RUN. I took the approach of not over doing the pace on long runs. I tried to get them all in easy to steady effort with many/most over hilly loops. In all I covered in the 24 weeks 9 20+ milers which included two 22milers plus one 24miler and 25miler.

Lot's of medium long runs of 12-15miles (that has become close to my normal training run length during marathon phase)

Here is a 24 week breakdown with just a little bit of details (Click on the Training Log Tag at the bottom of this post to see more detailed week by week training):

1- 50miles
2- 71miles (LR 15miles)
3- 75miles (LR 15miles)
4- 70miles (LR 18miles)
5- 91miles (20miles, 5mile SS)
6- 97miles (LR 20miles, Steady State 3x2workout)
7- 94miles (LR 20miles, 5mile SS
8- 105miles (LR 21miles, 6mile SS, Stride Workout)
9- 95miles (5mile SS , SW)
10- 61miles (LR 16miles, Hill Bounding, sick at beginning of week)
11- 96miles (SW)
12- 102miles (LR 22miles and 18miles, Long Hill Workout, CI 10x800s)
13- 64miles (ING Miami Half, Tempo Intervals 3x2miles)
14- 70miles (LR 17miles)
15- 98miles (LR 21miles, Fartlek 9x4min on/1min off)
16-98miles (LR 22miles, Fartkek 15x1on/off, Tempo Intervals 6xMile)
17- 72miles (Yasso 8x800, Fartlek 10x1on/off, WS 5mile Race)
18- 98miles (LR 24miles, Tempo Intervals 8xMile)
19- 80miles (Fartlek 15x1on/off, Failed MP run(only 5miles), Dog Bite week)
20- 80miles (Shamrock Half Marathon, Interval/Tempo workout 800-4mileTempo-800)
21- 104miles (LR 25miles, 4Mile Joker Race, Tempo Intervals 4x2miles+2x1mile)
22- 90miles (LR 17mile Progression ,Fartlek 15x1on/off, 2x4mile SS)
23- 70miles (LR 15miles, Fartlek 9x1, 6mile SS)
24- 45ish miles (Tempo Intervals 2x2mile, 4x800(3days out at Tempo))

25--Boston Marathon --Monday--April 19th--10am