Archive for October, 2008

The Boston Marathon

October 30, 2008 at 11:24 pm · Filed under Running ·Tagged

I wasn’t sure whether to post this because I feel it indicates a level of commitment I haven’t quite reached yet. But I’ll post it anyway.

I’m planning to run the Boston Marathon this year as part of the Tufts Marathon Challenge. This will be my first marathon, and the Tufts team provides coaching, group runs three times each week, and treatment for the injured. In exchange for raising $1000 for nutrition, medical, and fitness programs at Tufts, I will receive an entry into the race. I feel a bit odd about running Boston without qualifying, but as a charity runner I will be helping my university fund research into an important area, and as a grad student I definitely appreciate the importance of funding university research.

Based on my recent 5k PR, the McMillan Running Calculator predicts a marathon time of 3:25 for me. That seems too ambitious for my first marathon on a tough course, so I am setting my sights on finishing between 3:30 and 3:40. I think that’s a more reasonable goal, and if my training goes surprisingly well I can always re-evaluate it later.

I have been running about 25 mpw through the summer with long runs of 10 miles, so I’ve got a decent base for marathon training. I’m planning to use a training plan from the Runner’s World Smartcoach system, which builds a training plan for you based on your currently weekly mileage and a recent race result. The training plan consists of one speed session (usually a long tempo run, and sometimes an interval workout) and one long run each week, filled out with easy recovery runs. It is the same training plan that I used for my half marathon, and I thought it did a great job of preparing me and pushing me harder than I would have on my own. The long tempo runs in particular were key to my strong performance in the race. I plan to start at 30 mpw and peak at 50, increasing over 16 weeks. I will start my official training on December 29.

I also plan to continue building my base until I start the training plan. This week I plan to run 30 miles, then 33 miles next week, and 36 the week after. Every fourth week I will cut my mileage by 1/3 to recover. I will build to 40 mpw and hold there before starting the training plan. I will also keep my speedwork to a minimum in this phase; I will be doing almost entirely easy runs. Hopefully this slow buildup will help me avoid injury as I add intensity and mileage during my marathon training.

So there it is. I’m both excited and nervous about this. We’ll see how it goes.

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Samaritans 5k

October 4, 2008 at 11:02 am · Filed under Running

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I ran the Samaritans 5k this morning as my final 5k of the season. I’ve run this race twice before, posting a 25:57 in 2004 and a 24:38 in 2005. My goal for this race was to finish under 21 minutes. I ran 21:25 in Memphis two months ago, and I’ve been pretty consistent with my training and especially speedwork since then, so I thought I had a good shot at it.

The day was perfect for a race, with temps around 60 degrees and sunny. The course is flat, with mile markers every mile and a USATF certification so you know you are running the correct distance. It is also not too crowded, so you don’t have to worry about a crowd at the beginning holding you back.

My plan was to run even splits at 6:45/mile. The issue with this plan is that I very rarely run that fast in training. I hit that pace on my 800- and 400-meter intervals, but that’s it. I also haven’t ever run a full mile in less than 6:45; now I was planning to run 3 of them.

I lined up near the front and waited for the start. For the first 1/4 mile or so, there was a pretty substantial crowd running around 6:10 pace. I was very surprised by this, but I figured most of them would drop back by the first mile. This might have caused me to go out too fast, but I finished the first mile in 6:42, which is exactly where I wanted to be. The second mile started to wear me out, but I apparently was running pretty fast: 6:39. The third mile was horrible, the most uncomfortable I have ever been while running. About 2/10 of a mile into it, I looked down at my watch and discovered I was running at 7:05 pace! I picked it up and finished the 3rd mile in 6:54. The final 1/10 went by in 42 seconds, a 6:10 pace. Final time: 20:59. I did it!

A few notes about this race:

  • I went out too fast. I wanted to keep up with the small crowd at the start, and I didn’t want to get stuck behind slower runners. I’m not sure if this was a good idea or not.
  • I wanted to try running even or positive splits in this race. In nearly all of my previous races, I’ve gone out conservatively and picked up speed during the race. I felt I was leaving some time on the table with this strategy, and I think my early pacing has been too conservative. So this time I purposely picked a slightly faster pace than I thought I could handle and tried to hang on. I fell apart a bit with that 6:54 3rd mile, but I still PRed.
  • I had a hard time finding someone to pace myself with. At the beginning, it was hard to tell who would be able to maintain their pace. It really wasn’t until about halfway through the race that you started to settle in and recognize people around you. My most consistent pacer was a girl who ended up finishing as the #2 woman. I passed her on the Eliot Bridge during the 3rd mile. Then with 1/10 of a mile left, she sprinted past me to the finish. I didn’t have much left at this point, but this got my competitive juices flowing and I kicked as hard as I could. I didn’t catch her, but I’m convinced I wouldn’t have finished under 21 if she hadn’t passed me. Then she stopped and doubled over just past the finish line, and I nearly ran her over. :)
  • This was the most painful race I’ve run. It’s getting harder and harder to run these races. I think my days of big improvements from race to race are over; it’s incremental improvements from here on out.
  • Sub-20 minutes is within sight. I need to run roughly 20 seconds per mile faster (6:26 pace). I think I will need to increase my training to get there though. I feel I’ve pretty much maxed out what I can do with my current training volume and quality.

Enough with this boring stuff. TL;DR version: I set a new 5k PR today with a 20:59. It was very painful. :)

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