Recovery

A week to think about what happened and do no running or exercising.  Saturday I did a 67 minute strength video.  It felt good, but it was pretty heavy on the lunges and squats.  As a result my legs were super sore Sunday/Monday.  I ran Monday and my knees started hurting after about a mile.  I ended up only running 3.5.  They feel pretty good now, but I'll have to watch it.  Would like to hit some races this fall - and need good knees.

Bay State 2016

I can pretty much just paste in last year's recap:

Yesterday we headed up to Lowell to try and qualify for Boston.  The day was cold - but that may have actually been a good thing.  I started the race with the 3:25 pace group.  They were clicking off a little fast - maybe 7:45s for the first 12 miles or so, probably aiming for 7:23 and change.  I hung with them, actually ran a little ahead of them.  I needed to use the bathroom though, and stopped at mile 12 - losing a minute or so.  I never did catch them - but had them in sight until maybe mile 14 or 16.  Based on my splits, I was just under 7:50 at 16.3.  The wheels started to come off in the 18-20 range, and I ran 8:40s!!! the rest of the race (probably faster in the early 20s and barely running at the end).  Very similar to previous experiences - pain in the groin area and abdomen.  Left knee and left foot also were feeling the hurt.  I kept the legs moving as good as possible, and manged to fend off the 3:35 pace group, for a PR of 3:33 - but falling well short of my goal.  Maybe next year.  

The course was good and really well supported.  One thing I need to improve is more hill work during the marathon training since the hills (miles 14-16), though moderate, really didn't feel good the second time around.  I should probably also aim/train for a faster pace - and then hope when I fall apart that I can still crack 3:25.

Almost the exact race.  I really don't have much to change.  The overall experience was much more frusterating - given all the changes I made: more runs, more mileage, more focus on leg strength. Our pacer was much worse this year - and I didn't use the bathroom - but somehow I had the same left leg problem and ran about 25 seconds worse that last year.  Not sure what happened.  I did swear that I won't run this thing next year.  After a few days off - I'm still thinking that.  I need to find a new race goal for a few years - and maybe try again later in life.

Last two training runs

So I've basically done all the hard stuff.  11 'long' runs (over 10 miles); 6 short interval/track sessions; 6 longer interval/strength sessions and 11 marathon pace runs - most in the 8-10 mile range - of which this morning was my last one.  It lasted 1 hour and 6 minutes and covered 8.5 miles.  I didn't feel great yesterday at work, and not great during my lunch run Wednesday - but felt a little better this morning.  Finished with a 7:42 pace - but was probably under 7:40 for the first 7 miles - before the climb at the end.  I was trying to push - but keep it comfortable.  I ran down to alewife - then the path over to mass.ave - then back up the bike path to my turnaround point and back in.

These are funny runs - because I was really dreading the first 8 mile one I had planned back in July/August.  And they were hard - especially with the heat.  Now, they are still hard - but I feel like I can do them on demand - not really a problem.

Wednesday I did my 2x3 miles at lunch.  A few problems.  It was too hot for what I was wearing - I usually don't have that problem.  My nipples hurt from chafing on Monday - not good.  And I felt like I had the flu.  I almost stopped after the first 2 mile interval - but nips kinda numbed and I decided I would feel worse if i didn't finish. The first two were to fast 7:12 pace.  The middle two I can't pace - and the last two were slower: 7:20 and 7:37.

Finally a taper!  I'm hoping to do 8 on Sunday, 5 on Mon/Wend/Fri - and then run this thing.

Week 13!

Did my final 'long' run for this plan: 10.4 miles at a 8:04 pace.  I really didn't want to run fast - but I do think it is easier to cruise along on the flats after all that hill running.  I was actually aiming for 8:30s, but noticed that my pacing after two miles was about 8:08, so I kept chugging.  It's really not worth going into every mile.  But I did do 7:47 and 7:50 the last two since I was feeling good.  The shin hurt the first mile or two but loosened up nice.  have kind of a blister from the shoe on my left foot arch though.  It's a tiny bubble now - two weeks to work on it - but I think i'll be running the marathon in the older shoes, since I don't have any longer runs to test out these suckers.