Boston Marathon Training Update - Week 8

So this was kind of a strange week for me…with some good news and some bad news. The good news is that I completed my longest training run ever this weekend and finally cracked 40 miles for the first time all season. Wahoo! The bad, well, let’s just say my pace was just a bit haphazard and my motivation has been waxing and waning all week. That’s why I decided towards the latter part of the week to join up with Flyer friends for a group run and ask another to be my pacing buddy for my long run. I went in knowing full well that my overall speed would suffer a bit but thought the social support I’d gain would be well worth it.

Week #8 (2/9-2/15)

What I Planned:

Tempo Run: 8 total miles with 6 tempo miles at 6:30 pace

General Aerobic Run: 8 miles at 7:05 pace

Weekend Long Run: 18 miles at long run pace

Recovery Run: 5 miles at easy pace

Total week 8 distance: 39 miles

What I Ran:

Tempo Run: 8.7 miles with 6.1 tempo miles at 6:25 pace [Avg HR 163]

General Aerobic Run: 5.2 miles at 6:52 pace [Avg HR 147]

Recovery Group Run: 6.1 miles at 8:29 min/mi pace [Avg HR 132]

Weekend Long Run: 21.6 miles at 7:29 pace [Avg HR 143]

Total week 8 distance: 41.6 miles; avg pace – 7:23 min/mi

How I Ran:

The week started well with a fast six mile tempo run in the park. Because I cleared my target paces for my last few tempo runs by a fairly wide margin, I recalibrated my training paces for speedwork with my race result from the Bronx Half Marathon. Although this adjustment produced numbers that looked more appropriate for racing rather than pacing, I surprisingly still managed to complete my first tempo session under these new guidelines by a comfortable margin. Five the next day was a delight as the temps reached upwards of 50 degrees. I kept it at a light pace and didn’t dare push the mileage as I ran with a recovery mindset throughout. I got home late from work the next day, but still managed to meet up with the Flyer group for the Thursday night run. The six miler with old familiar faces was nice, fun, and relaxing even if the wind was gusting and threatening to blow us over with every step. After a much needed rest day, I met up with BH at Union Square for the feature presentation this week – the dreaded weekend LSD. I had 18 on the schedule while BH had 20. I had never run long with BH before, but since he has already run a marathon this year, the ING Miami Marathon in a spectacular time of 3:01:18, and had run Boston the year before, I was delighted to just be tagging along. We ended up having a great run, touring through sections of town I’d never traveled through before. We went down the East Side, over and back on the Brooklyn Bridge, over to Wall Street, then down around the Ferry Terminal to Battery Park, and back up through the West Side and over to Columbus Circle until we reached Central Park once again. My favorite part of the run was when we ran through the cobblestone roads of the financial district amidst city folk and tourists walking leisurely by. As we ran from street to street, dodging cars, pedestrians, and the occasional bike, it felt more like we were filming action sequences for the silver screen than out and about on a weekend long run! Eventually, we parted ways once we finished the loop and made it back over to Engineers’ Gate. He left to stretch and refuel while I did another loop around the reservoir. The effort felt easy the entire way to the point that I was sure I could’ve run another 4 miles and finished a marathon. My friend had other ideas however, as he told me a little later that I ran a bit faster than he had anticipated and he hit a wall and struggled after mile 18. I didn’t really notice as I developed a sense of tunnel vision for the finish after reaching the park. I really need to learn to pay more attention to others when I’m running, especially when they’re running with me! (Run), Live and Learn.

Hope everyone had a great weekend! I’m looking forward to the myriad of races I’ve got coming up in the next several weeks. It all kicks off with a 10-miler in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park next Sunday. I’m getting excited just thinking about the race. Let’s hope this enthusiasm lasts me for the entire week.