i want adventure in the great wide somewhere - running journal! (comments welcome)

Boston Marathon Journal
​
I ran! on Wednesday I was already stir crazy and needed fresh air so I took my brother's dog out on a 3+ mile walk. I let the dog direct me so we just kept turning and going down more streets and adding on to get a solid walk. That felt good and the next morning I woke up wanting to run so that's where today's entry starts.

February 15: 3.00 miles • 33:46 • 11:15 avg pace
Like I said, I woke up on Thursday wanting to run because I felt so much better. I texted my coach and told her I was feeling good and was going to try for 4-5 miles. She said if I wasn't at 100% I could take another day or two off, and so I thought about it for a bit and decided that 3 miles is plenty since I wasn't back to 100% and didn't think jumping right to 5 miles was smart. So I laced up the shoes and went outside. This also happened to be a progressive run, with the miles going 11:26, 11:17, and 11:02. Looking at my heart rate, I was in zone 3 for 64% of this run and 18% in zone 2 (the other 18% was zone 4 at 11% and zone 1 at 3%). My lungs and legs both felt good!

February 17: 6.56 miles • 1:17:29 • 11:49 avg pace
Because Thursday went well, my coach put a "short" long run on my calendar. I had 2 miles warm up, then 3x1 mile at marathon pace (11:02) with 3 minute walk recovery and a mile cool down. I went out to the course for this one and - quick aside here - the ability to train on the Newton hills is truly incredible. I feel really lucky and prepared because of this access to the course. Okay, back to the run.

The warm up I made sure to go SLOW down heartbreak hill and kept the two miles at 11:44 and 11:55. My first two marathon miles were super steady at 11:05 each. I basically ran down to the firehouse and back. I also ran up the firehouse hill without stopping for the first time ever! A big milestone for me. My third mile was speedy at 10:42 and this was up the Newton Hills. I'm so proud of this effort post-Covid. My cool down was at 11:39. My coach said I could have gone to 8 if I wanted to but I decided to stay conservative and stop at the end of my cool down.

This coming week will be busy with four days of running and a total mileage of over 30! It's go time!
 


Boston Marathon Journal
​
Is it really a training cycle without a run that makes you question everything? No, no it's not. Well, good thing I had mine today! Now we can move past it and just have better runs next time. I'm not 100% sure what caused the bonk at the end of the run, maybe it was the addition of some threshold paced quarter mile intervals. Maybe it was the cider/beer flight I drank the night before. Maybe I didn't eat enough carbs the day before. I'm not sure, but it's in the past (well, your future, you still have to read about it).

February 20: 7.07 miles • 1:19:31 • 11:15 avg pace
My workout was a long one today! I had a 2 mile warm up, 1 mile at marathon pace (11:02), 4 x .25 at threshold (9:55) with a 2 minute jog recovery, a 3 minute jog recovery, then 4 x .25 at critical velocity (9:14) with 2 minute jog recoveries, and ending with 1 mile cool down. This went really well! I felt steady and the last few intervals were harder than the first ones but I still got them done at goal pace.

My warm up miles came in at a nice and easy 11:53 and 11:45. Then my mile at marathon pace was 11:04 - nearly perfect.

4 x .25 at 9:55: 9:57, 9:50, 9:48, 9:50 - a little fast on the last 3
4 x .25 at 9:14: 9:15, 9:09, 9:19, 9:17 - and a little slow here - could have saved some energy in the first four

Not mad about these efforts at all. My cool down was 12:34.

February 21: 4.00 miles • 47:01 • 11:45 avg pace
I did these solo after work and did a nice job keeping easy miles easy. My HR stayed in zone 2 and 3. I'm glad I didn't go too fast after the workout the night before. Super steady, too: 11:57, 11:51, 11:51, 11:20

February 22: 5.00 miles • 55:28 • 11:05 avg pace
Another easy 5... and technically this is much faster than my easy pace, but I only moved into zone 4 for fewer than 5 minutes. My heart rate was almost entirely in zone 3 and zone 2. And I didn't feel like I was pushing pace. My first mile was 11:41, then 11:08, 11:00, 10:46, and 10:52. After my run I talked to my coach while we sat for coffee and we decided speed shoes were totally fine to try out but to not use them on a really long run for the first time, but to save them for a shorter workout and see how they feel in practice. More on that at the end since I went shopping after my long run.

February 25: 15.01 miles • 3:01:38 • 12:06 avg pace
I already told you that this gets wild, so I have to say off the top that I am happy with my pace. Okay, now let's talk about the workout. I woke up and had a PB&J toasted English muffin for breakfast, which was my pre-run meal in the early days. I digested, used the bathroom, then drove to the bike path for my run. No course today.

So the workout was a 2 mile warm up, then 9 intervals of 1 mile at marathon pace (11:02), a 2 minute walk, and then a quarter mile at threshold (9:55). This started out fine! I did my 2 warm up miles at 12:04 and 12:04. Oh yeah, I was a metronome for those first two miles.

Then I began the intervals, and here they are (the first time is the mile, the second is the quarter mile, I'm not recording the walk pace but in general I go about .11 in 2 minutes).

(mile & .25)
11:00 & 9:54
11:08 & 9:51
11:04 & 9:56
11:14 & 10:02
11:08 & 9:40
11:05 & 10:19
11:35 & 10:01
12:36 & 10:53
14:18 & 10:21

As you can see, I was pretty much fine for the first 6 intervals. I'd even argue that the 7th was slower, but not awful. I remember realizing that the mile interval felt too easy when I got lost in my thoughts and realized I fell into an easy pace and by the time I noticed I could only catch up so much.

The 8th interval? I could NOT get my legs to pick up and it only got worse from there. By the end I was shuffling along and the only reason that that quarter mile is at a 10:21 is because someone passed me and I decided to try to chase them as fast as I could.

When it came time to cool down (14:50) I gave myself permission to walk if I needed to and just get to 15 miles. without going too much over 3 hours. Listen, it is what it is. They can't all be winners.

I parked strategically so after my run I could walk through a coffee shop for a chai latte and then straight to the shoe store to get fitted. It was SO busy in there but I want to keep my long story on the shorter side, so I'll just say that I'm sticking with my Ghosts for my easy runs and I went to the 15s in a really pretty white and purple color way. For speed shoes she had me try a few different pairs - Hoka, New Balance, Puma and Saucony. I did not like the Puma right away - they just didn't feel good. Saucony felt good. Hoka and New Balance both hurt my knee when I tried to jog in them. So I went with the Saucony Endorphin Pro 3 in the pink color way.

Anyway, more on those shoes when they arrive (the color had to be ordered to my house) and I give them a try!
 
Boston Marathon Journal
​
I can't win. This was supposed to be my cutback week and I got norovirus yesterday so I cut way back and did not do my long run this weekend, but let's talk about the rest of the week.

February 20: 7.07 miles • 1:19:31 • 11:15 avg pace
My workout was a long one today! I had a 2 mile warm up, 1 mile at marathon pace (11:02), 4 x .25 at threshold (9:55) with a 2 minute jog recovery, a 3 minute jog recovery, then 4 x .25 at critical velocity (9:14) with 2 minute jog recoveries, and ending with 1 mile cool down. This went really well! I felt steady and the last few intervals were harder than the first ones but I still got them done at goal pace.

My warm up miles came in at a nice and easy 11:53 and 11:45. Then my mile at marathon pace was 11:04 - nearly perfect.

4 x .25 at 9:55: 9:57, 9:50, 9:48, 9:50 - a little fast on the last 3
4 x .25 at 9:14: 9:15, 9:09, 9:19, 9:17 - and a little slow here - could have saved some energy in the first four

Not mad about these efforts at all. My cool down was 12:34.

February 27: 5.00 miles • 56:32 • 11:18 avg pace
For once I had easy miles on a Tuesday so I met up with the girls and got them done. 11:18, 11:27, 11:56 (not sure why there was one super slow mile in here but there it is), 11:04, 10:46.

February 29: 5.75 miles • 1:02:09 • 10:48 avg pace
My workout this week was on Thursday! I had 3 warm up miles, then 2 x 6 minutes at 9:44 with a minute walk, then 6 x 20 seconds at 9:14 with 20 second jog recoveries.

I got there early to do a warm up mile with the girls, then my next two warm up miles was also with the group. I was nervous that I would go out too fast in the warm up and it would ruin my speed intervals, but it ended up not being an issue at all. My warm up miles were 11:11, 11:09, and 11:03.

The intervals came in at 10:01 and 9:50. And then the speedy sprints at the end were more all over the place. It's kind of hard to find your pace in just 20 seconds. By the time you get it, it's over. Anyway, they were 9:17, 8:45, 10:04 (there was an ice patch that I didn't want to slip on), 9:20, 8:39, and 8:11.

Then I had a mile cooldown which I did most of it with a friend and then the last bit solo. That was in 10:46, so a fast cool down.

This workout was supposed to be 5.56 miles in 1:03:20 but I went further, faster! Very happy with this workout.

I guess it was nice to have such a great workout after my terrible weekend. I woke up Saturday morning planning to meet some of the girls on the Boston course but my stomach had other ideas for me. Instead I spent the day on the couch suffering from horrific stomach pains and I'll spare you the rest of the details. Let's just say I haven't eaten, nor have I had the desire to eat, in over 24 hours now.

What was nice is that I did get out for a 4.5 mile walk today with my mom so I got my legs moving and fresh air and Tuesday will be a new day with a good 6 mile workout. I'll also be taking the new Endorphin Pros out for their first run! Very exciting.
 
Boston Marathon Journal
​
She's baaaaaack! I survived last week's noro and I'm a person who eats food again and I wore new shoes! That's right - the new shoes I bought had their debut runs this week. I'll talk about those as I talk about the specifics of the run.

March 5: 6.25 miles • 1:06:50 • 10:45 avg pace
This Tuesday night workout was a 2 mile warm up, 3x1 mile @ 9:55 with 2 minute walk recovery, 1 mile cool down. The V.O2 estimate had me running 6.21 miles in 1:08 and I ran (slightly) further in less time so go me.

Warm up: 11:17 and 10:51
Mile Reps: 10:00, 9:50, 9:44
Cool down: 11:03

Okay, the shoes: I ran in the new-to-me Saucony Endophin Pro 3s (pink - beautiful) and they felt good until the last mile or so. They became uncomfortable after a while, like my sock had bunched up under my baby toe, and then that discomfort became pain during my cool down. I was so excited to take them off my feet and change into my Birkenstock clogs. I considered bringing them back to the store and told Carmela via app comments what was going on with how they felt and we brainstormed what was going on (more on that in the next run).

March 7: 5.00 miles • 55:05 • 11:00 avg pace
Easy, rainy miles this morning. It started off less rainy and got progressively more rainy. Nothing remarkable to report on. I also saw my coach so I asked if she wouldn't mind taking a look at the Pros since they were sitting my car from the previous night.

So after my run I threw those on and did a few strides and ran back and forth a few times at various paces so she could see me run in them. Her exact plea was for me not to return them and to turn them into race shoes for 5ks and maybe 10ks and wear them for speed work on the track because she said that I ran great in them at those fast speeds. And we decided to keep with Ghosts for the longer distances.

March 9: 17.00 miles • 3:17:38 • 11:38 avg pace
My long run! This was a fun day because our club did a supported course run with water/fuel stations at mile 10, 15 and 20. We were all dropped off at the start line in Hopkinton and finished at various places along the course. My V.O2 workout estimated me at 16.32 in 3:13:15 and I ended up going further in about 4 more minutes. Not bad at all.

So let's dive in. The workout was a 2 mile warm up, then a mile at marathon pace, a minute walk, 3 minutes at 9:55, a minute walk, a mile at easy pace (repeat that series 6 times) and a half mile cool down. Aaaand here is how I did (without the walk paces because that doesn't matter, but in general I go about .05 or .06 in a minute walk) plus some information about the course.

Warm up: 11:42 and 11:40
The first two miles are literally right downhill. Like, start at 455 ft and dropped to 300 in the first two miles. I expected this since I've read a ton about how the early downhills of Boston can shred your quads so I focused on keeping my pace easy, small steps, leaning slightly forward and letting gravity help but not pull me.

Rep 1: 11:03, 9:41, 11:27 (These felt super easy which makes sense because I was still running downhill before the course flattened out)
Rep 2: 10:57, 9:57, 11:28 (Again, feeling strong and like I don't have to put in a lot of effort to meet paces, the course is relatively flat with some gentle rollers)
Rep 3: 11:03, 10:01, 11:29 (Still feeling good. Still relatively flat. Not a super entertaining part of the course - just lots of main roads and stores on either side)
Rep 4: 11:06, 9:59, 11:51 (My easy miles begin to slow down here, but I was still in the target paces. I thought I only had one more rep after this but was incorrect)
Rep 5: 11:04, 10:06, 12:09 (I realized that I did in fact have one more rep after this and when I was slowing down on my easy miles I just repeated "Run the mile you're in" over and over to help me focus on the here and now instead of worrying about the last 3 or so miles)
Rep 6: 11:09, 10:19, 13:08 (Had to work for these ones. My feet started to hurt, I got a weird stitch in my stomach/ribcage/lung area, and I did some extra walking during the easy mile and cool down as the first of the Newton hills was the hardest its ever been for me - normally I don't even notice this hill.)

Cool down: 12:49

Those first three reps went great! I was just about right on point. After mile 2 the course had more downhills and it flattens out around mile 4 and stays flat until about mile 15 where there's a massive downhill for a mile and then the Newton hills start at 16. I ran the first of the Newton hills this time but have run all of them on other workouts this training cycle. It got hard and I got worried because my running brain fog mixed with an attempt to do math had me convinced I had to finish the whole marathon in 5 hours or under and I was convinced I couldn't do it. And then I remembered I have 6 hours to finish and I can do that.

Overall I am so happy with this workout. I left it with confidence. I'm not going to be attempting 9:55 pacing at all so I probably began to fatigue earlier than I will during the race since I'll be running much easier the whole time.

Got a BLT after the run. Then went and borrowed my friends normatech boots for a half hour as a recovery aid. Today my quads are sore so I'm getting a good taste of what to expect in just about 5 weeks!
 


Boston Marathon Journal
​
It took two full days to recover from my long run. The quads were soooooore. I spent Sunday in the car because I drove to Hopkinton and then all the way down the marathon route to show my parents so they could start to plan spectating. The only difference is that you can't turn right on Hereford in a car. Darn one way Boston streets.

March 12: 6.74 miles • 1:13:48 • 10:57 avg pace
I ran solo because it was sunny out after work! I wanted to run in daylight instead of at dark. My workout was 2 mile warm up, then 6 x .5 miles at 9:55 with 2:00 jog recoveries and a mile cool down.

Warm up: 11:25 and 11:04 (oops - too fast!)
6 x .5: 9:50, 9:43, 9:53, 9:43, 9:48, 9:48 (oops - too fast!)
Cool down: 11:50

I can't believe I managed to run this workout. First of all, it was warmer than I expected and I had long sleeves and pants which was not the vibe. Second, I was a little too fast and ended up doing some jogging and some walking on my recoveries. Had I slowed down a hair I could have maintained the jog recovery instead of slowing to walk. Honestly though, this isn't bad because I was worried I wasn't recovered enough and would have to switch to an easy run and save the workout for Thursday. While I ran I took a few breaks to text my friend Christina who has bronchitis! Her healthy training cycle comes to a pause while she rests up before her goal half marathon race in April.

March 14: 5.00 miles • 55:03 • 11:00 avg pace
I got to the run early at 6 am for 2 miles with two of the other Boston girls and one of last year's Boston girls, then we circled back to the group for more. It was nice to only have 3 to go. Faster than I should be again, but my heart rate isn't too high and I can chat the whole time! Followed it with breakfast (bagel with cream cheese - sort of starting a mini carb load for my half marathon on Sunday to practice for Boston) and coffee.

March 16: 3.00 miles • 32:21 • 10:47 avg pace
I forgot how fun it is to run 3 miles and then be done! This is a little shakeout run before tomorrow's half marathon. I started nice and easy at 11:03 (okay, a little fast) but then about halfway through the second mile my friend Suzanne popped up behind me and we chatted for a while and I guess I sped up because mile 2 was 10:45 and then she went off to do the 5 route and I stopped to wait for the other 3 mile girlies. So my last mile was 10:31. Followed it with breakfast. Race day tomorrow! This race is just marathon pace miles and some fueling practice for Boston. I'm gonna go repeat that to myself a hundred times in the mirror so I don't try to race it!
 
Before I did my first Boston, I did a half 3 weeks before. It's still my PR. Whelp, so much for not racing! Hope you "race" was better paced!
 
nancipants said:
Have fun and good luck today!
Click to expand...
jmasgat said:
Before I did my first Boston, I did a half 3 weeks before. It's still my PR. Whelp, so much for not racing! Hope you "race" was better paced!
Click to expand...

Thank you both! I had a fun day - did a good job keeping it conservative and no PR this time but had lots of fun on the course and didn't let the sun or hills get to me! Proud of the effort. Race report to come today!
 
Boston Marathon Journal
New Bedford Half Marathon Race Report

Pre-Race​

I met up with Joyce and Lana at 7:15 at Joyce's house so she could drive us down. I had no real plans for getting to the race and when she and I saw each other at Saturday's shake out run she invited me to join the carpool. Some of the other women in our club were talking about leaving at 7 am so we were a little panicked that we needed to go very early but they said that 7:15 would be fine

We drove to get bagels (I get a french toast bagel with nutella) and I also got chocolate milk and ate it in the car, so our actual "leave time" was closer to 7:45.

We were parked outside the YMCA by 9:00 or so, so we had lots of time to kill. We went inside to get our bibs and use the bathroom, and then went back to sit in the car. We saw some people run by on their warm up. A little bit later we went back in for one more bathroom break and it was MUCH busier by 10:00. So getting there early was nice, but maybe not necessary.

I had brought an uncrustable in case I was hungry again before the 11:00 am race start but I was decidedly not.

At about 10:40, Lana and I walked to the start. Joyce had left 5-10 minutes before us so she could warm up. We took a photo and couldn't find anyone so we self seeded into the corrals. I settled in behind the 2:30 pacer group and she went up further. Also ran into my college roommate's current roommate in the corral

Race​

The gun went off and about 2 minutes later I crossed the start line! My V.O2 had me running 13.1 miles (1 mile warm up, 11 x 1 mile at marathon pace with minute walk breaks between each and a 1.1 mile cooldown) in 2:35:21. She left a note telling me to go on feel but not push the pace since we're keeping our eye on the prize (Boston).

Also a worthwhile note: I am staring at my V.O2 and my Garmin and Stava and trying to make sense of my runs and my walks and which ones did I skip and how did I manage to skip a marathon mile interval and if there's one thing I'm good at, it's getting caught up in minute details and losing all sense of the point of what I'm doing. So... I am challenging myself to just write this based off memory and the occasional glance at my Garmin map.

My intent was to hang out with the 2:30 pacer who was going to be averaging an 11:25 pace, but I decided against it pretty quickly. Let's get into why.

Mile 1: 10:57 (-37 elevation)

This course starts out on a downhill, so when I looked at my watch and saw that I (and the pacer) was starting at a pace faster than my marathon pace I quickly tried to pull back (with little success, clearly). Some warm up mile this was. Luckily my friend Fay was right behind me and saw me so she joined me and we decided to hang out together for as much as we could.

Mile 2: 11:13 (+30 elevation)

My first "marathon" paced mile. This started flat and then began the first climb of the race. Starting to get warm here: I had worn a long sleeve shirt under my singlet because the weather said partly cloudy and 50s and windy so I thought rolling my sleeves would be enough. I was wrong. Skipped the walk break. Marathon interval was 11:14.

Mile 3: 11:46 (+25 elevation)

The third mile I believe started with a little down hill/flat into another big uphill. I wanted to run up hills as much as I could, no matter how slow, as practice for Boston, so I did. Skipped my walk break. Marathon interval was 11:46.

Mile 4: 12:15 (+62 elevation)

Big hill continues! I just pushed my way up it. I had not taken a walk break yet and was determined not to - no matter how slow. This was followed by a little downhill through a neighborhood. At the end of mile 4 I took my first walk break and extended it into the marathon pace mile because I needed a costume change. It took some maneuvering, but I got the long sleeve off and tied it around my waist. Down to a singlet and shorts! Marathon interval was 12:17.

Mile 5: 11:43 (-39 elevation)
Continuing on, nothing remarkable about the course here. I remembered parts of it from when I spectated. It's downhill here but all very gradual. Marathon interval was 11:18 and I skipped my walk break.

Mile 6: 11:05 (-25 elevation)

Same as mile 5. I felt like I was settling into my paces. Marathon interval was 11:09 and I took my walk break.

Mile 7: 11:37 (-81 elevation)

Ditto mile 5 and 6. I did start to think I needed the bathroom, so I was considering popping off the course to head into a gas station or fast food spot, but managed to wait. The last big downhill. Marathon interval was 11:13 and I took a walk break.

Mile 8: 11:46 (-2 elevation)

Still feeling good. It's warm and sunny and I did not expect that so at water spots I throw some down the back of my shirt to help cool me down and that works. I've learned my lesson about throwing it over my head. That just sends rivulets of salt water into my eyes. Down the back always now. The course settles into gentle rollers/mostly flat here. Marathon interval 14:03 and I skipped a walk break.

Mile 9: 14:03 (+12 elevation)

Potty break! Kept my watch going since this was a race and not a training run. It took some maneuvering but the portapotty was pretty clean and smelled fine! That post-portapotty adjustment is hard. I also saw a table and a big crowd of people with "carb water" (beer) so I stopped for a small (like, a double shot size) of beer. Marathon interval 11:12 and I skipped my walk. I think at this point my marathon intervals and the miles don't align because of the walk breaks, so I think the potty spot for intervals was captured in the previous mile.

Mile 10: 11:08 (-8 elevation)

Cruising! The water was gorgeous. It was windy and my friends complained about it but I loved it because it helped to cool me down. Marathon interval 11:00 and I walked.

Mile 11: 11:28 (+1 elevation)

Still cruising. Passing people. I started to get ahead of myself and think about the uphill on the final mile and the downhill right after so I had to remind myself to just run the mile I was in. Marathon interval 11:19 and I took a walk break.

Mile 12: 11:52 (+10 elevation)

A little slowdown as the heat does what heat does. I took a few salt tabs earlier and I had also done a decent job fueling, taking a maple syrup before the run, at mile 3, mile 7, and mile 9. Had I known it would get so warm I would have done salt earlier. Marathon interval was 12:18 and I walked.

Mile 13: 12:39 (+64 elevation)

After hitting the mile 12 marker (so the 13th mile) there is a very long, gradual hill. I once pulled someone off the course because he couldn't walk straight. Not me. I ran up the entire hill and when I got to the top it was downhill to the finish. I just focused on getting up the hill, not my pace. This was technically all part of my 1.1 mile cool down (actual distance was less than a mile because of the walking breaks adding up) and the pace was 11:08.

The final .2 miles is all downhill (-11) and part of my cooldown! I sped up a hair but didn't push the pace.

FINAL TIME: 2:35:35​

I ran almost exactly the distance and time my coach estimated me at. Imagine if I didn't stop for the bathroom/beer/to change and the course was more gentle rollers/flat instead of hilly and the weather was cooler? My fitness is in a better spot than I realized so this was another confidence booster.

Post Race​

I got my medal and saw Fay who had played leap frog with me when she went to the mile 5 bathroom stop and I passed her, then she passed me when I did my bathroom stop later. So she finished 2 or 3 minutes before me. She was heading home and I walked about a quarter mile to a restaurant where Joyce, Lana, and a bunch of others were meeting for a late lunch/early dinner. I got clam chowder and some salmon nigiri and it was really good.

IMG_8385.jpeg​

Then the drive home and I was half asleep on the couch after my shower. My niece requested a movie so I put one on and my mom took one look at us laying on the couch with our feet overlapping and knew we would both be out in no time.
 
Last edited:
Boston Marathon Journal
​
It took two full days to recover from my long run. The quads were soooooore. I spent Sunday in the car because I drove to Hopkinton and then all the way down the marathon route to show my parents so they could start to plan spectating. The only difference is that you can't turn right on Hereford in a car. Darn one way Boston streets.

March 19: 4.07 miles • 45:02 • 11:04 avg pace
My schedule had 45 minutes easy so whatever I ran in that time was my run. I considered running solo so take advantage of sunlight but it's so rare I can go to the group run on Tuesday and run easy with people so I did that. Met up with the girls for the 4 mile route.

March 21: 6.57 miles • 1:09:06 • 10:31 avg pace
I had a conference this week, so instead of my run I drove north and did my run after the keynote speaker. This city is hilly but my half marathon PR is here. I had a workout of 2 mile warm up (done in 11:05 and 11:16) followed by 6 x 2 minutes at 9:14 (with a 2 minute jog break) and then 6 x 1 minute at 8:49 (with a 1 minute jog break) and a cool down of 1 mile (done in 10:43).

Before I show you my reps, here are the hills:

IMG_8458.PNG

And now here are the reps

6 x 2 minutes at 9:14: 9:15, 9:16, 9:17, 9:09, 9:19, 9:28 (this last one was straight up a hill)
6 x 1 minute at 8:49: 8:41, 9:01, 8:52, 8:37, 9:38 (I straight up don't know why I was so slow on this one), 8:27

Not bad! Finished up and went to my hotel room to freshen up before my team and I all went out to dinner. Since the weekend would be my final long run I began a carb load of sorts (really just eating carb heavy compared to my usual diet) with lots of bread and apps and pasta for dinner.

March 24: 18.56 miles • 3:38:25 • 11:46 avg pace
This is going to be a long one (pun intended). Like I mentioned, I aimed for a carb-heavy diet on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Bagels, pasta, cream of wheat, pancakes, you get my drift. Since I was driving home from the conference Saturday and the weather in New England was awful, I moved my run to Sunday.

This was the plan: Kayla and I would meet at 7:15 at the top of Heartbreak Hill. We'd leave my car and drive to Hopkinton. Kayla would drop me off at mile 2 and then continue to the start line to meet Katie. So the plan is going great. I wake up and have PB&J on an English Muffin and head out the door. I park. I grab all my things and get into Kayla's car. We start driving. I realize I never put on my watch and it's sitting on its charger at home.

Yep. No watch. There's no time to go to my house or to have someone bring it to me, so I have to improvise. I transfer my workout into RunKeeper on my phone and turn the volume up. It'll have to do and I'll try my best to run by feel and hit the paces, checking my phone every so often.

I get dropped off at mile 2 and start. Let's look at the mile by mile breakdown and then I'll also do the workout pace breakdown.

Mile 1: 11:38 • Mile 2: 11:21 • Mile 3: 11:30 • Mile 4: 11:28 • Mile 5: 11:03 • Mile 6: 11:29 • Mile 7: 11:17 • Mile 8: 11:39

A solid first 8 miles. This basically is Ashland to Natick. Downhill then mostly flat with some gentle rollers.

Mile 9: 12:12 • Mile 10: 12:02 • Mile 11: 12:39

At mile 9 I really started to fatigue mentally, but I was at least looking forward to seeing my friend Kristin who was parking at my 12th mile so we could run the final 7 together. She had 7 miles on hills that she normally does on Monday but came out to run with me instead. So I ran through Wellesley and met her there!

Mile 12: 11:55 • Mile 13: 11:34 • Mile 14: 11:22 • Mile 15: 11:51 • Mile 16: 11:51

Can you tell that I had a friend now? Suddenly I'm speeding back up to those under 12 miles! At one point I turned to Kristin and realized we had run almost 3 miles and only had 4 left and I didn't even notice it went by so fast. Also somewhere along here Kayla caught up to us at the end of her marathon paced miles so I gave her my keys in case she got to my car first.

Mile 17: 12:19 • Mile 18: 12:33 • Mile .54: 11:55

And here is where I hit the hills of Newton! What's crazy is that this isn't even really the worst of the hills. That was earlier in my run, around mile 15 where we see a little slowdown. But I have to pat myself on the back because my running intervals I ran without stopping, even up hills. I might have been a shuffle, but I was running. And I know that I can hit those hills on race day after lots and lots of miles and make it up them.

tempImageuPzPRY.png​

Once my workout ended I walked up to my car and Kristin had about another half mile to go so she ran up the rest of Heartbreak. We had caught Kayla as she finished at the bottom of Heartbreak and so she and I walked up the rest of it together.

All right, now let's break down that entire run a second time, this time with the workout I was supposed to do. The workout was 1 mile warm up, then the following sequence seven times: 1 mile at marathon pace, 1 minute walk, .25 mile at 9:55, 1 mile at marathon pace, 1 minute walk. Then I ended with a mile cool down. I was expected to run 18.87 miles in 3:28:41. My V.O2 app also had my walk breaks listed as jog breaks, so I think it expected me to go further faster whereas I was like "um.. no we're walking" so I went less far in more time, but it's more accurate of what my training has been all this time.

Ok so my mile warm up was 11:38 and my cool down (jumping ahead here) was 11:50.

Interval 1: 1 mile at marathon pace: 11:22 • .25 at threshold: 10:19 • 1 mile at marathon pace: 11:26

During my first intervals, I did try to hit paces. I pulled my phone out of my pocket a few times to check on my pace but it was so all over the place second to second that I put it back very fast. I decided to just go on effort. When it was time to walk, I walked, when it was a .25 interval, I picked up the speed. The rest of it, I tried to run slightly faster than easy.

Interval 2: 1 mile at marathon pace: 10:59 • .25 at threshold: 10:20 • 1 mile at marathon pace: 10:52

This might have been on a downhill? Or a flat part of the course? I was sill feeling energized and trying to hit the paces blind. I fueled on my walk breaks as well, alternating with maple syrup and a margarita Clif Blok.

Interval 3: 1 mile at marathon pace: 11:19 • .25 at threshold: 10:08 • 1 mile at marathon pace: 11:43

I'm still trying here with the same strategy as the last interval and taking my walk breaks. Does anyone have advice for remembering to take fuel/the fuel schedule? I get so discombobulated and I feel like sometimes I miss them or can't remember if it's time for syrup or time for salt.

Interval 4: 1 mile at marathon pace: 11:57 • .25 at threshold: 11:19 • 1 mile at marathon pace: 12:20

I think for one of these I forgot part of my walk break because it was fairly fast pace wise in the 14s. My marathon paces are getting easier and easier and my speed paces are getting less speedy. Well, speedy in comparison to the easy but not speedy in comparison to my target pace.

Interval 5: 1 mile at marathon pace: 11:49 • .25 at threshold: 11:41 • 1 mile at marathon pace: 11:40

I think I straight up forgot to take walk breaks here because one was a 13:24 pace and thee other was 11:41. At this point I'm just out on an easy run.

Interval 6: 1 mile at marathon pace: 11:34 • .25 at threshold: 10:53 • 1 mile at marathon pace: 12:13

I skipped my walk breaks or I got confused about what I was supposed to do because one of my walk breaks was a 9:47 pace. So maybe I got to running with Kristin and decided to do speed work again, just not quite when it was time to do it. I also think I skipped a walk break because it was an 11:20 pace. So the workout at this point was a cute idea but not happening in any real way. We had to know it would end up like this when I didn't have a watch on.

Interval 7: 1 mile at marathon pace: 12:14 • .25 at threshold: 11:22 • 1 mile at marathon pace: 12:33

The last one and I know that I didn't skip walks because I took them but somehow my walk breaks, on the hills, were a high 12 pace. My theory is that I realized it was a walk break late or ended it early. We can only speculate.

Well, that was a mess.

After we finished and got back to the car, Katie texted that she was finished so I told her to stay put and we all piled into my car and I started driving. We picked her up about a half mile down the road and then drove to drop Kristin off at her car, then I brought Kayla and Katie to their cars in Hopkinton.

tempImage4yDHGy.png​

As taper starts and drinking ends, we decided to have one last hurrah at the Start Line Brewery in Hopkinton. I got the Marathon wheat beer which was nice and my recovery meal was the adult chicken tenders plate (four chicken tenders with a sweet Thai chili sauce and ranch to dip it in, onion rings, a cookie, and a pickle spear). It was DELICIOUS. And a nice way to celebrate the final long run.

As we were sitting there I had been joking that as Kayla's watch updated her apps and she heard from her coach that she would get a message from my coach asking if she had seen me out there since my watch wasn't updating since I didn't have it and I hadn't texted her about the situation yet. Sure enough, as I was drafting a text to my coach, Kayla gets a text from her that says, "Did you see Jillian out there?" So I texted my coach and filled her in and she was very happy with my run and was more concerned about the totals than the intervals.

All right, that's enough From me. Here's one final photo of me in my neighbor's norma tech boots.

tempImage5B8jMD.png​
 
Boston Marathon Journal
​
Taper time! I've only cried once! That's a pretty big deal. I am ravenous, though. I went to dinner with my family last night for Easter and I had some mac and cheese and tuna tartare with avocado as appetizers, then a Caesar salad with shrimp for dinner, then finished my mom's pork and mashed potatoes, and STILL had room for dessert. I. Am. So. Hungry.

March 26: 4.00 miles • 44:22 • 11:05 avg pace
Another easy Tuesday! Went out with the girls and did another accidental progression run: 11:21, 11:01, 11:04, 10:52. Well, almost progression run. Let's just reverse mile 2 and 3. Grabbed dinner after. I'm not drinking right now for my taper so I just had water with dinner.

March 29: 6.57 miles • 1:09:06 • 10:31 avg pace
It was pouring rain on Thursday with bad visibility so I ran on Friday instead with Jen. I had 5 easy miles and she had a workout with a few 8:49 miles so I did NOT join her for that nonsense. We warmed up together, then I caught her on a cooldown mile for like, .12 of a mile and then caught up to her again for part of the cooldown. I got splashed with 1.5 miles ish to go so that was very motivating and my final miles were fast: 11:50, 11:02, 10:36, 10:27, 10:22. Whoops. Those were kind of fast. Maybe I was chasing Jen more than I realized.

March 30: 10.58 miles • 1:57:39 • 11:07 avg pace
Flyyyying! I didn't realize that I had a workout. Oops! I thought my long run this weekend was just a few miles to warm up and then some marathon paced miles with walk breaks but I was incorrect. I had a 2 mile warm up, then 6 repeats of 1 mile at marathon pace, 1 minute walk, and 2 minutes at 9:55, then a mile cool down. Sorry to my friends who agreed to run my "easy 10" with me.

Soooo let's dive into the workout a bit! My warm up miles were 11:11 and 11:01. We ran the "hilly 8" route.

IMG_8485.png

Look at that fun spike! That's around the end of the third mile and definitely the worst one. And look! I still maintained marathon pace there. And then my first walk and speed mile were a nice steep downhill. I told the girls I was running with not to feel obligated to join me for those and if they had opted out then I would have probably paused my watch after each one for them to catch up, but Kristin joined me for it and our return to the marathon paced mile was slow enough that Katie could catch up. She did a good job of staying her course and not getting caught up in my speed nonsense.

Interval 1: 11:01 & 9:17
Interval 2: 10:50 & 9:44
Interval 3: 11:03 & 10:08
Interval 4: 10:56 & 9:33
Interval 5: 10:51 & 9:40
Interval 6: 11:08 & 10:07

Cool down was a solid 11:38. Considering the hills of this route I did a nice job with my marathon paced miles, mostly faster. I definitely hit one of the speedy 2 minute intervals on an uphill, maybe the third one? And then the last one was also on a small uphill at the end.

Followed this up with breakfast and the taper continues! I can't believe we're now TWO WEEKS AWAY from race day! I'll check the weather on Sunday night, okay?
 
I download the Boston app and found you (a little intuitive race Googling--hope that's not too creepy!) Looking forward to tracking you on race day.
 
nancipants said:
So excited to hear about your race day! Congrats on all your training!
Click to expand...
Thank you! 13 days!!!
jmasgat said:
I download the Boston app and found you (a little intuitive race Googling--hope that's not too creepy!) Looking forward to tracking you on race day.
Click to expand...
Yay! Honestly, I've done some of my own intuitive race Googling. Glad you were able to get me in your tracker! You'll be the first to know from this community when I finish.
 
Boston Marathon Journal
​
Single digit countdown! Today was our kick off breakfast/party so it was nice to celebrate after my last "long" run with the club. Other than that not the most eventful week, which is nice.

April 3: 3.67 miles • 42:30 • 11:35 avg pace
This was ROUGH. It was my last workout and I couldn't do it on Tuesday night and I did NOT know a nor'easter was coming through and that Monday would have been the best day. So I went out after work on Wednesday in the start of the storm. At first the weather was cold and rainy but not terrible, so I pushed on. I did my first two miles (warm up) at 11:54 and 12:02 and the effort I was putting in felt like a 10/10. I took a tiny walk break in the last minute of the second mile and then tried to hit the first of my intervals. The workout was 6 x .25 at 9:55 and I felt stronger after the walk, hitting at 10:05 pace. I did some run/walking for my recovery and hit interval 2 at 10:09, then the third at 9:58. As my run continued, the rain got worse, and I feel like at one point it was sleeting. I was suffering, the weather was getting worse, and even though I was hitting my paces, it all felt so hard and like I was leaving everything I had on this workout. So after the fourth interval (10:04), I skipped to my cool down and ran home (about a quarter of a mile at 11:05).

Looking back - sure, I could have stuck it out, I could have run more circles in my neighborhood for the last two intervals and cut my cool down short but God, at what cost? The weather was so awful.

April 5: 5.00 miles • 55:12 • 11:02 avg pace
Well, that was better. Went out for Friday miles since Thursday was snowing all day. The roads on Friday were clear, and the sidewalks were slushy/snowy, but not so bad that I couldn't go out, so a group of us that normally meet Thursday went out on Friday instead.

April 6: 7.00 miles • 1:17:22 • 11:03 avg pace
My last long run and technically a workout. Started with a 2 mile warm up, then 3 miles at marathon pace, and 2 miles cool down. Started fast and stayed fast. Warm up miles were 11:27 and 11:01, then the marathon miles were 11:04, 10:53, and 10:45, then the cool down was 11:05 and 11:05. A metronome at the end. Ran with Katie and now we count down the days before race day.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page


GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!


New DISboards Threads

H
First time receiving transfer from another member
Replies
0
Views
1
hmccarter
H
M
AP park pass help for today
Replies
3
Views
82
michbaron
M
2
Which building to request for water view..Fiji or Samoa?
Replies
0
Views
37
2tulips
2
W
Storms
Replies
0
Views
53
WEDWDW
W
P
Late Oct stay at BLT, chance of being moved?
Replies
1
Views
47
_auroraborealis_
_auroraborealis_
P
Storm a long bay
Replies
0
Views
61
Pinnochio
P
NEWS & UPDATES



Latest posts







facebook twitter
Top