Boston Homework

Reading the recently unfunemployed's blog about Boston Homework reminded me that I have the 2007 and 2008 Boston broadcasts on my DVR. Time to watch them again. And agan. And again. If I could only figure out how to get them off my cable DVR box I could let the Boston newbies watch them.

16 Easy MLR Yeah right...

Sean was out to punish himself today. I'm always up for some of that action so I tagged along trying to at least prevent him from killing himself. We did the South Austin Ramble from Rogue. I was kind of tight at the start but once I warmed up, Sean and I clicked off mile after mile at 7:15 pace. Overall run came in at a 7:28 pace. On the outbound, we heard a major car accident but couldn't see where it was. I had to fight the urge to go see if I could help but with no phone and no real clothes I couldn't have done much in any case so we kept going. Boston is now 20 days away. I haven't gotten excited yet but I am feeling a quiet confidence that has been lacking for awhile.

Just Visualize It. Honestly

I've been able to consistently visualize a perfectly executed Boston Marathon for a full week now. It has been at least 2 years since I managed to get into that zone. I have decided that it has to do with honesty. I set the goal for myself to run under 3 hours at mile 23 of the St. George Marathon on October 6, 2007. The "goal" for Boston the following April was 3:10. But I know now that I was not being honest with myself and by mile 3 at Boston I was chasing 3 hours and finishing in 3:59. I have a plan that should insure a big PR. If it is a "bad" day and I run the 3:10 paces to the finish that's a 10+ minute PR. If it's a good day I'll run a 3:06-3:08 and a great day I can see running under 3:05. If I can remain honest with myself to mile 15 of the 2009 Boston Marathon I WILL HAVE A GREAT DAY. If not, then I will once again end up in the gutter. I got in an honest 10 mile run this morning 21 days to the hour before the start of Boston. I "saw" myself running a smart race and kicking it in from Heartbreak Hill past the Citgo sign under Mass Ave and down Boyleston to the finish line. Now I'm going to go get an honest shower.

Thats a wrap

No alarm set this morning. Slept till 8:15! Haven't managed that for months. We have a busy day scheduled so I had to get out the door for my run. Did my usual 10 miler on a crisp and sunny morning. Lots of walkers and joggers out today, even saw Jack on the Bike near my turn around. Didn't wear the watch so no recorded pace info but I felt pretty good after nearly 25 yesterday. Ended the week with 70.4 miles even missing 2 days of running. This coming week marks the last hard week of Boston training. Then we start the peak phase before racing on April 20th. I am beginning to incorporate the race plan into my visualization process now. The hardest part is going to be holding back on the first 15 miles. I have trained for so long to attempt a 6:50 pace that an average pace of 7:12 for 15 miles will seem pretty easy. Historically, I have had great difficulty picking up the pace after running more than a few miles. Even in training it has been hit or miss when closing or on soul busters. I'm not too worried about the Newton Hills. My breathing will limit the exertion level. The biggest concern is the final 4 miles. They are nearly flat and I struggle to hold pace on level ground. I worked on that a bit yesterday but without mile markers or Geek-O-Meter I don't know if I was successful. I am glad to have a plan this time. The challenge for me now is to execute that plan.

Oh What A Beautiful Morning

I'm probably recycling the title, but what a great day for a run. 41 degrees, sunshine, running buddies and 24+ miles to enjoy it all! I've missed 2 days of running this week so I was pretty fresh today. I got off course a couple of times and ended up running 24.7 miles at a 7:35 pace. I'm not racing the Cap 10K tomorrow, instead I'm signing up for the Zooma Half Marathon (yeah I know it's a "women's" race) but Ruth Anne is running it and I'm going with her and missing the long run next week so....

New Shoes Ahhhhhh

My 2 pair of Asics Piranhas arrived yesterday. I've labled them Pair 1 and Pair 2. I plan to alternate runs in them until they each have 40 or so miles then pick one to race in. I'll limit the miles to less than 60 on the race pair. Today I walked Eileen to school and started my run there. I have a 10 mile route starting at the school but I don't like the 2 miles of running along Jollyville Rd with no sidewalk. I'll have to see if I can create a better route for the future. Didn't wear my watch but I felt relaxed and smooth. A little tired from yesterday's workout but no pains. Tomorrow will be a circus and I may not be able to get the run in with the team. Bad weather would actually help me out in that regard.

Boston Plan

If you plan to run the Boston Marathon, you need to check out this spreadsheet. After our Warhurst workout this morning, I talked to Steve about my race plan for Boston. It is time to run a good race so I took his advice, mixed in a little Geezer juice and came up with "The Plan".

The Goal: Run a sub 3:10 marathon with the opportunity to run significantly below 3:10 if the day is good.

The Plan: Plug in the 3:10 goal time into the above spreadsheet. Select fairly even pacing strategy with a medium fade.

Phase I: Run 15 miles at the resulting paces. Average pace 7:12 cumulative time 1:47:58.

Phase II: Drop the pace to 7:00 for the Newton Hills miles 16-20. Average pace 7:08 cumulative time 2:29:58.

Phase III: Drop the pace to whatever I have left to the finish. I will try for a 6:45 pace to the finish. If I can manage that, the average pace will be 7:04 with a final marathon time of 3:05:09ish.

So where is the sub 3 hour plan? After a post Boston recovery period, I plan to resume my high mileage base running of 80+ miles per week. The only change will be to push my daily paces down by 10-15 seconds per mile. Ruth Anne is hoping to train for and run a Boston qualifying time in 2009. We have reviewed the 2009 fall marathons and have selected 2 potential races that meet her and my goals. We are going to enter the St. George lottery as a team. If we are successful, the advantage is that we would train with Team Rogue for peaking on the same weekend as the most likely team race. If we are not successful, we would likely select the Midsouth Championship Marathon in Wynne Ark in early November. We have run this race before and look forward to running this very well run small town marathon again.

Warhurst II and SB II

Today was the Warhurst again. After logging only 8 miles last week I had no idea what to expect. Would I feel recovered and fly or would I feel fat and out of shape? The answer turned out to be a little of both. The target paces were 6:30 and 6:10 and I managed 6:29 and 6:12 overall. The last mile repeat was quite slow but the final 1200 was on pace so I didn't completely die. This morning I finally recorded my SB II numbers. the 20 mile warmup came out to an 8:00 pace. My 5 miles on the track were 6:53 6:53 7:04 6:56 6:43.

Had the chance to discuss my Boston plan with Steve after workout today. His suggestion: 3:10 pace for 20 miles then see what I've got. He thinks that gets me a 3:07 marathon at Boston. If I can commit my HEART to that I believe that is totally doable. It is time to make a plan, commit to a plan then execute that plan at Boston. I will play with those numbers today and see how I feel about it. I felt out Bruce today to see if he might drop back and run with me at Boston. If he likes the sound of a 3:07 and would run with me that would be great. If not, I need to take responsibility for my own success and execute the plan. I'll get back to you on that...

Welcome to the real world Neo.

Like Neo unplugged from the Matrix, we're back from the beach. In body anyway. From a vacation perspective, it was great. Spotty Internet connection and limited cell phone signal meant that I could just turn off the world for 6 days and see how that felt. It was the first time in my adult life to just let it all go and enjoy the beach, my kids, Ruth Anne and the rest of the family. And that I did! Hydration was ensuring that I got at least 4 margaritas daily. Electrolyte intake consisted of a bag or so of salty chips daily. As we drove to the house, I understood how difficult running was going to be. The highway was a 2 lane road following the coast with lots of blind curves and steep hills. Traffic was heavy and speeding was the norm. The "roads" in the subdivision were either 2 rut dirt roads or cobblestone with short but VERY STEEP ups and downs. That was out. The beach in that area was narrow and steep with rocky sections. Around high tide, the only exposed sand was deep and dry with lousy footing. At low tide a shelf of solid basalt was exposed too rough to run on. I ran twice on the beach. 4 miles the first time. I tried to run 10 on Thursday but cut my toe after 4 miles and called it a day. This morning, we walked Eileen to school then I headed out on my usual route. Not knowing how I would feel, I planned on doing at least 6 and no more than 10. I ended up feeling pretty good for 8 miles and kind of pooped for the final 2. Happy to be back where I can run consistently. No thoughts yet about setting a goal for Boston.

Standing on the Platform

I fell off the 3 hour train today. The engineer is an asshole anyway.
I hope to catch a ride on the the 3:10 to Boston and see how that works.

Sent from my iPhone

Soles and souls

10 easy miles this morning. Ruth Anne got a 12 miler in with her group Whoo Hooo, so I had to run a little later this morning. I've worn the soles off my last pair of Pirahna's having logged somewhere around 330-350 miles in them. Didn't catch it in time to get a replacement pair in time for Soul Buster II. So I am a little concerned about knees and hips on the run. My feet seem to handle it just fine. I have lots to do today, and Eileen says I STINK so off to the showers.

Cold and Wet 10

I got my 10 miles in this morning in the cold misting rain. Never got into a groove, was too cold to let my mind wander much so it was basically a long boring not so much fun run. I think I am focused on (freaked out by) Sunday's Soul Buster. 20 mile warm up with hills then on to the track for 2 miles MGP (6:50), 2 miles HMGP (6:29), 2 miles 10K (6:09) then 2 mile cool down = 28 Miles! The run starts at 6am, I should be to the track at 8:40am, finished on the track at 9:20 and done by 10am back to the house by 10:30, in the shower by 10:45, clothed and fed by 11:15 in the airport van 11:45am then on the beach at Punta Del Burro (North of Puerto Vallarta) by 7pm. Ahhhhhhhh.........

Oh What A Beautiful Morning!

The alarm went off at the usual Thursday time of 4:20am. You know how sometimes you can just tell that its going to be a beautiful day? Well, I could tell immediately. Had my esspresso and took care of the pre-workout business then headed downtown for the Team Rogue workout. Everything we do this week is in preparation for Sunday's Soul Buster II. Today was Ruth's Ladder on the Eastside track. The neighborhood was just waking up as we cruised over to the track. Everyone had a smile for us as we passed. The sky was just beginning to lighten up as we arrived at the track, so we all took a moment to just revel in the beauty of it all. Then the workout started. 600 with 400 recovery, 400 with 200 recovery, 300 with 100 recovery, 200 all at 5K pace. Repeated 2 more times then cruise back to Rogue. None of us even paid attention to the watch splits choosing instead to enjoy each other's company and run based on effort. It was just such a wonderful time out on the track with my friends that all my splits were a bit slow but I'm not going to stress over it. There will always be another workout to focus on the paces.

Cold Front and Deer

I checked the temp while making coffee this morning: 72 degs. I checked the temp beofre I headed out on my run: 52 degs. I checked the temp when I got back from my run: 46 degs. I ran in wind and light rain for most of my 10 miles this morning. Not one of the regulars was out so it was a solitary run. Thats OK. The only item of interest was at one of the 4 way stop signs. I arrived just as a car to my right stopped so I was looking at the driver to see how we were going to work this out. Well, she was looking behind me and pointing. I glanced over my shoulder and there were 20 deer trotting along in the middle of the road about 20 feet behind me. They followed me like that for about 3 blocks before turning into a wooded lot. Another easy 10 notched as the anticipation for SB II grows.

A Great Start

The time change has messed with my sleeping. I looked up at one point last night and it was after 10:30 and I wasn't in bed. I decided that I could skip the easy run with the team, sleep in a bit then run on my own. Finally got in bed but was waked up a couple of hours later with my wrist throbbing. I don't know what I did to it yesterday but it was really hurting. Finally got up and took some Advil and that kind of dulled it enough to sleep. When Ruth Anne got up and found me still at home, she took the opportunity to get her run in while I slept a while longer. She was happy and I was happy! Eileen was a bit grumpy getting up this morning so I offered to walk her to school if she wanted. That got her excited so I got dressed for running and walked her to school. What a great way to start the day! I mentally changed up my route in order to get my full 10 miles in and when I mapped it later it was 10.01. Not bad for guessing! I haven't seen Kitchen Timer Man yet this week but I did stop and introduce myself to another of the regulars. Sometimes I would see him walking his Dalmatian and sometimes I'd see him doing intervals or other workouts along my route. His name is Skip and his dog is Domino. We talked for quite awhile and I had a bit of a struggle to get back running again. He was asking me about a nutritionist so I gave him my email address and I will put him in touch with Meredith if he contacts me. I had my watch on today and ended up running 7:45 average pace. Nice and easy going into SB II.

A Little Wanky

Looking at the little video clips we made during our bare foot running adventure yesterday, I discovered that I have a wanky arm. Kind of like that wussy Steven Seagal, my right hand does a panzy little cat swipe. I thought I had corrected this years ago but there it was, plain as the really big nose on my face. So, I had something to think about on my easy 10 miler this morning. Every time I relaxed or focused on something other than my arm swing I found myself doing it again. I am really going to have to work on this one. Kind of nice to have something to work on besides my feet for a change!

A Good Day for the Soul

This morning I got Ruth Anne and Eileen up and dragged them out to IMF for some barefootin'. Ruth Anne has accepted my fondness for barefoot running as just another of my slightly (or not so slightly) out there compulsions growing out of my marathon addiction. I have tried to explain to her and many of my friends and fellow runners that an easy barefoot run in the grass is like a massage for the soul and the sole. Surely you can remember when you were 7 years old. You went to the park, kicked off your shoes and played the entire day in your bare feet. Well, I am here to tell you that at 30, 40, 50 or 90 you can recapture that feeling by finding a nice patch of grass, removing those overprotective overcorrective overinvective beasts from your feet and walking, jogging or running to your hearts delight. Using the neat little FlipVideo gadget, we captured the joy of a 7 year old running free, Ruth Anne rediscovering running barefoot and me reconnecting with mother earth and getting in a good workout too.

I can't imagine a better ending to my longest and hardest week of training ever. 85.4 miles is a new weekly high even with three of the longest and hardest workouts I've ever done. I am most excited by a comment Ruth Anne made as we finished up breakfast at Central Market "we should make this a Sunday ritual, barefoot running followed by breakfast." I believe I am saved.

After a fabulous morning, we had some of Ruth Anne's horse ladies come visit. They are planning a workshop at our place in a couple of weeks and we all wanted to know how Billie the Mustang would react to lots of people and horses in HER place. Well, she was as calm and laid back as you can imagine. We rearranged a few fence panels and we all think it will be a big success.

A Successful Week

Steve pulled out all the stops this week. Tuesday 5 Warhust repeats, Thursday Rollers on Steroids and today's 3x5 mile repeats at MGP on a loop with not 10 feet of level ground. Only one really steep up near the end but you were either climbing or dropping the entire time. Our 3 hour train (6:50 pace) got dynamited today. The engine, Mike and the stoker, Jason (Tempo) held pace on all three laps. Bruce encountered gastric distress (sounds better than saying he puked) at the start of the second lap. Amazingly he wiped off his chin and finished the entire workout at or near pace. Damon fell off the train and got run over by a truck from the looks of things. Ramon started out strong running slightly ahead of the train but fell victim to yesterday's difficult travel circumstances and not only got hit by the same truck as Damon but dragged under it for a complete mauling. Nothing quite as dramatic for Geezer today. The first lap was a breeze right up to the final steep climb. I went anaerobic on the climb and had not fully recovered for the start of the second lap. Average pace 6:48. I fell 15 seconds off the train by mile 2 of the second lap but amazingly caught up by mile 3. I intentionally held back on the final climb and tried to close in the final 1/2 mile. Came up a few seconds short and averaged 6:53 on lap 2. Managed to catch my breath but the legs were now going into shock. Lap 3 started out like it was going to be a death march. By mile 1 I was off the back and 15 seconds slow. Kristen was taking the final lap easy and I caught her just about mile 1. She didn't take to kindly to getting passed by an old geezer and picked up the pace. I took the opportunity to latch on and see if she could pull me in. It worked and I clocked a 6:38 and 6:43 before the final two climbs. Ended lap 3 at average pace of 7:03. Workout total: 4.2 warm up, 15 miles average pace of 6:55 (3:01:13 marathon!) 4.2 cool down for 23.4 miles. With one more day to go this week I have 80.2 miles, 1 mile more than my biggest week of 2009, and nearly 30 miles at an average pace of around 6:43 pace. I'll live with a bit of a fade today. No crash and burn, no walking, no puking. Whooo Hoooo!!!!!


0:33:29 0:07:58 Warm up
0:36:39 0:08:44 Cool down (I left it on the course!)
0:06:42
0:06:42
0:06:43
0:06:56
0:06:59 0:34:02 0:06:48 Lap 1
0:06:48
0:06:44
0:06:42
0:07:01
0:07:10 0:34:25 0:06:53 Lap 2
0:07:08
0:06:38
0:06:46
0:07:10
0:07:38 0:35:20 0:07:04 Lap 3
0:06:55 Overall average

Julia's Rollers

This morning I read the latest post on Julia's Blog. As little as we have in common in the real world, Julia and I have shared the same love-hate up-down good-evil relationship with our running over the past few years. While Julia and I have known for some time that we have this in common and have offered each other support and understanding, I don't think either of us has been able to lead the other to a place beyond the conflict and torture we subject ourselves to in our running. This may or may not help my friend Julia, but I am going to share a revelation about myself that I recently discovered:

My running has improved recently so I am mostly running from a good place. Last Friday though, I woke up in a bad place. Angry at the world and anxious to go run my way out of the darkness. I got dressed, put on my shoes and grabbed my watch. I was going to run my entire 10 mile run at a 6:30 pace even if it killed me. I was going to kill myself running. (Metaphysically) As I put my hand on the doorknob it occurred to me that if I went out that door, I could throw away all of the recent gains I had made in my running in one run. I have called it my "competitive drive" but I realized at that moment that I have often used my running as a means of punishing myself. That led me to realize that I want my running to be a positive force in my life for as long as I am able to run. I know that every run will not be a great run. I know that I will struggle at times and triumph at times. But I am determined to never again use a run as a means of punishing myself. I closed the door, changed out of my running clothes and took a day off from running.

So, Geezer/Julia, you are a gifted runner. You know that running has become part of who you are. You know that when it all comes together you are capable of posting times that many runners can only dream about. BUT, you must also know that your running can be used for positive or negative. I now believe that my running failures are the result of putting my running to use for negative purposes rather than positive. So take off your watch. Map out a beautiful run and count the number of trees in bloom or introduce yourself to a neighbor you've seen many times but don't yet know. Running will save you if you let it.

I'm off to get in a quiet 10.

Nice easy 10 miles completed. Met Max, Man of the Jungle, today. He's the old guy who's dog barks at me every day. He spent 2 months clearing all of the brush from the corner down the street so we could see cars coming before we turn! My goal for next week is to meet Kitchen Timer Man. He's the gentleman in the fishing hat and vest with a kitchen timer clipped to his pocket. I've told him I like his timer but now I need to know his name. Then I'll have 3 alibis: Jack on the bike, Max of the Jungle and Kitchen Timer Man!

Rockin' the Rollers

So Steve mapped out a new route for the rollers. One look and my knees went wobbly. Increased the distance to 13.3 miles, doubled the number of hills and doubled the elevation change of those hills. Gave us a mile of recovery then tempo/steady pace back to the start. Overall pace for the workout worked out to 7:14. 7:04 on the 5.36 miles of rollers! 6:41 on the tempo/steady portion. I am finally back in the conversation. This kind of workout will bust up the train but after today, I know I am on board. Amazing to me that just a month ago, I was being dropped on our base building runs.

Jack on the Bike

Today was a post Warhurst recovery run of 10 miles. I decided to leave the watch at home and run easy. It was plenty warm but windy. The running itself was uneventful but today was a day for random thoughts and observations.

The first thought was a recollection of MY advice to Jeff at the beginning of the Austin Marathon training: Pick one day a week to push your pace and just get the mileage in on the other days. I am going to follow my own advice in 2009.

Second item, one half mile of beautiful asphalt on Western Oaks replacing the dreaded chip seal.

Third: I saw the old guy on his bike wearing his green safety jacket that I see 80% of the days that I run in my neighborhood. I don't know why but it triggered a paranoia episode. How would I ever "PROVE" that I was running for 1 1/2 hours if I needed an alibi? I run the same route nearly every time and see the same people but I don't know anyone's name or even where they live.

Four: Shortly after turning around I saw the guy on the bike again coming toward me. As he got close I crossed the street turned around and matched his speed. I introduced myself and he said "Jack". "Nice to meet you Jack" "I see you out here nearly every day, how far do you ride?" "30 miles a day. Keeps me going." "Wow, that's impressive. Well, now that I know your name I can say 'Hi Jack' instead of just 'Hi'" "Have a good ride Jack!" "Have a good run!"

Five: I was very happy for the rest of the run knowing that Jack on the Bike is now my alibi!

Warhurst/Warhurts NAILED

The workout was too long. 5 repeats of 1 mile loops at tempo pace and 1200m on track at 10K pace. The paces were too fast. 6:29 pace on the mile repeats, 6:09 pace on the 1200s. The last time I attempted this workout was prior to St. George 07. It was 3 or 4 repeats working off of the 3:15 marathon paces of 7:04 and 6:41. I puked. I didn't finish it. Today I completed all 5 repeats averaging 6:27 miles and 6:09 pace on the 1200s. It hurt. But damn it felt good to get the job done. I just found my St. George log: 3 repeats and I cut the last 2 to 800s on the track. Miles were 7:40s and track was 6:44 pace.

Cold as a witch's ***

Eileen is still home from school and Ruth Anne has GRI training this week so I had to get my run in early. At 5:45 the temp was 34 and breezy. I selected a heavier long sleeve shirt and light jacket, socks, gloves and hat and started out. I didn't start the watch today and planned to run as slow as I could comfortably run. Well, I never warmed up. My feet were cold, my hands were numb and my nose ran like a faucet the whole time. The sunrise was spectacular but I was so cold I was only able to acknowledge it not revel in it. Anyway, 10 miles for the week. Tomorrow is the Warhurst workout. I HATE this workout. I have never been able to put together a complete Warhurst. We will be doing 5 repeats of: 1 mile loop at tempo pace (6:29), a short recovery jog to the track then 1200m (3 laps) at 10K pace (6:09), a short recovery jog to the start of the loop. Maybe I can nail this workout tomorrow and remove the Warhurst from my most hated list. The only question now is who to pace off of, Mike or Bruce.

Sunday Services

Today was a beautiful service on the roads. I waited a bit for the sun to come up full to cut the chill a bit. Decided to wear tights and no watch. I think I saw a temp of 36 with 20 mph winds out of the north shortly before heading out. On the final 2 miles of yesterday's run we ran on the Lady Bird Lake Trail and my feet have some bruises from rocks that in trainers I would never have noticed. So I wore my Hyper Speeds today. Normally Sunday is a slow run after a long Saturday run but today I felt GREAT. I saw my neighbor walking his little dog that barks at me, he said Hi for the first time in 2 years! I saw a new jogger in the neighborhood and commented on how beautiful a day it was. She agreed! I saw the new distance runner in our area but we were both pushing the pace and went past each other so fast we only had time for a nod. I need to find out who he is. All of the area churches must have canceled services today because there was NO traffic. Everyone I saw had a smile and a wave for me. The air was clear, the sun was bright and I felt like a million bucks. After my turn around, I began thinking again about my race at Boston. How do I want to run it? Bank some time on the first 15 miles? Go for even splits? Can I manage a negative split at Boston? When I came back to the present I realized I was really trucking. No watch so no known pace but I felt fast.