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Progress – the Quincy Half Marathon

Posted in boston marathon, race recap, racing, training, tagged boston marathon, BQ, cross training, first marathon training program, Furman FIRST, Half-Marathon, incremental improvement, marathon training, marathon training program, Pfitz, Quincy Half Marathon, race recap, race report, step in the right direction, Sugarloaf Marathon on March 30, 2012| 6 Comments »

I remember way back in high school when I would get up in the mornings before a big test – I’d be a little nervous, wondering if I had studied what I had needed to, wondering if I’d remember anything…

…that’s how I felt two Sundays ago when I woke up before the Quincy Half Marathon. Several weeks ago I made the transition from the Pfitz Marathon Training Program to the FIRST Marathon Training Program. I’ve been fairly determined to make sure that I followed the new program as closely as I could. The very concept of running less to run faster struck me as counter-intuitive, but I needed to do something to get me out of what had turned into an 8 month funk.

3 days a week – that is all I was allowed to run; complimented by 2 days of cross-training – it seemed insufficient, but I was determined to give the program a chance. Really, what choice did I have? What I had been doing before was no longer working.

On Super Bowl Sunday I ran the Super Sunday 5-Miler in Boston and finished with a 34:56. My goal had been to comfortably cruise to a sub-35 minute finish, but in fact, I struggled to make it, pretty much leaving everything I had on the course. That 34:56 translated into a 3:25:30 marathon according to McMillan’s Running Calculator. A couple of weeks later I started the FIRST program. Quincy was going to be my first real test of how much progress I was truly making.

***

Upon arriving, I looked for my buddy JB. You may recall JB as one of the foursome I ran with at Vermont or the buddy who ran the Super Sunday 5 with me. Our plan was to run about 7:15 miles throughout, with the hopes of scoring about a 1:35:00 for the race. It would be a 2 minute PR for him, and would be an incremental improvement on my cardio-health from Super Sunday. Although a 1:35 half-marathon only translates to a 3:20 marathon (5 minutes long of my goal), I figured that it would be a step in the right direction, especially for only 3 weeks on the program.

JB & I pre-race.

We made our way to the starting area and stood silently for the National Anthem – and then it was time to go, literally! Not more than a second after the anthem was done, the starting horn blared.

We were off.

Fortunately for JB and I, we hadn’t moved too far to the front. We were forced to start a little slowly. After a quarter mile of jockeying for position, we turned up the pace and hit the first mile marker right on target at 7:15.

Perfect!

Without really realizing it, we slowly began to pick up the pace. It was still a bit crowded, but the two of us maneuvered our way through. Mile 2 arrived in a quick 7:07…maybe I was a little too enthusiastic?

We slowed it down just a touch for the next three miles, averaging about a 7:10 pace. Somewhere around mile 5 we saw the leader coming the other way…he must have had a good 30 seconds on the guy behind him. At this point, JB and I hit our first hill. My philosophy on hills has been to attack them, lean into them and don’t let them slow you down too much. For this first hill, that plan worked perfectly. I leaned in, JB followed and we passed over a dozen runners before cresting and allowing gravity to feed our recovery.

Once we flattened out, we hit the 6-mile marker (7:06) and we were able to see the rest of the field heading for the hill. At this point, my legs started to feel a little heavy. JB asked me how I was doing. I feel like I’m fading, I said, but only 6 miles in, I knew that it had to be more mental than physical. We continued to press the pace a little. I knew we had some time in the bank to hit 1:35, but I also kept reminding myself that this race was a test of how I was progressing. If I let up too early or left too much out on the course, there would really be no way for me to know just where I was with respect to where I want to be for Sugarloaf. I needed to know if the FIRST program was increasing my cardio-fitness or if I was stagnating.

We covered the next three mile at 7:06 pace. With just over 4 miles left to go, I started doing math in my head. I realized that I could slow down significantly and still hit my goal – but what would that tell me? I knew I had to keep pressing.

Unfortunately, that pressing came just as we hit a final group of hills – despite continuing to pass runners on a regular basis, we slowed into the 7:20’s.

starting to fade a little at mile 11

With 2.1 miles to go, JB started to pull away. He looked back at me as if to say, come on dude! but the hills had taken their toll on me. I shouted at him to just go. He was well within range of not just beating his PR, but shattering it. I pressed as hard as I could – I was determined to come in under 1:35 no matter what. Mile 12 went by in a surprising 7:15.

1.1 miles to go. It was leave it all on the course time. I knew I was less than 7:30 away from the finish. I also knew that I could suffer for that long too. My legs felt heavy and my breathing was labored, but with each tick of the clock, I knew I was that much closer to being done.

As I made my way back into downtown Quincy, I could see JB in the distance. With about 800 meters to go, he was looking great and I had run out of real estate to catch him. I focused on finishing strong. Coming out of the final turn, I realized it was literally downhill to the finish and let it all hang out. Gravity pulled me along at a pace I hadn’t run all race.

With less than 100 yards to go, Racemenu Chief Alain stepped out of the crowd with words of encouragement and a high five. I could see JB waiting at the finish.

Sprinting to the finish

I barreled through the finish, and without slowing down grabbed a bottle water being held out…I couldn’t brake…staring at a table that was closing in fast, I panicked slightly. Fortunately a random runner stepped in to grab me and slow me down. It was enough for me to get my footing and stop.

I looked at the clock.

1:32:forty-something.

Huh?

I wasn’t convinced that I had run that fast. I hugged JB, asking him his time.

1:31:59 – a nearly 7 minute PR for him. When the official times went up, mine was a 1:32:31. I had missed a PR by a mere 8 seconds. In most situations, I would have been mildly disappointed in missing a PR, but considering that just 4 weeks beforehand I wouldn’t have even considered the possibility of PR-ing, and that I had come into the day with an expectation of finishing in the 1:35 range, I was thrilled.

The FIRST program was working. My legs and lungs were getting stronger.

The very next day, I officially signed up for Sugarloaf. To be honest, I had been putting off registering because I was full of doubt as to whether I could even potentially run a sub-3:15 in May. Quincy convinced me that I was on the right track. My 1:32:31 translates into a 3:15:07 marathon. Just a touch on the wrong side of the clock, but a vast improvement from where I was on SuperBowl Sunday.

This Sunday I will face my next test of fitness when I was a local 5K. The goal is to hit 19:54 – which translates into a 3:14 marathon. If I hit 20:00, that still translates into a 3:15.

***

I still may ultimately fail at Sugarloaf come May, but I finally truly believe that I have a 3:15 or better in these legs – and that is a wonderful feeling.

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Setback

Posted in training, Uncategorized, tagged cold, flu, missed runs, running, set back, training on March 5, 2012| 7 Comments »

It was only a week, but I was on a roll. Speed-training, followed by swimming, followed by a tempo run, followed by rowing – I felt great! All that was left of my first week of training under the FIRST program was to get my fast-paced 14-miler in this past weekend.

So much for planning.

I started to feel a little off Friday night, a little tickle in my throat.

By Saturday I was full-blown sick – my head hurt, my nose was congested and runny, I was coughing like a pack-a-day smoker, and my lungs were completely waterlogged. I had to bail on a bowling date with my little one, sending Jess in my stead. I slept all day, hoping that I could lick this thing in 24 hours. With a little luck, I’d get my 14-miler in on Sunday morning and then it was off to my older one’s birthday party.

So much for luck.

I woke on Sunday feeling worse than I had on Saturday. Not only did I not get my run in, but I missed my baby’s party – it just didn’t seem fair to expose her friends to my illness, especially since I was still hacking away.

It’s only one run that I’ve missed so far, but honestly, I still feel like crap and I’ve got another round of speed work scheduled for tomorrow – 3 x 1200m at 10K pace minus 40-45 seconds. If I feel like this tomorrow, there is no shot that gets done.

What if this thing lingers?

What if I get better, but the fatigue doesn’t go away?

At what point do I cut my losses and choose to walk away from Sugarloaf and race another day?

This has been a strange winter to be sure here in the northeast. According to the news we’ve received 8 inches of snow this year. That’s down from over 80 inches last winter and an annual average of about 40 inches. Yet during this mildest of winters I have been sick more times than I have over the last 3 or 4 winters combined. It has not helped my running to say the least, but I think I may know why it has been happening…

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Changing Horses

Posted in boston marathon, motivation, training, tagged Advanced, boston marathon, changing horses, dance with the one that brought you, Furman FIRST, midstream, Pfitz, running, stay the course, Sugarloaf, training on March 1, 2012| 5 Comments »

Stay the course…

Don’t change horses midstream…

Dance with the one that brought you…

***

On October 3rd, 2010, I ran the fastest 26.2 miles of my life. My 3:19:19 at the Smuttynose Marathon qualified me for Boston 2011 and at least got me in the registration door for Boston 2012 (though ultimately I fell 33 seconds short of having my application accepted). To get there I followed Pfitzingers 12/55 (12 weeks, peaking at 55 miles per week) plan out of his book, Advanced Marathoning. Every subsequent marathon that I have run I have tried to follow one of Pfitzinger’s plans, be it the 12/55, the 12/70 or, most recently, the 18/55. When people have asked for advice on how they can improve their marathon times, I’ve directed them to the book. It really works.

But something happened to me last summer – call it burn out or fatigue, my body needed a break. I just wasn’t listening. I kept thinking that if I just continued to push myself, I’d break out of my funk. Marathon after marathon, I set out to follow the Pfitz plan.

But I would miss a workout.

And then another.

And another.

My next three marathons came in at 3:26, 3:43 and my one and only DNF. By the time training for New York City ’11 rolled around, I decided I was just going to run for fun. I just couldn’t bring myself to hitting every run set out in the Pfitz plan. 5 to 6 days a week of running is not easy, especially when you’re in full burnout mode.

***

After New York, my running became even more haphazard. I convinced myself I wanted to get back to Boston, so I searched for a fast, Spring marathon. I set my eyes on Sugarloaf.

A little over 6 weeks ago, I began the Pfitz 18/55 plan. I had to drag myself through the workouts from the very start.

Not good.

By sage buddy Mike suggested that I spend 6 weeks rebuilding my base and then follow the 12/55 plan. As wise as his advice was, I was happier with the concept that I wouldn’t be required to run 4 – 5 times a week than the idea of pushing off the start of my training.

My wheels were spinning.

Then, about a week and a half ago, Mike inadvertently passed along another golden nugget my way. He suggested that I take a look at the Furman FIRST program – essentially it is a Run Less, Run Faster program. The key to the program is that there are only 3 runs per week – a speed workout, a tempo run and a long run. Running is not allowed on any other day. Cross-training on two other days is recommended. Every run is based on one’s 1oK race pace. I was particularly intrigued by the concept that long run needed to be run at 55 – 75 seconds slower than 10K pace – read that again – that’s a good 30 – 75 seconds faster than every other program I’ve followed.

***

Now, I know one is not supposed to change horses midstream and should dance with the one that brought ya, but I have also come to realize that the Pfitz program just wasn’t doing it for me anymore – I had just been unwilling to accept that. I still believe in the Pfitz program and I still would recommend it to anybody who has the commitment and drive to run 5 days a week. I’ve just come to a place where I realize that my body needs the cross-training but it can’t take the constant pounding 7 days a week.

The turning point for me was this last Saturday when I struggled through my run but felt a spark at the end. That’s when I decided that I still had the desire to re-qualify for Boston. At the end of the run I went back and read over the FIRST program again. The more I read, the more excited I got.

I know I am jumping in late on the program – it is a 16 week program and there are now less than 12 week until Sugarloaf, but for the first time in a long time, I believe!

I believe!!!

On Tuesday I had my first speed workout – 10 x 400 meter intervals at 10K pace minus 55-60 seconds. I hit every interval at under 6:00 pace, the last one at better than 5:45 pace. Yesterday I put in 1000 yards in the pool. This morning I have a 5-mile tempo run at 10K + 15-20 seconds pace. The first real test will come this weekend when I put in my first long run of the program – 14 miles at just under 8:00 pace.

We’ll see how I feel after that run, but for right now, at this moment, I believe again…

…I have my plan…

…and I’m glad to be changing horses.

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The Toughest Ten Minutes of the Day

Posted in health, motivation, training, tagged body in motion, couch potatoes, Inertia, motivation, principles of physics, running, toughest ten minutes on January 31, 2012| 8 Comments »

4:10 AM – the alarm on my phone goes off – a mix of a loud snoring sound and the phone vibrating on my nightstand.

4:10 AM.

Ugh.

Am I really gonna do this? Do I really WANT to do this?

10 miles? Really? It’s 30° outside.

It’s cold.

It’s dark.

I could just hit the snooze…or better yet, just go back to sleep until 6:45.

Sleep is good right? We all need sleep, don’t we? Maybe I’ll just close my eyes…

***

I’d rather be sleeping….but then who’s gonna run these miles?
– My post on Facebook at 4:12AM

***

As I covered my 10 miles during the predawn hours this morning, I realized just how good I felt being out there on the road.

Yes, it was early.
Yes, it was dark.
Yes, it was cold.

But I felt great. Despite my apathy at 4:10AM when the alarm went off, throughout my run I. Felt. Great!

I talk a lot on this blog about inertia. It is one of the strongest fundamental principles of physics – a body in motion tends to stay in motion, a body at rest tends to stay at rest. I believe it also is a fundamental principle of the human condition. One of the most difficult things for us as humans to do is to change our inertia – couch potatoes rarely get off of the couch. Compulsive exercisers rarely stop – for fear that they might not get going again.

The key, for those of us in the middle, is to understand that inertia is real and that to go from rest to motion, we must go through what I like to call the “Toughest Ten Minutes of the Day”. It’s those ten minutes of putting on the shorts and shoes, walking out the door and moving that in all likelihood is the hardest part of your workout…unless maybe you’re doing hill sprints, but that’s a different kind of tough. No matter what your workout is going to be, no matter how physically demanding, the key is overcoming the mental hurdle – the anticipation of the pain or burn, the expectation of the cold air, the knowledge that this could take a couple of hours, the call of your pillow, comforter or couch.

That ten minutes before your run can be the most difficult part of your workout. Unlike a job you may not like, you are not getting paid to run. Unlike a class you are dreading, you are not paying to attend. In both cases you have the extra motivation of dollars to show up. Unless you are Ryan Hall, Kara Goucher or the like, you are not getting paid to run. The motivation has to come from within. You have to fight that feeling that maybe I’ll just sit here instead for this workout.

I promise you, if you can overcome those toughest ten minutes of the day, whether in the predawn hours, midday or late at night, the payoff is well worth it.

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I am not Tim Pawlenty

Posted in boston marathon, motivation, training, tagged finish line, iowa straw poll, lactate threshold, marathon pace, marathon training, quitting, running, Sugarloaf Marathon, Tim Pawlenty on January 18, 2012| 7 Comments »

If you don’t follow politics at all, you may not know who Tim Pawlenty is. He is a former governor of the state of Minnesota who decided to run for President. He was part of the large field of Republican candidates who were vying for their party’s nomination. Last summer, after finishing a distant 3rd in the meaningless Iowa Straw Poll, Pawlenty unexpectedly dropped out. Who did come in behind? Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul. He finished ahead of everybody else, yet, because he didn’t finish as strongly as he would have liked in a straw poll, he quit.

***

New Word Definition:

Pawlenty – verb, pawlentied

1. to prematurely stop, cease, or discontinue: She pawlentied what she was doing at the first sign of trouble.

2. to give up or resign; let go; relinquish: He pawlentied his claim to the throne. She pawlentied her job.

***

Earlier this week I started marathon training for the upcoming Sugarloaf Marathon. 18 weeks from this past Sunday I hope to cross the finish line in Kingfield, ME in under 3:15:00. I need to run a sub-3:15 in order to qualify for Boston once again. That’s over 4 minutes faster than I have ever run a marathon. For my very first run, my program (the Pfitz 18/55 plan) called for a Lactate Threshold Run – 8 miles, with 4 of those miles coming in at or around half-marathon pace.

Half-Marathon pace for me should (read: used to) be around 7:05 per mile. Try as I might, on that first run I couldn’t maintain a pace faster than 7:30 per mile for the required 4 miles. Mentally is was a blow. 7:30 per mile is 4 seconds slower per mile than the pace I would need to run 26.2 miles in order to achieve my goal.

And I could barely maintain that pace for 4 miles?

My first thought was I need to re-evaluate; maybe I’ve passed my peak in running; maybe it’s time simply to log the miles, run the races, but ignore the times; maybe I should quit my quest to return to Boston.

But then I thought of Tim Pawlenty. He has GOT to be kicking himself right now. After the carousel of conservative Republicans who have taken turns being the “Anybody But Romney” candidate, Pawlenty has to be wondering “what if?”.

Pulling out prematurely is never a good thing…

***

And so, despite the disappointing finish in that first training run, I am pressing on, because, dammit, I am no Tim Pawlenty!

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Clean Slate

Posted in training, tagged clean slate, mojo, New Year, resolution, running, training on January 9, 2012| 6 Comments »

I have never been big on New Year’s Resolutions. I find them to be somewhat silly – seriously, if you want to do or change something, why not do it the moment you think of it? Why wait for the turning of the calendar?

That being said, I must admit, there is something about wiping the slate clean and starting anew.

While I was out for a run on Saturday, I spent my time contemplating 2011 in terms of running and fitness. I started that year with a bang, averaging nearly 200 miles per month for the first 5 months. But then something happened. I interpreted it as losing my mojo, but if I’m going to be completely honest with myself, I think I just burned myself out. Even with big races on the horizon (Around the Lake in July, the Vermont 50 in September and the New York City Marathon in November) I just couldn’t get myself motivated and back into a rhythm.

I kept telling myself, “next week…next week I’ll get back into it”, but it just never happened. I ended the year probably averaging less than 50 miles per month over the last 3 or 4 months (that’s including the races!).

As I ran my quick 4-miler on Saturday, I looked back at 2011 with some regret and disappointment. For a year that started off so promisingly in regards to running, competitively it ended in the dumps.

But now, it is 2012 – nothing has changed except the number at the end of the calendar. Nothing has changed, yet maybe everything has changed.

I now have a clean slate. 2011 is gone. 2012 is here.

I don’t know if I have it in me to ever hit 3:15 in a marathon (what I need to get back to Boston as a qualifier). After pouring so much energy into reaching Boston in 2011 as a qualifier, maybe that fire is gone. That doesn’t mean that I won’t try come May at Sugarloaf. My 18-week training plan starts next Monday. My plan is to train hard, but not burn out – for that reason I am going to stick to the Pfitz 18/55 plan as opposed to the 18/70.

2011 ended in a mess – my running was haphazard and inconsistent at best. 2012 won’t start off with the explosion of miles that 2011 did, but hopefully, I will be able to find a steady, consistent pace…that IS what running a marathon or longer is all about, right?

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Move It

Posted in motivation, training, tagged motivation, running, winter on December 5, 2011| 3 Comments »

"You've got to Move It, Move It!"

[tweetmeme source=”luau” only_single=false http://www.URL.com]

As much as I appreciated the extra hour of sleep the Sunday of the New York City Marathon, I have to admit, I really dislike giving up daylight savings time. It just makes it feel like winter is that much closer.

I begin to hit the wall that much sooner. I reach for a glass of red wine or a beer that much sooner (What? it’s only 4PM? Really? But it feeeeeels like it’s 5PM!). It doesn’t help that the temperature has dropped below 40°F at night.

This is a difficult time of year for runners, well, for this runner anyway. It gets harder to motivate the body to get outside and run. It doesn’t help that I have essentially taken the last several months off from consistent, higher mileage.

What’s this runner to do?

The last couple of winters I’ve had the advantage of having a treadmill in my basement, ideally located in front of a TV with a DVR attached and all of my favorite show religiously recorded. Having my favorite shows on made “dreadmill running” much less dreadful. Unfortunately, I killed my treadmill a month or so ago. 3 years of intense, regular running finally broke it in two, literally. My mileage has suffered for it. The treadmill was always my last line of defense against laziness.

There’s always the gym I suppose, but it has always felt a little silly to me to drive to the gym just to use their treadmill – and talk about dreadmill – running on a gym treadmill is about as exciting and fun as watching grass grow or paint dry.

No, running at the gym cannot be my answer, at least not entirely.

The simple truth is, I will have to do what I have always preached: push the boundaries of what feels normal, move into that space that is uncomfortable and make it my own – make it comfortable; make it a habit. I constantly tell my non-running, non-active friends that if they want to get active they need to force it upon themselves to a degree. One cannot wish oneself into shape. One cannot wake up one morning and decide, “I am a runner”.

It’s not that easy.

If it were then this country wouldn’t be facing the obesity problem it faces today…

***

Last week, I managed to slowly get back into pre-dawn running. It’s going to get harder before it gets easier. My body and mind are going to fight me.

But it’s still dark!!! It’s so cold!!!

I tell my friends “2 to 6 weeks.” That’s the time necessary for the habit of running to imprint itself onto your muscles, your routine. If you can stick it out, the internal drive, the fire from within will finally kick in and instead of pushing yourself out the door to run, you will be drawn out by the “need“.

With Sugarloaf 6 months away, I have about 6 to 8 weeks to get the fire piping hot again so that my training will be about training and not about motivation. Maybe part of my problem this summer and fall was that I didn’t have a time goal race, an “A”-Race lined up. I was “qualified to register” for Boston, my goal for the Vermont 50 was to “just finish” and New York was all about fun. Well, the 50 is done, fun was had in New York, and, unfortunately, I missed getting into Boston by a mere 33 seconds.

I don’t like the fact that I will not be running Boston this year. I get it, I understand it, I accept it. But I don’t like it. I don’t plan on missing 2013. And there may lie my motivation to move, to get back into the habit.

Whatever your motivation may be this winter (lose/hold off the holiday pounds, achieve a time in a Spring race, get into better shape), just keep moving. Fight the urge to potato long enough and I promise you it will go away. You’ll be happier for it.

Why do you run?

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Won’t Get Fooled Again

Posted in motivation, racing, training, tagged bonk, havefun, just finish, marathon training, running, ultra marathon training, Vermont 50 on August 26, 2011| 8 Comments »

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October 2009 – Manchester, NH. I am running my first marathon. I have aspirations of qualifying for Boston in my first marathon. How cool would that be? Of course, I’ve only been running for a little over 11 months now. My training has been haphazard, AND I’ve had to lay off the miles in the 6 weeks before the marathon due to a possible stress fracture/probably tendinitis in my right foot. But come on! I’m excited! I’m pumped! I’ve found the 3:30 pacer and I am going to follow him for 15 – 20 miles and then drop the hammer and bring home a sub-3:20:59 and a BQ. Did I mention this is my first marathon?

I flew through the first mile in under 6:30; flew through the first half in just under 1:35 (on pace for 3:10 – Woohoo!); and then I crashed and burned, hitting a wall at 16 and halting to a dead stop at mile 20 with frozen quads. I hobbled the final 10K to still finish in 3:54, but it was not the way anyone would want their first marathon to go.

***

I’ve learned a thing or two in the almost two years since – I even managed to finally qualify for Boston a year later at Smuttynose (my 4th marathon) with a 3:19.

One of the biggest lessons that has stuck with me however, is that if one is running their first marathon and one is not a World Class Athlete like Ryan Hall or Kara Goucher, then one’s goal in a first marathon should be to Just Finish. Sure, it’s good to have time goals. Sure, if you were an All-American in the 10,000 meters in college, maybe a BQ the first time out is not out of the question.

But if you are like me, just a regular guy who happened to fall in love with running because it made you feel good, then embrace that feeling in your first marathon and go out and have fun.

Just finish.

Enjoy the spectacle of the marathon and just finish.

***

Yesterday morning I signed up for the Vermont 50. I’m not sure what I was thinking, but honestly, it’s become something that I just want to be able to say I did – I want to be able to say that not only am I a marathoner, but I am an ultra-marathoner as well.

Can I do it? Can I cover 50 miles before they shut down the course?

That’s kind of the point, isn’t it?

I don’t have aspirations for anything longer (Western States 100? No Frakking Thank You!). Seriously, anything that takes over 12 hours to cover is just insane in my book.

Have I trained for this? Nope.

Have I run trails before? Once – last weekend, and that was only a few miles.

Am I going to get to train for the terrain like I always preach? Hardly. With the end of the summer rapidly approaching, the start of school and some family obligations thrown in for good measure, I will not have an opportunity to head up to the mountains for some training.

What the Hell am I thinking?

At this point, I am thinking this:

Just Finish.

Run, jog, walk, waddle, crawl – whatever it takes.

And here’s the thing – I will not be going out fast. In fact, I guarantee that the first several miles will be uncomfortably slow.

But that’s okay, because the idea for me is to Just Finish and not worry about the racing part of it.

If I finish and I feel “too” good? Who knows, maybe next year I’ll come back and try to “race” it, but in the meantime, I will not make the same mistake in my first ultra-marathon that I made in my first marathon.

When I signed up for the Vermont 50, two words crossed my mind: “Uh Oh!”

I have four new words that I will be focusing on over the next 30 days:

Just Finish. Have Fun.

Why do you run?

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A Break

Posted in boston marathon, other, training, tagged boston marathon 2012, Boston Qualifier, BQ, burnout, mainerunnah, running, training on August 19, 2011| 24 Comments »

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I have a friend. I have only met him in the real world once. He was a large part of why I was able to qualify for Boston back in October of last year – we carried each other for 15 miles. On that day he missed qualifying for Boston by seconds. As joyful as my day was, it was devastating to see him just miss his goal.

Instead of folding up his tent and going home, my friend doubled-down and trained even harder for his next marathon, which took place in May in Pittsburgh. His training was epic to say the least. To put it in perspective, I just passed 1200 running miles for 2011 last night. As of 9 days ago, my friend had logged nearly 1800 miles.

1800 miles!!!

He was a man possessed, and when he crossed the finish line in May, he WAS a Boston Qualifier.

I know the feeling – the joy, the wave of emotion, the satisfaction…the “what now?”

Huh?

That’s right. I recently read in his final post on dailymile that he was “taking a break” from the social network to find his passion for running again. Boy, do I know that feeling. I was fortunate enough to have the New York City Marathon line up just 5 weeks after my BQ and then Boston 2011 5 months after that to keep me focused on my training, but after Boston I simply lost “it”.

I was rudderless. I tried to re-focus my energy by signing up for another marathon, but in the end, I just didn’t have the same drive I had had when I was focused on qualifying for Boston.

Truth be told, I am still wandering, attempting to kick start myself again and again, but I do see signs of my focus coming back. It’s taken my 4 months, but it’s starting to come together again.

I hope my friend doesn’t stay away too long.

His departure will send ripples throughout the dailymile community and will be felt by all. He always had an inspirational word for his friends and his workouts were worth emulating.

***

I hope you find your passion again Brendan. You are an inspiration to many and proof that hard work pays off. You motivated people not by your words but by your actions. Enjoy your break – I hope to see you on the ‘mile in October when we both start training again for Boston 2012.

Why do you run?

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Second Chance

Posted in boston marathon, motivation, training, tagged Opportunity Knocks, Patriot Marathon, RaceMenu, Second Chance, September 11, Time Trial Marathon on August 8, 2011| 19 Comments »

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I have taken a little over a week off from running. During this week I’ve been able to process through what happened at the Around the Lake Marathon and begin to focus on what comes next.

On the calender, my next big race is the Vermont 50 – a tough 50-miler through the mountains of Vermont. I had promised my friend Doug that I would run it with him should I qualify for Boston (which I did back in October of last year). It’s been sitting on the calender ever since – looming large. It is a big reason why I am NOT running the New York City Marathon this year for Autism Speaks. I just couldn’t see myself running a 50-mile race at the end of September and then following it up with a Marathon in early November.

The Vermont 50 Team in fact has a growing number of runners and support crew that should make it a very fun event come September.

But 50 miles…

…that’s a lot of miles to run.

***

The most I’ve ever run at one time is the marathon distance (26.2 miles). Even taking into account that I weave through crowds and sometimes take the longer, outside lane, I’m pretty sure I haven’t run more than 27 miles at any one time.

And my last attempt at 26.2 ended at the 20-mile mark, doubled over, hobbling for the portapotty. As unready as I was for the Around the Lake Marathon, there was part of me that was convinced that I was going to pull off a 3:15 and lower my qualifying time for Boston 2012. (Click HERE for the new registration process) Sitting at a 3:19 qualifying time, my chances of getting in with the new rolling registration feels slim. I’d feel a lot more secure about being able to run Boston for the third consecutive year if I could give myself a 5 minute qualifying cushion that would allow me to register in the first week instead of the second.

After Around the Lake, I was pretty much resigned to the fact that I would probably not be running Boston this coming April.

But then Doug called me this past week. He wanted to see how I was doing after my meltdown. He had texted me earlier in the day asking if he could call, wanting to talk about “September 25th and September 11th”. The Vermont 50 is on the 25th. I assumed that maybe he was organizing some kind of memorial run for the 10-year anniversary of 9/11 – he’s that kind of awesome.

To my surprise, he was calling me to essentially let me out of my promise to him. He knew how bummed I was after Around the Lake and called to let me know that there was a race being organized (by my team/sponsor Racemenu no less) to give runners one last chance to improve their qualifying times for Boston 2012 – a time trial type race, with 1 – 4 runners going out every 30 seconds based on projected finishing times. Imagine being able to start a race with a group of people who were gunning for the exact same time?

I couldn’t help but think, this is my second chance!!!

The details of the race are still being ironed out. All I know is that Racemenu chief, J. Alain Ferry is currently working on putting the race together and he feels confident enough about it that he’s had his team write about it on the team blog, facebook page and twitter feed.

September 11th is 5 weeks from yesterday, which would give me 5 weeks of training.

I haven’t been chasing 3:15 for too long (last November at New York was my first attempt), but three marathons later, with times that are getting slower (3:27 – NYC, 3:37 – Boston, DNF – Around the Lake) I wonder if Father Time is starting to nip at my heels.

New York I can chalk up to running shortly after my BQ run at Smuttynose. Boston I can chalk up to going out too fast and bonking at 17. I’ve essentially had a down cycle since Boston – that, along with the HEED I ingested at Around the Lake can take the blame for my flameout there.

My blog friend Lizzy suggested that maybe it was time to concentrate on shorter races, and she may be right; but I know 3:15 is just within my grasp.

It’s right there…my fingertips scraping against it.

This marathon would be in 5 weeks.

5 weeks!!!

I’m pretty sure I can rally hard for 5 weeks.

***

I’m also pretty sure that if I were to run a marathon in 3:15 on September 11th, I wouldn’t be able to run 50 miles 14 days later. I’m not completely sure how I feel about that. There were a lot of people I was planning on seeing/meeting from the running community on September 25th.

Who knows, maybe plans get held up and the marathon doesn’t happen. If that is the case, I suppose I am back on for the VT50, but right now, at this moment, I can’t turn my back on one last opportunity to better my chances of getting into Boston 2012.

This morning I got up and hit the treadmill at 5:30AM – an easy 3.5 mile run with no incline. I haven’t run pre-dawn in a while, and honestly, after over a week off, the legs felt a little rusty.

But it sure felt good to sweat.

Why do you run?