Making the Most of the Master Years

4 mi in 38:22

craig running club.  3/4 mi warm up.  felt very tight at first. then ran with the kids. many starts and stops.  by the end of the run was feeling very fluid.

8 mi in 1:10:19

easy run.  felt tight and weak at first.  went to Rocky Road for some planned hill repeats, which was an adjustment off the tempo run originally planned.  but the hill repeats weren't going to happen.  wasn't recovered well yet from the long run last weekend.  finally loosened up and was running smooth.  but I never felt strong.  fortunately no pains today.

4 mi in 38:12

easy run with Andrew on Craig loop.  felt good.  quads still a little tight.  but overall the run felt great.

17 mi in 2:23:27

Long run.  Felt great on a Dogwood Rd, Tree Ln route.  Two instances of sharp pain in the the left vastus medialis (lower quad at the the knee).  Stride and pace were great.  Pushed pace the last mile.

5 mi in 43:51

easy run. Didn't feel great today.  Stiff at first and sore in the right quad.  Turned out to also be the pre-ocular migraine lethargy.  The OM occurred late, 2.11 to 2.96 mi.  So most of the run was poor.  Last mile was pretty good.  Ate very poorly yesterday. too much snacking junk.

6 mi in 48:59

11 x 25s strides on the Webb Gin to Dogwood passed BHS out and back route.  Felt good today after the 1st quarter mile which was a bit stiff.  Stride and pace after that were fluid and easy.  Strides were great.  Felt strong.  Little bit of mild pain in the lower right leg just above the knee on two brief occassions and some strain in the left hip on the last two strides.  All in all a great run.

5 mi in 43:23

easy run to Brookwood Baptist and back.  Felt ok.  Calf pain in first 0.5 mi.  Took a long time to warm up - over 2.5 miles.  After that I felt good and the stride and pace were easy.  Some pain after the run in the left lower achilles tendon.

6 mi in 45:14

2 x 2000m @ 5K pace + 3 x 200m sprint.  Felt good today.  Warmed up quickly. Walked a quarter mile before running.  Stride and pace were very good.  Averaged 6:26 and 6:28 mpm for the two 2000m repeats.  Avg'd 37s for the 3 200s (37s, 38s, 37s) No pains except a little bit of soreness in the left lower achilles tendon.

12 mi in 1:38:53

race pace med long run around house. felt good today except for some soreness in the lower left achilles tendon, which warmed up and felt better for most of the run.  Stride and pace were easy.  2 mi warm, 4 miles race pace (7:16, 7:27, 7:19, 7:32; avg of 7:24) then 6 easy with Neal.  Race pace miles were easy.  Did have to concentrate just a little to keep pace.  Totally relaxed pace was about 7:40.  Breathing was very good.

5 mi in 42:16

easy run.  Felt kinda "heavy" today at first.  Finally loosened up and was running free and fluid about 3.6 mi in.  Left lower achilles tendon sore throughout.  Thinking that the calf muscle may be tight, will stretch throughout the day.

6 mi in 48:24

3 mi alone on the Craig track with 3 x 1/2 mi repeats at 6:07, 6:21 and 6:10 mpm pace.  Then 3 mi with the Craig running club kids which included a few starts and stops.  Felt really great today.  No pains.  Very fluid.  Good run.

4 mi in 34:00

easy run today at Alexander Park.  Not feeling great.  Little bit drained, didn't sleep well and have a slight headache.  Even so, the run itself was good.  Stride and pace easy and fluid.  Was a little sore yesterday after the 800s on Wednesday. (probably shouldn't have done those.)  getting ready for Boston now.  Trying to take it easy.  I probably haven't eaten well this week for banking energy for the race.  I was too heavy over last weekend and have been a little agressive trying to get the weight down this week ahead of the carbo load on Sunday wanting to toe the line right at 150 lbs.

4 mi in 32:29

Pre marathon carbo super saturation run on Boston Common.  3 mi warm-up.  2:30 at 5K pace, 30 s sprinting.  0.5 mi cool down.  Feeling good.

BOSTON MARATHON.  Felt good at the beginning. Tried to go out slowly.  The downhill and the crowd around me who were all of similar abilities, all made keeping the pace slower practically impossible.  I had been warned about the downhill for the first 15 miles of the race.  I was pleasantly surprised about the many small uphills in that span as well.  Although it wasn't raining at the beginning or the end of the race, it did rain off and on through the bulk of the race. My feet started feeling raw at 9 miles.  And the legs started aching around mile 15.  I assume it was because of the downhills.  But could be because of all the walking the previous two days as well.  The infamaous Newton hills start at mile 16 and go through 21.  I did well on the hills.  There were more of them than I was led to believe and there were downhills between them which I didn't expect and which hurt.  The uphills were a blessed relief from the aching quads.  I briefly wanted to quit the race around mile 20. But I killed that thought and focused on proper form the rest of the way, remembering Meb's words from last year when he was hurting too and said that he focused on his form because pace follows good form. I wasn't really prepared for the amount of downhill running after the 21st mile. The quads were in agony with a sharp pain on every downhill step. Lost a little bit of pace over the last 3 miles which were flatter but not perfectly so.  Also I lost some pace because I got distracted with the crowd turning onto Hereford and Boylston Streets.  I had hoped to run 7:27 pace and ended with 7:36 overall pace.  Mile splits were 7:50, 7:29, 7:19, 7:23, 7:23, 7:17, 7:22, 7:27, 7:27, 7:27, 7:29, 7:28, 7:29, 7:30, 7:33, 7:22, 7:43, 7:44, 7:37, 7:52, 7:58, 7:24, 7:34, 7:39, 7:41, 7:43, actually ran 26.5 miles so don't have a good split on the final 0.2. First 1/2 in 1:38:02, second 1/2 in 1:41:01. Ran the whole thing without cramping or stopping. But those downhills were killing me.  I'm not sure I ever want to run downhill again.  Still met my goal of running under 3:20:00.  Dream come true!  It's done.