Battling Through the Cold - Week 12 Training Recap: Jan 21 - 27

52 miles total this week, and the third straight week of 50 or more miles!

The theme of the week was bone chilling cold! Even worse is that as the temperature dropped, my training mileage increased, making it even more challenging. I routinely have problems with my handheld plastic water bottle that freezes on these cold days, making drinking on the run difficult (unscrewing the top, slowing/stopping to take sips of water  - rather slush - vs. maintaining a steady pace and simply squeezing the bottle). This was a real challenge on my long run that I chose to run as two 10 mile loops. By mile 3-4 of each loop the freezing action kicked in. Luckily I split my GU brew drink into 2 half water bottles, the second of which was waiting nice and warm for me inside my house to use in lap 2. I am considering buying a wearable hydration pack that I hope can work better if it is kept warmer by my own body heat.


It seems like almost every workout was a highlight and added some real value to my overall goal to race my best marathon in Boston.

M: 5 miles easy with Matt Story. Second easy day in a row after an easy 4 on sunday

T: 7mi tot, again with Matt. After 1.15 mi easy running, ran 22x 200m intervals at 5K race pace with 45sec jog recovery. We ran on the roads of a local cemetery where each straight stretch measured just about 200m - basically "weaving" our way through the grounds. I managed many of these intervals in the 5:30-5:40/mi pace range.

W: 10 miles, many of them steady in the 7:15-7:25/mi pace range. Pushed my training partner Joe Loureiro a bit on this run that he said afterward he appreciated (I think I believe him!). I am gaining a reputation for pushing the training paces and hope someday it will translate into a very successful marathon race! So far I've been pretty good at running challenging workouts but found "the wall" at the end of the longest training runs and on race day.

T: 6 miles with Joe; Progression run, then 6 x 150m strides after run

F: Off

S: 3.6mi tot: 0.5mi warmup, then ran the aptly named Fudgcicle 5K race that is organized by my running club the Greater Lowell Road Runners. This was a very fun race with a 4th place overall finish in 18:55, my fastest 5K in about 20 years! My mile splits and a writeup of the race can be found here.

S: 20 miles, and my first marathon specific workout of the season! Started out with training partners Joe and Will but just for the first two miles. Joe was running a different workout with a longer run before getting into faster paced intervals, so I split from the group at mile 2:
2 mile warmup,
4 miles at marathon goal pace (mp) (6:50/mi target, ran 6:49),
4 miles rest at (7:31/mi target that is 90%+ of mp, ran 7:23),
4 miles at mp (6:44/mi),
4 miles rest (7:16/mi),
1 mile all out (6:17) - it's what I had left in me after 18 miles of running :-)
1 mile cooldown (7:37)

It's all done!

Summary after 11 weeks of training for Boston, and with 11 weeks to go:

Week 13 Training Recap: Jan 14 - 20

Short and sweet update here for the busy blogger & runner. 50 miles total. Second week of 50+, and hoping to keep a string of this going for a while. This would represent a change compared to my training last year that was solidly in the 40+ mi/week range with some 50+ weeks.

On Mondays I have been intermixing runnning with a few cross training exercises. My training partner Joe has been doing intervals work on mondays and for this we train in a neighborhood with some quiet (low traffic) loops. While he does intervals, I run a bit and then intermix the cross training. Wednesday was interesting - finishing a 10 miler in the snow and then helping a motorist who was stuck trying to drive up the hill in our neighborhood. Turned into a further expedition driving her back to her office where she could get more help.

M: 6mi with XT interleaved

• 1.3mi warmup, drills: high knee walks, high knees & leg extensions, skip with high knees, skip with high knees & leg extensions, sideways crossover shuffle walk, butt kicks, run w/ high knees 
• 6x 100m strides 
• run until 4.6mi, stop for some XT: squats, donkey kicks, clamshells, push ups & sit ups
• run home, then more XT. Selected exercises from Runner's World article "Give me 15"

T: 7.7mi tot including 4x 1mile repeats with 3:00 recovery between. Mile splits 6:30, 6:12, 6:13, 6:14
W: 10 miles (in a snowstorm!)
T: 7.8 miles, including 20 x 30 second uphill runs with jog recovery downhill
F: Off
S: 14 miles
S: 4 miles

Summary after 10 weeks of training for Boston

A Turning Point: Week 14 Training Recap: Jan 07 - 14

The theme this week was distance. After 8 weeks of training at 40 miles per week, this one was a real breakout - 57 miles, nearly matching my personal record of 59 miles in one week last year.

Before the week started I looked ahead at the rest of my training plan and was actually surprised. The long run workouts were all familiar to me, having followed this plan adopted and refined by my training partner Joe Loureiro. But what I didn't realize is that some of those workouts were in fact (ideally) meant to be doubles (i.e., repeated in the AM and the PM in the same day). We're talking about 24 miles and even (in one case) 31 miles of running in a single day! We did not do that last year! Frightening on one level, but on another it represents an opportunity to pile on training volume and find a way to tackle my biggest marathon foe - The Wall. Something has to be done...

The other, major highlight of the week was a chance to run with Gary Allen on his Maine to DC Run supporting the American Cancer Society, Wounded Warrior Project, and the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy. It was a real honor to be able to run a few miles with him as he traveled through my region.

M: 6.1mi easy, stopping periodically to mix in some XT while Joe completed a separate intervals workout

• 2x {25 body weight squats, 20 push ups}
• 2x {25 squats, 20 sit ups}

T: 8.9mi: 2mi warmup, then 16x 400m with 200m jog in sets of four at half marathon, 10K, 5K and 3K race pace, cooldown
W: 10mi, steady around 7:20/mi for the whole thing
T: 6.6mi, with 6 x 150m strides after run
F: Off
S: 7.5mi super easy. Ran with Gary Allen for a brief portion of his 700 mile run from Maine to Washington DC!
S: 18mi: 60 min run, followed by 10 sets of {1 min @ 10K race pace, 1 min jog recovery}, cooldown run to get to 13.75mi. Then another 4.4mi at about 7:10/mi pace to wrap up the workout

NECN television coverage of Gary Allen's run:

Summary after 9 weeks of training for Boston:

Week 15 Training Recap: Dec 31 2012 - Jan 06 2013

The themes this week were speed, and cold! 

First, the speed. I've been working on intervals for several weeks, so I thought it would be fun to try a classic New Year's Day 1 mile race - the Millennium Mile. This is a point to point downhill course, so it makes for a fast, fun ride! This is a very well run race, and I also relished the chance to run with my daughter who is herself a budding runner. I wasn't sure if I could break a 5:00 mile even in these fortunate circumstances - but I came close, finishing in 5:09 (net time). It felt like by the time I sorted my way through the field (after starting too far back), I saw a prominent 1/2 sign and another significant downhill slope. At that point without even glancing at my GPS watch I did consider the possibility of a sub 5:00 mile. I made a good effort at the end, passing a few guys that looked like they could be in my age group - and that was very fortunate because I placed second in the group!

On saturday I also ran a 10K time trial in the middle of a 12mi training run. I was hoping I could run the 10K interval at a steady 6:20/mi pace but ended up with 6:34/mi average and with pace variation. I just wasn't feeling it from an energy perspective, thinking more about rest than the challenge of the workout. The rolling hills on this course ultimately got the best of me.

Wednesday and thursday brought the first really cold weather of the winter, with 6 degrees F and then 3 degrees for these workouts. Oh yeah, and these were conducted in pitch black pre-dawn hours! Thank goodness for headlamps, reflective gear and hand warmers! Thanks even more so for great training partners and friends like Joe Loureiro! 

41 miles total this week

Summary after 8 weeks of training for Boston: