So flippin' ready for Boston!

I probably first gave serious consideration to running the Boston Marathon on July 29, 2007, shortly after meeting my goal in the 2007 San Francisco Marathon.

Monday, April 20, 2009, I will run the Boston Marathon.

(I could have run it on Monday, April 19, 2008, had I not cared that Patriot's Day was landing on the first day of Passover, but I digress. The point is, 21 months seems like a long time to be focused on this goal.)

I described much of my thinking about this in the Portland Interlude, so let's go straight to the training recap, shall we?

Goal: let's call it 3:09, but I know I want to run it faster than that.

I had ten weeks between when I finished the Portland Marathon and when my typical 18-week, Pfitzinger-based plan would begin. I followed a very similar training plan as I did for CIM, adding in intensity in the form of more Lactate Threshhold and Race-Pace runs, and peaking again at 65-miles.

The Boston Marathon course is widely thought to be very challenging, and deceptively so. People who have run it describe the first 17 miles as downhill, sort of like CIM. However, the Newton Hills are supposed to just kill any runner whose legs haven't stood up well to the pounding of the downhills of the previous 17 miles. Leg strength, not cardio-vascular fitness, is supposed to be the bigger factor. There are many tales of runners simply breaking down after feeling great for 17 miles.

So while my over-arching plan was to run Portland, recover, and then build up stronger for Boston, I would need to add in an element to my training that I didn't have before.

Bigger, badder, nastier, downhill HILLS.

Sure, one cannot run in San Francisco without some hills, but a lot of my running was designed to reduce the significant hills in my routes. Now, I would seek them out:

• In the last six weeks before the main work of the schedule really began, I thrice ran a up and down course over a mile stretch of O'Shaughnessy, where on the way down I ran pretty hard, pounding my quads.
• Generally, I shifted my Race-Pace and LT runs to include hillier terrains.
• One highlight: the Point Bonita 21 miler, with Ari, Galen Adrian. This has an uphill on the way back so steep that cyclists aren't allowed on the road.

I also put in a couple of races towards the end of the Race Preparation Mesocycle, as Pfitzinger recommends. However, I did these in a way I never had before. Due the to dearth of Saturday races in the Bay Area, I wound up running 17 miles the day before the DSE Fort Point 12k, and then 20 miles the day before the Presidio 10 10k. Both races were incredibly fast for me, with the later being my best 10k by over a minute (pictured). It reminds me of Thomas' response to my inquiry about having races at the point of the schedule ("There's also an immense mental benefit from setting a 10K PR 2 weeks before a marathon"), as I feel like there's no way I could have run such a fast 10k with a 20 miler the day before if I were not in incredible shape.

In terms of volume (how many miles), I mirrored what I did for CIM, with a long, slow build up after Portland.
(The graph shows the last three marathon preparations, but doesn't make it as clear that the long build up for Boston comes directly after the Portland line.)




So now, I've set aside all my gear for the trip, arranged so I can carbo-load over the next few days, and readied myself as much as I can. I am optimistic though nervous, but I feel like I've put in the training to make this a great race. I'm excited, and I'm so flippin' ready!

• • •

Track me online, Monday morning starting at 7:00 am Pacific! The Boston Marathon has the best tracking of any marathon I know of, so look me up by name and see how I take the Newton Hills!