Boston Marathon (3-weeks out)

With March almost in the books (and hopefully the accompanying foul weather), I glanced at the calendar and noticed that we begin our odyssey to Boston 2-weeks Thursday. I suppose the odyssey began ten weeks ago, but the penultimate leg has definitely snuck up on me.

With the training taking a back seat to recovery this week, I couldn’t be happier with the early season miles that I logged with Hicham, Carter and Ian; I’m comforted in remembering the hilly miles I (s)logged at Thetis.

I rode out the week in similar fashion as the beginning, switching up a declining health for one that is recuperating. With the thought of running long on Sunday, I decided to wake the legs on Saturday morning and pulled an old w/o off the shelf, deciding to run some Moneghetti strides. The session calls for 2x90” (90”) + 4x60” (60”) + 4x30” (30”) + 4x15” (15”). Run properly, the effort is supposed to descend from 3kP to mile/pace with the recovery a controlled float at MP... not wanting to run myself into the ground, I opted for a more leisurely rest interval.

After staying up later than I should, Sunday morning rolled around far too soon and I was hard-pressed to get out of the house as early as I did. I started down the Lochside Trail cognoscente of the need to register one last long run, while not burying the cold into my chest. After a hilly loop through Mount Doug, I headed up Ash and toward Ten Mile Point hitting all the hills along the way. I returned home feeling strong and relaxed, and better or worse knowing that I’d finished a chapter in this book.

The week ahead holds one of two remaining key workouts, a long ME session on an undulating (Boston specific) loop. It’s fun and games from here on in, and for a change I’m feeling fresh and fighting the desire to run more; a feeling doesn’t usually accompany me at this stage of the training. I’m happy.

Training:
Friday: (sick) easy 38:22
Saturday: (below par) 36:49 with Moneghetti strides
Sunday: hilly 2:35:08

Weekly mileage: 5h08’31”, +/- 72k or 45 miles