Monday, April 13

Boston Marathon (1-week out)

Wow, where has the time gone? After a busy Easter weekend that was preceded by hectic workweek, race week managed to elude my ninja-like senses and pretty near walk right into my front room. Takes the worry out of the equation that does.

I remember analyzing my 12-week marathon build prior to London in ’07, and have followed a similar format for Boston. The differences couldn’t be more apparent:

London
Training: 12-week marathon build (10 weeks completed)
Cumulative distance (with a few yet to come): 1248km/780 miles (1428km/893 miles)
Number of runs 32km (20 miles) or more: 6
Highest weekly volume: 10h30, 150km (94 miles)
Number of weeks over 130km (80 miles): 6
Number of PRs: 1, Comox Half-Marathon 1:15:29
Injuries: one, left achilles

Boston
Training: 12-week marathon build (11 weeks completed)
Cumulative distance (with a few yet to come): 984km/617 miles (1036km/650 miles)
Number of runs 32km (20 miles) or more: 3
Highest weekly volume: 7h51, 110km (69 miles)
Number of weeks over 130km (80 miles): 0
Number of PRs: 0
Injuries: none, although my left achilles has been sore lately

What the numbers fail to reveal is that heading into London I was tired and dare-I-say over trained which aided in a performance that was 35’ outside of my target. Currently I wish I had another six weeks to prepare… an entirely different circumstance.

The last seven days of training have gone well, what with a short but solid sharpening session on Wednesday and longer tempo on Friday. The latter workout didn’t feel quite as comfortable as I would’ve liked but I was most likely pushing the pace rather than concentrating on running relaxed. Yesterday I capped off the week with my last long run. After returning from Galiano, the missus dropped me off on the outskirts of Sidney and I enjoyed wet jog home along the saturated Lochside trail.

It’s late and I promised myself I’d get to bed early this week, more on my pre-race thoughts tomorrow. Until then, ciao!

Training:
Saturday: easy 38:56
Sunday: easy/steady 1:20:46

Weekly mileage: 5h29’42”, +/- 77k or 48 miles


[photos: Easter weekend 2009]

5 comments:

Thomas said...

They say that it's better to be 95% coming up than 95% coming down.

They also say that it's better to be slightly under prepared than over prepared.

My guess is you're pretty much in top shape.

Cliff said...

dude..that's a solid 12 week build.

Looks like u are in good shape for Boston :)

Walter said...

Good luck and try to stay relaxed:)
See ya soon!!!

Love2Run said...

Yes, you're ready to rumble and there's not much more you can do. Have a safe trip and see you in Beantown!

Rob Mackay said...

Good luck at Boston Michael and hammer it! Rob M