The Boston Marathon – the granddaddy of all marathons… the
big show… the Super Bowl! This is the
race many a runner has dreamed of getting to.
The road is hard, the work required to get into it, via a BQ, is
daunting. To a select few it’s the
pinnacle of hard work and dedication for that one moment in time, to run the
storied 26.2 miles from Hopkinton to Boston.
We are 23 days away… OHHHHH the pressure!!!
Listed below is a brief recap of my build up, or if you will
tune up events to the big day.
ATC Resolution Run
10K – 40:58; 6:35
This was the first stop of a planned 3 race tune-up; just to
see how my training for Boston was going.
I officially started training December 16th so two weeks in I
was more focused on endurance which with the challenges of this course
definitely showed me I needed to put in some quality mileage work to get my
wind back. Overall, my splits were
relatively where they needed to be this point of training so I gave myself a
win for this one.
|
ATC Heart and Soles
5K – 19:11; 6:10
The second stop of the tour found me at the Atlanta Track
Club’s annual H&S 5K. This race is
always billed as a fast course qualifier for the AJC Peachtree Road Race, the
world’s largest 10K. My focus for this
race was to work on foot turn over while at the same time staying relatively
within my marathon pace goals. Even
though my times may not reflect it, I actually struggled in this race. If it were not for this young kid that came
by me I would’ve thrown it in at mile 3.
The lesson I learned from this event was I needed more speed work and to
work on proper pacing.
|
ATC Spring Tune Up
15K – 1:02.54; 6:44
Where the rubber meets the road! This course was a pretty challenging
foe. In years past I only ran the 8K
because of ‘The Hill from Hell’, which you pass twice if you do the 15K option. I won’t get into much detail for this event,
for a complete recap of this race see my previous post 2014
ATC Spring Tune Up. What I will say
is after 10 weeks of training I left this event feeling pretty good from the
overall results.
|
Split
|
Time
|
Distance
|
Avg Pace
|
|
Summary
|
1:02:54.7
|
9.30
|
6:46
|
|
1
|
6:21.7
|
1.00
|
6:22
|
|
2
|
6:20.4
|
1.00
|
6:20
|
|
3
|
7:05.1
|
1.00
|
7:05
|
|
4
|
6:46.2
|
1.00
|
6:46
|
|
5
|
6:48.7
|
1.00
|
6:49
|
|
6
|
6:45.4
|
1.00
|
6:45
|
|
7
|
6:55.5
|
1.00
|
6:55
|
|
8
|
7:20.0
|
1.00
|
7:20
|
|
9
|
6:40.1
|
1.00
|
6:40
|
|
10
|
1:51.5
|
0.30
|
6:12
|
Publix Georgia Half
Marathon – 1:31.53; 7:00
Remember earlier when I said my training called for 3 tune-up
races? Well I originally planned to sit
this event out, but decided the week of to register for this event (thanks
Jeneen) for one last race simulated run.
The focus of this run was to practice pace strategy. For the first couple of miles I initially
stayed to plan – it’s really easy to get sucked up into the push of the early
miles to keep up with the heard. The
Georgia Half is a pretty tough course so I figured this would be an excellent opportunity
to see if I could sustain the early mental urge to hold back and make a push
later in the race. For the most part
things went according to plan. The
pacing and effort was there, struggled some on the back end, but overall I
think it was a great experience which gave me confidence for the next few
weeks.
|
Split
|
Time
|
Distance
|
Avg Pace
|
|
Summary
|
1:31:49.4
|
13.21
|
6:57
|
|
1
|
7:32.9
|
1.00
|
7:33
|
|
2
|
7:13.9
|
1.00
|
7:14
|
|
3
|
6:55.7
|
1.00
|
6:56
|
|
4
|
6:42.3
|
1.00
|
6:42
|
|
5
|
6:31.3
|
1.00
|
6:31
|
|
6
|
6:41.4
|
1.00
|
6:41
|
|
7
|
6:56.5
|
1.00
|
6:56
|
|
8
|
6:43.4
|
1.00
|
6:43
|
|
9
|
6:36.7
|
1.00
|
6:37
|
|
10
|
7:04.2
|
1.00
|
7:04
|
|
11
|
7:15.6
|
1.00
|
7:16
|
|
12
|
7:19.0
|
1.00
|
7:19
|
|
13
|
6:56.5
|
1.00
|
6:56
|
|
14
|
1:19.8
|
0.21
|
6:27
|
So, to sum up… training is going well overall. There have been a few hiccups here and there
with the weather (anyone remember the Polar Vortex?), fatigue, and just ready
to get it done. But, I’m trending for a
good showing and ready to represent for the ATL. Beantown I hope you’re ready!!!
Keep Running!!
Jerome
You are so ready! Can't wait for the blog about the race itself. Good job!
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