As Val Kilmer in a Doc Holiday role tells Wyatt Earp he wants to get some down @ the OK Corral. Verge, better give Doc the shotgun, they’ll be less apt to get nervous if he’s on the street howitzer.
What a great movie…
It’s kind of like how I feel with training right now. Something just feels good. I’m working hard, and I am gaining confidence. I hope it’s not preemptive. After the NYC marathon in November, running a 2:55:32, I took a hiatus from running and dove into some other activities. The highlight was I got out for about 12 days of hunting over the next 2 months, with about 5 days of rifle hunting, and another 7 of archery. In archery, just 6 days after NYC, I shot a 6-point Buck, and in late season rifle I shot an 8-point with my single shot .243. With over 100# of stocked venison in the freezer, and a new year, it was about all I could hope for.
My next milestone race is the 116th Boston Marathon, April 16, 2012. This will be exactly 5 years from the first Boston I raced, on April 16, 2007. In Boston ’07 I remember running through the terrible Noreaster, cold, windy, rainy, and just all in all miserable. I hated everything about this race. I didn’t even run my fastest marathon by a meager 21 seconds, scantily breaking 3:10 in 3:09:59.
Five years and a lot of life changes later, I’m going back with a chip. And a plan, a real training plan at that. I picked up a copy of The Daniels Running Formula about a year ago, but could never use it when I got injured last February/March. So, having recovered from NYC, and heading into Boston with energy and focus, I’ve mustered the following workouts thus far. This isn’t all of my running, but simply the quality workouts I’ve done. On top of this, I’ve been lifting legs, and lifting heavy, at least once a week, and about 5 or 6 times a month. It’s showing a serious sign of improvement.
- 12/24/11 – Christmas Eve run – 14.5 miles with OE at High Knob – hills/mountains
- 12/27/11 – TNT – 10x300 with rolling 200
- 12/29/11 – Hill repeats, short 30-second bursts
- 1/1/12 – Resolution Day 5k – 18:30. Disappointing
- 1/3/12 – TNT ladder – 4, 8, 12, 16, 12, 8, 4 (Splits between 86-80 for all laps)
- 1/8/12 – Long Progression 13.5 miles
- 1/12/12 – 6x1200 Outside – From 4:24 down to 4:12
- 1/14/12 – Warm up, 5xMile Tempo 6:06 avg pace w/ 1min rest, then another hour plus (18 total miles)
- 1/16/12 – 13 miles easy but progression and consistent with only 1 short stop
- 1/17/12 – TNT 6x1000 @ Interval pace – 3:29 down to 3:23 (Avg 5:32.4 Mile Equivalent pace)
- 1/19/12 – 30-minute Tempo @ 6:12/mi pace (~4.85 miles in 30:06)
- 1/22/12 – Club Challenge course run w/ 4-mile Tempo in 24:24 (6:06 pace)
- 1/24/12 – TNT 2x2mi Tempo with 2min rest @ Avg 5:56/mile, then 1 hour easy. 14.5 total miles
The rest of Phase II training has 3 more workouts (4x5-min hard, 4xmile Interval, and 6xmile Tempo). A scheduled 18-20 miler this weekend sets me up for a 5k on Super Bowl Sunday to culminate the work of Phase II training, and reset my training fitness heading into the most intense phase III training.
This may seem like a lot of work, and too quickly. But, one thing I’m doing this go around, is not increase my mileage to an extreme. I’ve just gotten over 50 miles in a week, and I’ve taken easy runs seriously. I’ve stayed away from the Fed Hill Monday night crew when I need an easy day before TNT, and I’ve had to sacrifice the WNR in order to get in the gym & lift.
Phase III training, a six week cycle, is less than 2 weeks away. I’ll max out this training for Boston at 70mi/week, and literally I mean MAX. For NYC I had peaked at 86 miles in a week, and shocking, I broke. I was over trained. In phase III training I’m only racing twice, Club Challenge, and the Chambersburg ½ marathon. I’ll get my second 20-miler in Phase III, and a 3rd and final 20-miler, hopefully 24 miles at that, during the final tune up phase about 23 days before the race.
Anyway, I’m your huckleberry. And I’m gearing up for Boston 2012 – just over 11 weeks away, and I’m taking it all 1 day @ a time.
“Am I trying hard enough?” ~ Alyssa
