Under Pressure

New Bedford was supposed to be the race to test my fitness.  It was supposed to indicate what kind of shape I was in.  It, however, did not quite work out that way.  I ran a 1:20 half marathon back in October, followed up by a 2:54 marathon in November, which could have been a little faster if I had paced better early on in the race.  Since November, I have endured four months of marathon training.  I have been running more mileage than ever before, averaging between 80-100 miles for the last 16 weeks or so.  My workouts have been tough.  I have been completing marathon specific workouts and have been running much faster than last fall.  Some example workouts include: 6 mile tempo at 5:40 pace, 3 x 2 miles at 5:45 pace, 4 x 2k at 5:40 pace, 3 x 5k in 18:00 each, 5 x 1.5 mile repeats under 5:30 pace.  This is a sample of what my workout days look like.  I have been giving full effort in this build-up to Boston.  I feel like I am in the best shape of my life.  My weekend long runs, which have ranged from 16-22 miles, have helped me to gain strength.  I have been averaging around 6:40 pace for my long runs and leave them feeling as if I could have pushed the pace much faster.  With all of this being said, I expected that I was due for a big race and half marathon PR.  I have not raced at a distance over 5k since the Philadelphia Marathon in November.  While I went into the race physically in top shape, I do not think I was there mentally.  Nerves got the best of me last Sunday.  I placed a great deal of pressure on myself to do well and the thoughts of failure crept into my head in the moments before the race and then I could not hold pace.  I have put everything into this cycle.  Every distance runner knows the sacrifices you have to make to stick to your plan.  I place an immense burden on myself to race at a high level.  I did not have any confidence on the start line.  I feared the unknown, and instead of proving myself, I let doubt settle in.

The race:

I got to New Bedford plenty before the start.  I went for a 2 mile warm-up a little under an hour before the race.  I was already feeling nervous.  I then went into my usual routine of stretching, form drills and striders.  Then, it was time to begin.  I lined up a little farther back than I should have, or maybe not given where I ended up.  It took me 7 seconds to get across the line.  I was blocked for the first couple minutes of my race and worked too hard early on to put myself in better position and to catch-up to people hoping to run faster times.  I hit the first mile in 5:42 but I did not move very far in the first 10 seconds or so of the mile due to all of the runners.  I ran the second mile, into a headwind, in 6:00.  These would be my fastest two miles of the day, and I should note my goal coming into the race was to hold 5:40-5:50 pace.  I forget every year how difficult the New Bedford Half Marathon course is.  The third and fourth miles incorporate very steep hills.  They force you to back off pace, but still do damage to your legs early on in the race.  I went through these miles at about 6:15 pace for each.  This could have been too fast with the elevation gained.  At mile four, the course turns and flattens out.  From miles 4 to 12 there are no significant hills and you can really dial into race pace.  I, however, could not do this.  My day was already over and I had no idea why.  I could not drop under 6:00 pace and each step became a struggle.  My legs felt fine but my spirit was down.  I do not know why this happened.  Training has been going well and I have been running at much faster paces in workouts.  I tried my best to hang on throughout the entire race, but I was not having any fun out there.  I put in all of this hard work in the winter months in the cold, wind and snow.  I had not let any of these factors interfere with my training.  For some reason, I just did not have it.  I gradually slowed from 6:00 pace to 6:15 pace in the middle miles (8-10).  At mile 10, there were two miles into a strong headwind where I split 6:34 and 6:30.  Terrible.  The last mile of the race features a long uphill climb that is sure to slow you down that late in the race.  Then, you come around a turn and see the finish line and have a nice downhill finish.  I ran 6:33 for the last mile and 20:12 for my last 5k overall.  This was not encouraging.  I finished in 1:21:34 (6:13 pace overall).  My goal for Boston remains a 2:40 marathon.  I know I am in 1:15-1:17 half marathon shape.  I just wish I had not placed such a high amount of pressure on myself at New Bedford.  This was my only tune-up race for Boston and nerves took me out of it probably before the start line.  I have been training to hold 6:00 to 6:10 pace for the marathon.  This is what I am going to try to do.  I need to remember to stay relaxed and calm.  Fast times are going to come, but it is equally important to have fun.  I need to remember why I started doing this in the first place.  I want to know that I am improving each day and doing my best.  If I can say I am doing these things, then I am on the right track and need to be happy with myself.  It is time to stop putting pressure on myself and to find the thrill I got out of finishing my first races and that feeling of accomplishment.  This is what I want to feel when I cross the finish line at Boston.  Regardless of the time, I want to run free.

(for coverage of the New Bedford half and to see videos of some fast local guys, check out http://www.levelrenner.com/)

Consolation Prize:

Two years ago I ran the New Bedford Half Marathon.  It was my first go at the distance and I learned several valuable lessons in distance running.  While I am not a veteran yet, I have completed a number of half marathons since and moved up to the marathon.  I have run New Bedford three consecutive times and have run progressively better with each one.  This is encouraging.  It allows me to take a step back and see where I started from.  It is funny that I am complaining about a 1:21 half when my first was in 1:45 and just a year ago my best was 1:30.  Now that's improvement!  This leaves me optimistic about the future.  I will be back next year and I will be stronger than ever.

2011 NB Half- 1:45:17 (8:02 pace), 879th of 2373, top 37%
2012 NB Half- 1:30:40 (6:55 pace), 382nd of 2778, top 13.75%
2013 NB Half- 1:21:34 (6:13 pace), 179th of 3135, top 5.5%

Run Happy (but seriously),
David

What it takes

"All it takes is all you got." - Marc Davis

105 miles totaled this week, here's a breakdown of what that looked like:

Monday- 11+ miles, easy day (long run previous Sunday of 20 miles)
Tuesday- AM 10 x 3:00 hard (2:00 rest) for 13+ total miles, PM 4 miles easy
Wednesday- AM 10+ miles, PM 6+ miles (both easy)
Thursday- 14+ miles on a snow covered bike path
Friday- 3 x 5k (all around 18:00) workout for 14+ total miles
Saturday- 10+ easy miles
Sunday- long run 22 miles

This was a BIG week in the build-up for Boston.  It will most likely be my high for total mileage in one week.  I like the balance of easy and hard days from this past week.  I had my toughest days on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday.  The rest of the days were equally important, helping me reach my desired mileage for the week.  Here's what my workouts looked like.

(Heartbreak Hill)

Tuesday- On Tuesday, I drove to Wellesley so I could put in this timed interval workout on one of the toughest sections on the Boston course.  I am fortunate to live close enough to the course to do this on occasion and it also helped that I was on spring break from college this past week.  I parked in downtown Wellesley just before mile 15.  I did my warm-up from there until you make the "firehouse turn" onto Commonwealth Ave.  This is where many say the "race" begins at Boston.  It signifies the start of several rolling hills that concludes with the infamous Heartbreak Hill just after mile 20.  I started my workout here and did half of the repeats to get me to the top of Heartbreak and then the other half backwards on the course.  The workout, 10 x 3:00 hard (2:00 rest), is a nice break from doing measured repeats on a track.  If you are struggling with track repeats, give these a try!  I have done time intervals, such as 10 x 2:00 or 5 x 5:00.  You simply try to settle into your tempo pace and run hard during the fast section of the repeat and then jog to recover in between.  I averaged 6:20 pace during the workout (48:00 of running- 30:00 fast, 18:00 recovery), which includes the rest portions.  This means I was in the 5:40 range during the hard running of this workout.  This is encouraging because I was running through the hills of Newton.  This is the kind of workout that provides some confidence come raceday.  It is important to train on similar courses that you will be running your goal race on.  If you cannot make it to the course, look at its elevation online and try to map out something similar near you that you can run on to simulate it.  This will help better prepare you for any race!

Friday- This was the toughest workout I have done in my build-up to date, and might be the most difficult I have done in my life.  I completed a 3 x 5k workout in the snow/rain with 20+ mph of wind.  In these ideal conditions my splits were: 18:03 (5:48 pace), 18:09 (5:50 pace) and 18:03 (5:48 pace).  Awesome!  I was thrilled with the result of the workout.  Nine miles of quality running and even splits.  My third repeat was the same as my first, which I was very happy with!  This was one of those grind it out kind of days.  The conditions were rough, my legs were tired, but I stuck it out and put in my best workout of the cycle.  Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come!

Sunday- Long run: 22 miles 2:25:50 (6:37 pace overall).  I ran the first 22 miles of the Boston Marathon.  I started in Hopkinton, passed the train station in Framingham, went through Wellesley and battled the hills of Newton.  This was a solid long run.  It brought with it the end of a 105 mile week.  I went into this run with 83 miles already on my legs in the previous six days.  I am not rested.  My legs are not fresh.  I eased into the run, passing through the first 5 miles in 34:10 (6:50 pace).  I picked it up from there and went through the half in 1:27:30.  My last 4 miles were in 25:50 (6:27 pace).  This included another trip up Heartbreak Hill.  After cresting the hill, I ran my final mile, the "graveyard" mile, in 6:00.  It felt good to run a fast mile at the end of a 22 mile long run.  The key from this run was that I did not push the pace, except during the final mile.  I ran comfortably and strong the whole way.  I felt great post-run too.  My legs did not feel too tired.  I ran 22 miles but I did not hit the wall and ran my fastest mile last.  My goal is to try and hold 6:06 pace for the marathon.  This would put me at 2:40.  A 2:37 marathon would mean running 6:00 pace.  This long run allowed me to tour most of the course and left me feeling I could run a lot faster once I am rested and ready to race.

Up next: On Sunday I will be making my third trip to run in the New Bedford Half Marathon.  This year feels very different to the previous two.  New Bedford was my first half marathon just two short years ago.  I was a newbie.  I had no idea what I was doing out there.  I ran 1:45.  The next year I returned to New Bedford and ran 1:30.  A 15 minute improvement!  Right now, my personal best sits at 1:20 set at the Hartford Half Marathon this past October.  I have been training to run much faster than that come Sunday.  I am ready to "let it rip" and try to run a fast half marathon.  This is my tune-up race for Boston and it will help indicate what kind of shape I am really in.  I feel like I am due for a big time PR.  The competition will be very strong on Sunday and I hope that running with New England's finest will help pull me to a fast time.  It will be important to stay positive all week and hope for the best on Sunday!

Run Happy,
David

Irish 5k

(Pawtucket, RI)

It's March!  I know I have not been posting much lately but I have been very busy.  I have been eating away at high mileage weeks and completing marathon specific workouts each week.  I ran the Irish 5k this past weekend on Saturday.  The goal was to run it as a workout and to make my long run on Sunday a little bit tougher.  I have this thought that I have mentioned plenty of times before.  I want to get faster at shorter distances to give me the confidence to run faster marathons.  The problem right now is that I am not taking any time out of my training plan for Boston to rest or taper for a short distance race.  I went into the race last Saturday at the end of a 90 mile week.  I doubled the day before the race!  To run well at Boston, I decided it would be more important to make sure I get to 90 miles as opposed to resting before the race.  With this being said, my immediate goal in the 5k is to run sub-17:00.  I know this is possible.  I also know that I have been in marathon training.  It is difficult to hold 5:20-5:30 per mile, but I can hold 5:40 pace for 6 miles (as evidenced in my recent tempo runs).  I went into the start of the race with the ambitious goal to break 17:00 on tired legs, in the middle of marathon training.  Sounds feasible, right?  Wrong.  When the gun went off, I was determined to not get "trapped" behind people at the start.  I sprinted out behind the leaders and the pace was going very fast.  After about a quarter of a mile I found myself in about 5th place but losing all of the energy I had in me very early in the race.  At this point, there is a decent sized hill that takes you to about a half mile and then the course flattens out.  This climb got me, less than three minutes into the race.  I worked hard early on in this 5k race to try and maintain pace, rather then keeping an even effort on the hills.  There is a nice downhill section leading into the first mile, which I hit in 5:26.  This was on target for my goal time, but I worked too hard to get there.  The second mile starts with a half mile climb, before you make a left and go down a street to a turnaround.  This mile felt terrible.  I ran the first mile off the hip of another runner and he started to gap me during this mile.  When I finally reached the second mile mark, my watch read 5:53.  5:53!?  That's slower then what I hope to average for a half marathon.  For the third mile, which is downhill, I split 5:34.  Then, it was time for the big finish.  I had been beginning to kick since the last half of the third mile, but really started to sprint from the 3 mile mark.  When I crossed the line, the clock said 17:42.  The curious thing, however, is that my split from mile 3 to the finish (the .1) said 48.72 seconds.  That comes out to a modest 8:07 pace.  This is obviously wrong.  My finishing kick should be in the high twenty to low thirty second range.  I mapped out the course after the race and calculated in to +- 3.18 miles.  That kind of inaccuracy in a 5k hurts someone like me trying to hit a certain time and is disappointed being just a few seconds off.  I think the second mile might of been a little long too, because I did not think I had run that slow and I certainly would not have run the final mile twenty seconds faster.  A 3.18 mile course would put my 5k time at 17:17.  That would have been a new pr, but for now it remains 17:24.  My finishing time for the Irish 5k was 17:42, good for 9th place overall.  I'll take being in the top-10!  My lasting thought for this race is to not place so much emphasis on reaching a particular time.  I ran well and then got in a 20 miler on Sunday, averaging an even 6:40 pace for it.  My goal is for Boston, not in a local 5k weeks before it.  I need to enjoy training and let things come.  I have been working hard and I will have other opportunities to set new personal bests.  One of the local clubs, the Western Mass Distance Project, always says to "respect the process."  These are good words to train by.  Good races will come and there is no reason to be discouraged if you are doing your best.  My next race is the New Bedford Half Marathon.  It is in just a week and a half.  This will be my chance to prove myself at a distance I like much better.  I have not tested myself at the distance since October.  New Bedford is just four weeks before Boston and will really help to indicate what I should target for marathon pace.  I am eager to "let it rip" and just try to run fast out there!

David