Patience and Grit (aka the Plan)

I debated about sharing my running notebook where all of these plans are sketched down, starred, circled and highlighted. As my calendar post perhaps belied, I am someone who requires a plan to function. However, since this week is anything but normal and I still don't know my travel plans to Boston, I'm going to keep my journal to myself. I will, however, share my plan.

After reviewing my training log (4 times), the Boston course (at least 10 times) and using some of the various calculators available, I think I'm going to aim for a 3:08, plus or minus a couple of minutes. Although this is a 7:10 pace, this certainly isn't an even pace course. Go out too hard, and you'll understand first hand what a meat grinder feels like. Go out too easy, well, I'm not sure that's really a possibility.

My personal plan, in a nutshell, is to go out easy through 16, then grind it in. I'm a strong hill runner and my first marathon was very similar in profile to Boston (http://cityofoaksmarathon.com/course_info/), although without the constant hammering downhill of the first 6 of Boston. I remember this race much more fondly than the pancake flat Las Vegas, where I honestly thought another step at mile 21 was an impossibility.

I assume that my first mile will be slow due to a crowded start. Should this not happen, I am still prepared and planning to run no faster than a 7:20 mile for Miles 1 and 2. Through 6, I am going to be chanting patience in my head (and possibly writing it on my arm). This excludes mile 3, where a steep downhill may naturally pull me a little under. Then the plan is to cruise through to 16, somewhere around 7:05, plus or minus a second. 16 is where I swap mantras for grit. Climbing hills takes more time per mile, and I'm not expecting a negative split on this course, so I think a 7:19 is reasonable through the Hills. From mile 21 in, I want to focus on running strong, with the best form I can manage. If the going gets tough, I'm doing like Kara Goucher and counting to 100 over and over again.

16 miles is a manageable bite for me at this point. It's probably one of my favorite long run distances; long enough to feel like a workout, not long enough to hurt. If I can get through 16 with patience and legs that feel good, then I'm ready to fight like hell for the next 10.

Splits? (Again, pretty flexible, at least on the slower side. I am going to work very hard not to turn in anything under 7 minutes)
Through the half no faster than 1:34:30
16 around 1:54
20 around 2:30.

It was a good week.

Sometimes, things just click. After a December I'd rather forget, I benefited from some of that "resolution" mania floating around and had a great week of running. I moved my runs back to the morning, ran the hard workouts hard and the recovery workouts at recovery pace.  My tempo run today felt effortless and (knock on wood), nothing hurts. Even my calf, which is in consistent pain, isn't bothering me too much.

Is it a subconscious New Year's Resolution? My new calf compression sleeves? Luck? I don't know. I know that it feels good to have a good week of training done, and encourages me to add a second week to that streak. I know that a PR in Boston seems closer to the realm of possibilities.  I know that getting up to do 14 miles tomorrow morning is much easier after a good week than a bad week.

I'm so excited to have a good week in the bank. I hope you had one too. If you didn't, I hope tomorrow marks the beginning of one.  It's like that quip we heard as children from parents and teachers: if at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

Run On
~S

Patience, Grasshopper

It has been a really great couple weeks of running. My miles are building, my leg has behaved and I can picture myself toeing the line at Boston for more than just a qualifying 3:40.  Tomorrow, I will do my first speed workout post-surgery, with 4 miles at a 7:30 pace. It's funny to think that my pace will be slower than the pace at which I ran my last marathon.  My test will not be whether I can run that fast, but whether I can be patient enough to let a 7:30 be enough.

Patience has never been a virtue.  My mom recently retold the story of me going to sleep away camp a full year before I was technically eligible.  Somehow, I convinced the camp to let me attend, despite being 7 when I needed to be 8.  In fact, I came into the world impatiently, arriving a full two months before I was due. That's why it is a bit of a surprise to me (and to my loved ones, I'm sure), that I've been patient with my recovery. When I went into surgery, I expected to be running in 6 weeks, training hard by the end of the summer.  Instead, it's November. As I start to feel strong, I find myself pushing too hard in workouts and tacking on extra miles. My brain knows that this is the easiest way to end up on the injured reserve, but my competitive side wants to make up for all the lost time.

Patience in the context of a marathon is an interesting thing.  Those who are successful in the marathon must have at least some level of it, as the distance punishes the hare and rewards the tortoise. Perhaps the strongest warning we offer to novice marathoners is that "there are no shortcuts."  Why, then, is it so hard to remember this for myself?  When I run with friends or give advice to new runners,  I always caution against too much too soon, about taking easy runs easy.  It seems that with most advice, it's easy to dole it out, but not as easy to observe.

As I wind on down the road this weekend, I'll be working on waking up my fast twitch muscles again, but also on practicing patience.  It's a long road to Boston.