Wednesday, April 3, 2013

"Normal"

I am the worst blogger. I love reaching out to other runners, but as I get closer to an important race the less likely I am to blog about training or running or share what my goals are or other things that "normal" bloggers blog about. I love reading about all that stuff when other people write about it, but I like to make like a clam and close my shell. ;)

I don't think I mentioned this previously, but I was picked to blog about the Boston Marathon on Boston.com. I've done a few posts. My most recent post can be found here if you're interested...I found blogging on another site more challenging than I would have thought. I don't feel like I know the audience. I feel like most of the people who read this blog are probably people relatively similar to me, you know, running is just something we do (all the time). I'm not sure that's the case over on the other blog. Or at the very least, I just don't know what the general experience it. When writing posts I would find myself wondering if people would think an 80 mile week was excessive, or would they be really grossed out by the fact that I'm constantly losing my toenails? And for whatever reason, people can't seem to leave comments, so I have no idea what they might be thinking. 

I love when you guys leave comments. I think the best aspect of blogging is the dialogue that might come after a post. It's interesting to get other people's thoughts on various subjects. 

Well, Boston is 11 days away, so I guess I should mention the highlights. (If you're super interested in my training you can always see what I'm doing on DailyMile.) I'm in full on taper, and yes, also full on crazy mode. In true tapering fashion, my right hip started to bother me on Saturday, so I took Sunday and Monday off. 

During my peak week I ran 80 miles, last week I wound up with 53 (but had planned to run 60), and this week I'll probably wind up with 42-50 miles. All typical. My hip bothers me when I sit or lay down, but not when I'm running, which is also pretty typical for me. I'm so weird...

I have my ride to Boston with the GLRR all set, and my parents are picking me up at  the finish. My mom is so cute. I think she's been to the finish just to figure out where to park and such. I've been studying the course, and reading all kinds of "advice" for the Boston course, but honestly a lot of it seems random and not backed up by evidence or experience. I'm planning to call my college friend this weekend and get her take on the course. She's run there at least twice successfully. I'm predicting that when she eventually gets back there that she'll run sub-3:00. 

Feel free to throw in your thoughts on the Boston course (or if you'll be at Boston). One of the sillier things I read was to go out 25 seconds slower than MP for the first 5 miles...there was no explanation for this (other than you'll feel better at the end). I don't get it, though. It seems to me that it may actually take more energy to slow down that much if you're running down hill. Perhaps I'm missing something crucial.

I'll leave you with this gem from Calvin and Hobbes that Nick sent me last week. I'm not sure if it's Kosher that I copied it, but I got it from: http://www.gocomics.com/. It. Is. AWESOME! As an aside, Kaylee is a lot like Calvin sometimes. One day she asked me if she could pretend her pancakes were "grubs and slugs". 


16 comments:

Michael said...

Hi Katie. Good luck with your taper. I always hate that part.

I've raced Boston 7 times and run it at least as many more in training. I think the approach that's worked best for me is to use the first 4 miles as a warm-up. They can be pretty quick and will pound your quads if you're hammering from the gun.

25 seconds per mile slower than MP seems pretty extreme and doesn't make much sense to me. Just focus on trying and be smooth and relaxed though there. Then settle in to MP for the middle miles.

The hills from 16-20.5 are tough but fairly well spaced so there is time to recover between them. And, if you can get to the top feeling pretty good, you can make up a lot of time (and places) in the last 6 miles.

Do you have a time goal (or range) in mind?

Katie said...

@Michael: Well, sort of...my half time predicts 3:00:57, that's 6:54 pace. All my MP runs have been run at 6:57 pace (3:02 final time) on the TM (1% grade) in hopes of running a 7:03 pace (3:04ish finish time). Now it seems to me that the calculators are generally 5 minutes off for me, so I think that my original 3:04ish goal is probably good...(assuming, of course, my legs don't fall off prior to the race.)

Michael said...

Nice! I'd say sub-3:05 is totally doable for you given your recent races and how your training has gone. MP + 5 seconds for the first 4 miles will seem slow (given the terrain) but will leave you in great shape for what's to come. "Banking Time" at Boston is a big mistake. At least in my experience. Good luck!

PS. The weather should be perfect, since I won't be running this year. :)

Ana-Maria RunTriLive said...

You know, I think the issue is really mile 1. It is a crazy downhill. But, it is also a narrow street and so you'd want to conserve energy and not go around people. Also, you want to make sure that you run relaxed and soft, to protect your quads. I think 25 sec/mile is absolutely crazy. This is probly good advice for beginner runners, who don't have well developed neuromuscular systems. You have many marathons under your belt. I think starting slow in the first mile and then getting on pace by mile 5 when you have some nice flat in Natick is going to work well. Of course, you need to account for wind. If you ge t aheadwind I think tucking behind someone and saving energy early on is going to help a lot. Your training has gone super well and I am so excited about watching you race.

Karen said...

I get crazy pains during a taper too, maybe it is because I'm not distracted by training anymore? Dunno.

Personally, I can't wait to hear how your race went. A 3:05 sounds more than doable for you. :)

Ana-Maria RunTriLive said...

Hey, I loved your article on Boston.com.
Re; your question...yes HR is higher in races, bc of the adrenaline rush. Also, for me, my HR is lower on the TM than outdoors for the same pace, due to lack of wind, etc. My old coach told me to run @ 4% to get equivalent HR...that's when I took it outside; bc running on the TM at 4% incline seems insanely hard to me!

Katie said...

@AM: Thanks for the advice. I hadn't thought of drafting off someone if it's windy...also 4% grade on the TM is just crazy talk! That would definitely get my heart rate up (because hill outside also get my heart rate up), but at 4% grade you definitely can't run super fast. That being said, I think I might start running hill workouts more in the future. It's the only way I can get my heart rate really high.

@Karen: I do think that maybe I just don't notice all the niggles when I'm more distracted with training. It's super annoying though!

Michelle said...

No Boston advice for you, but i LOVE that comic!! I have to steal it!!

Katie said...

@Michelle: I know! As soon as I saw it, I was like I have to post that! It's awesome...

Healthy Ambitions said...

I have no Boston advice but I can't wait to hear how your race goes! Your training has been awesome and you're ready for a great race! Soak in that finish on Boylston street!!!

Lacy Lynn said...

You've been killing the workouts. Knock Boston dead!! Oooweee!!

maria conley said...

Hi Katie, I love reading your blog. Its very educational. I am a slower runner and I dont run more than 55 miles when training for a marathon. I am running Boston and this will be my 5th. All I can say is conserve your energy for the first 13 miles bc is a lot of running down. The last 13 miles just go for the kill. Good luck!!!

Alicia Hudelson said...

It's funny, before seeing this post, I had just posted on my own blog about my training for my next race, because I realized that I love reading about other people's training and I never post about mine!

I've never run Boston so I don't have any specific advice, just in general that I probably wouldn't be too worried about destroying my quads in the first part of the course. I think that with the high amount of miles you've been running per week, overdoing it on the early downhills is more likely to lead to soreness the next day (which is of course not a problem!), rather than to lead to being unable to run fast on downhills later in the race itself.

Also, your mom sounds exactly like my mom:)

Danielle said...

I'll be there cheering everyone on...one of my running buddies is running it! You fast people amaze me! Something I certainly aspire to! Good luck Katie!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Hey Katie. I'm hoping you and your family are all as okay as can be. If you get a chance, I'd love to read about your race day.

-Alicia

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