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Training On The Historic Course 3.23.08
Today I ran a section of the fabled Boston Marathon for the first time this year. I ran from Wellesley Hills to Cleveland Circle and back. When I started out in Wellesley I quickly realized that I forgot my gloves in the car (it was a bit chilly), but because of where I parked I did not want to get spotted as a runner in the aforementioned parking lot going back for my gloves as I was very covert in my egress from the car and location. : )
Temps were in the low 40s with a light breeze when I started out. I was wearing a short sleeve dri fit and an orange adidas tank top over that with short compression tights and last year's Boston Marathon running shorts with a blue dri fit ball cap. A little underdressed for the weather but I prefer to be for long runs. The only thing I really could have used over and above that was the gloves that I forgot in the car (oh well). My hands did freeze.
The course from Wellesley Hills crossing route 9 down route 16 to route 30 is really smooth as a launching point. I can see this almost being the calm before the storm, because shortly after you take the right onto route 30 you are facing the first of the hills to come. If I remember correctly there were three or four hills. Coming up route 30 I was eagerly anticipating the infamous heartbreak hill. If you have never run the course you will question the first few hills but make no mistake you will know when you hit heartbreak hill. It is a steady gradual rise. Not what I expected at all. I always expect the worst. It comes between 19 and 21 miles into the marathon which is apoint that most runners hit a wall. So even though it is not a San Francisco hill it will be a significant challenge on race day that I needed to train on in order to get my head straight on what to expect. A foot note on the hill, when I reached the apex there was a runner in front of me coming my way that was clapping for me and said "nice job"! I smiled back with a sense of accomplishment. That's when I knew that I just defeated heartbreak hill. From that point there was more down hill and flats than uphill on the way to Cleveland Circle. Passing Boston College was a slight challenge in itself. Mastering the art of downhill running is easier said than done. Something that I will still need to work on. Staying in pace control and not letting your body run away is a challenge. On the return leg of the run I found this to be more challenging than the proper marathon direction. The hills were tougher and the downhills were absolutely grueling. I take solice in knowing that on race day I am going in the favorable kinder direction. Overall a great run. I did 15.06 miles in 2:04:10 for an 8:15 per mile pace. Not a bad training run as I was careful to stay below my normal pace to conserve energy, not knowing what the hills would be like and knowing that for every mile I ran outward along the course I would need to run that far to get back. I needed to keep something in the tank, especially where I knew I had to go through some pretty nasty reverse hills on the way back. All in all this experience has helped my mindset immensely when facing the second half of the marathon. I learned a lot today that I can take back with me to incorporate into my training.
My Current Stats Through March 27th 2008 3.27.08
Since I have not really had time lately to update the 'runahead' distance data boxes on the left side of the page, I thought it would be neat to post some of my stats below and share them with everyone. The first image is pretty self explanatory it is my daily, weekly, monthly running data. The second image is my speed versus pace. The third image on the bottom shows one of the actual base mile courses that I run daily along with mile splits. These are all snapshots from March 23rd. I am confident that I can update these graphics a little more often. : )
