Training Since Boston

After Boston, I took the customary week off and basically trained moderately: 30 to 60 minute runs, a couple Sundays and Fridays in the 90-minute range, and a few workouts (helping Patrick keep his sub-5-minute-mile streak going comes to mind). I raced the three-mile Capital Challenge on May 21, a Wednesday morning, for a work team. Then, on Saturday, as is becoming tradition, I raced the Spring Lake 5 and finished 7th in 26:56.

The next week we went on vacation and I took six days off that refreshed me and got me interested in doing the training again.

Over the next year the focus for me will be the mile to 10k. I'm excited to switch it up.

Below is my training since my last break (still building).

June 2 - 8

M - 5
T - 7
W - 7
Th - 8
F - 9.5
S - 9
S - 10
Total - 55

June 9-15

M - 7, with 10 hill sprints at Lang and Bladensburg (the rep is about 25 seconds)
T - Blew it
W - AM 5 PM 10 ... 5 by 1200: 3:55, 3:49, 3:45, 3:45, 3:47
T - 8
F - 10.5, CHDP
S - 10 ... Workout with Luke, who was doing 6 by 1k, and Outlaw. 3 by 600 in 1:48, 1:47, 1:46; 3 by 400 in 68s; 6 by 100 strides.
S - 13
Total - 63

June 16-22

M - 7, with 10 hill sprints
T - 9.5
W - 9, 100 degrees out for 1600 in 5:03, 4 by 800 in 2:29, 29, 28, 27
Th - 8
F - 11.5, CHDP
S - 11, Ridge Road in Charlottesville. Hilly. Did 8,6,4,2 with half the rest of previous interval.
S - 12
Total - 68

June 23-29
M - 8, with 10 hill sprints
T - 10
W - AM 4 PM 10 ... 6 by 1k: 3:10, 10, 7, 6, 9.
Th - 8
F - 12, CHDP
S - 10, with 8 diagonals on soccer field. NJ.
S - 10, with 10 by 2 min on/1 min off on dirt road. Little down one way, little up the other.
Total - 73

My first race is the Midsummer Night's Mile on July 11th.

Boston Marathon 2014

April 14 - 21

M - 8

T - AM 5 PM 5, gym

W - 9 - 3 miles on track in 16:50 (5:38)

Th - 7

F - 6

S - 5, with Adrian in Boston

S - 4, with Todd - out and back from the starting line

Me # 918 & Dix # 393, Boston shake out complete. pic.twitter.com/w8Ne4YvJoS
— Todd Lippin (@liprides) April 20, 2014

Monday, April 21, Boston Marathon: 2:38:37, 254th. 

I think I captured my feelings about the race pretty well in what I wrote to Mike Unger, a writer for American Magazine.

Everything up until 17, actually, could not have been better. Up in Boston, I was feeling really relaxed. Race morning was great. A group of us met up at the buses, and then we even got to chill at Reaves' father-in-law's house in Hopkinton rather than sit on the ground in the athletes village. They announced the temperature at the start as 54 degrees, with a tailwind. The sun was warm, but I figured we'd feel great once we got moving. The opening mile was pretty jammed; I didn't force it. Mile 2 I started to settle into a rhythm, and from there I was running relaxed, feeling like I was holding back. Around 10k, I linked up with Reaves, who ran a new pr of 2:29, and when he started to pull away around 13, I didn't want to force myself to go with him; I could tell he was having a great day. Plus, he has a very, very strong record at Boston. I knew I just had to run my own race - until 17, when it all unraveled.

I do believe I was in 2:28-2:32 shape. I really do. Along those lines, going through the half in 1:14-flat or so was according to plan, and I did it without at any point seeing a slow split and thinking, uh oh, better pick it up. Twice, rather, I saw fast splits, south of 5:30, and pumped the brakes a bit. That said, had I understood that the conditions were not exactly perfect, as advertised, as we all thought, would I have gone out a bit slower? Maybe. I also think I would have run slower, too - because nothing I have ever done to beat warm conditions has ever worked.  

It is a frustrating thing, truthfully - the unraveling - but not because it results in a slower time than I had initially hoped. It is frustrating because I am not able to run the marathon the way I want to - to really celebrate it, in a sense. That feeling that sets in during the back half when things get tough.  And you start throwing your chips in.  And then 20 comes, and it's gloves off, and you're running all out, as hard as you can, to maintain a pace that two hours earlier - when you were fresh, when the adrenaline was pumping - felt almost like a jog. In just two and a half hours or so, it's like you go on this wild spending spree, throwing down months and months and months of training.

That is how you run the marathon. And when I run the marathon that way, no matter the time, I am happy. But lately - my last three, actually - it feels as if my body just shuts down on me; it won't let me do it. Is it random? Is it something physical? I don't know. 

This year, the sun did affect me. The medics had to scoop me up at the finish. And during the long walk to the family meet-up area, one after another kept coming up to me and suggesting I visit a medical tent. But how much was the sun? I'll never know - and frankly, I don't plan to dwell on it, either. I am going to focus the next year on the 10k. In 2015, I'll look to strike again at 26.2 on a flat-and-fast course on a cold day. In the shorter term, I will recover, race the Spring Lake 5 in a few weeks, and then take another week off. 

Boston, for three years in a row now, has both humbled and inspired me; it has been nothing less than an emotional roller coaster. I love the race, the city, the people. So darn much. There's nothing like it.

My cousin Anna took this photo of me at 22. 

Boston Training Week #15

April 7 - 13

M -9

T - 9

W - 10  -Track - 3 by 1600 with 400 rest: 5:01, 5:00, 5:01

Th - 6

F - 9, Cap Hill Distance Project

S - 7

S - 13. Met Jake at Riley's Lock.  Picked it up last few miles on the towpath: ~5:45, 5:30, 5:24

Total - 63

One year ago ... As I type this, listening to this on NPR.

"We Will Finish the Race"

Boston Training Week #14

In early January, as I was ramping up my training for Boston, American Magazine contacted me to see if I would be interested in doing an interview and photograph for the "This I Know" feature. The staff was awesome to work with. I was really grateful to be able to share what's driving me in my preparation. Check it out in the viewer below.

    

March 31 - April 6

M - AM 5 PM 7

T - AM 8 PM 5

W - PM 13 - Track - Yasso 800s: 10 by 800 with 400 rest. 2:34, 2:34, 2:31, 2:30, 2:27, 2:25, 2:23, 2:23, 2:24, 2:23. Average of 2:27. Good to see the turnover come back.

Th - 8

F - 10

S - 18, comfortable, windy

S - 11

Total - 85

Boston Training Week #13

March 24-30

M - AM 5 PM 9, with Luke and Charlie

T - AM 7 PM 6, gym

W - PM, track, 14: 4 by 3,200 with 400 rest (~2 min) at GRC workout with Patrick. Cold and very windy. 11:00, 10:54, 10:49, 10:44.

Th - AM 10 PM 5, gym

F - 12, with Capitol Hill Distance Project

S - 11, on towpath in the rain with Patrick, Breezy, and Justin.

S - 27: AM 3 WU, 17-mile tempo, 2 CD. PM 5 with Luke in the rain and the snow.

Total - 106

There was a part of the workout Sunday where I was thinking of pulling the plug on it: not because I was feeling bad or having a hard time, but because the weather - as Charlie's story about the Reston Marathon attests - was really frustrating and limiting. 

Emily planned to join me on a bike so I would have some company and could practice fueling and drinking. We chose a start time of 10 a.m., allowing time for good rest, breakfast, and so she could get her own run in. For the route, the plan was out-and-backing it along the Anacostia River bike trail.

During the warm-up it seemed like maybe we were sneaking it in at a good time. As we got rolling with the workout, though, it started raining really hard. The path was water-soaked and the wind chilled us to the bone; I thought of my buddy Patrick Reaves winning the City of Oaks Marathon back in 2009 in conditions described on the GRC blog as a "cold, wet hell."

In the opening mile I stopped to tiptoe over a fallen tree limb. When I saw the grass around the big puddles was no better, I just splashed through them instead. As we crossed over the bridge into Anacostia River Park, the wind stonewalled us and I made an on-the-fly detour to get around some ankle-deep water. Emily, I could tell, was frozen; I had to get her back home, and I slowed for a little while so we could discuss our options. We turned around, and I got her back to the RFK parking lot, a spot she knew how to get back to our place from. (No gels or water were consumed at any time during this run.)

While my venue was a bust, it was my only option. Turning into Northeast and its stoplights and all that would have been much worse. So, I ran literally as hard as I could across the RFK parking lot, sprinting against the wind, bound for more cold, wet hell. I was like 9 miles into the tempo, thought of pulling the plug, but decided just to accept the conditions and continue running hard.

It was strange. I never got tired, exactly - but it was kind of frustrating to be gunning it and keep seeing high 5s or, when the wind was really bad, low 6s. Not wanting to end with a 6-plus-minute mile, I ran an extra in 5:56 to close out 17 with a 5:58 average. I don't like the mystery. I do like, on the other hand, that I ran hard for 1:41.

Boston Training Weeks 11 & 12

March 10 - 23

M - AM 5 PM 5, gym

T - 11, with 6 by 3 min on, 2 min off on Mall

W - 14

Th - AM 7 PM 5

F - 9, strides

S - 18 - DC Half Marathon, 1:14:40, 16th place: In the few minutes before the race went off, I realized, up until that very moment, I hadn't really thought about my own race. My thoughts, up until that point, had been race day logistics: Emily was running her first marathon and our parents were visiting, including my Dad who was running the half.

The one thought I had about it was that I wanted to give it a hard run - faster than goal marathon pace - 1:12s, say - but I could tell early in the week that the race might end up being more of a goal MP run. The last few weeks, as I have rebounded from the tendon strain, I have entered what I believe is a very positive marathon grind - the kind in which I am tired, but not too, too tired. Warming up, I felt very sluggish, and what I experienced in the race was the feeling of very good fitness paired with turnover that perhaps just isn't any better than it needs to be. This is the purest marathon shape I have been in in many years, and I am excited to ride it out to Boston to run rested and fearlessly. Watch splits show I was decent on the flats but not grinding through the hills very well.

But what an awesome weekend. Dad, 58, was 6th in his age group, and Emily, well, she just hit it out of the park.

As a coach, she made it very simple for me. We decided early on - based on her previous half marathons, the time she could commit to training, and the type of experience she wanted to have - that sub-four-hours was a good goal. Early in her training, I discovered that sub-four pace, under 9 minutes per mile, was more or less her training pace. That eliminated any need for speed work, so we just settled into a solid Monday to Saturday routine and gradually lengthened her Sundays (she worked up to about 22 in 3:15).

Our plan to take the guess-work out of the pacing and run with the 3:55 pace group was foiled before the race even started. She seeded herself at 4:00, and the 3:55 team was two corrals ahead. So she did it alone, getting out a bit quicker than planned and running tough in the 20s. I saw her at mile 12, outside of our place, and she was just cruising along, smiling. Then we all went over to see her at 19, where I ran with her for a couple minutes until she was about to cross the bridge to Anacostia. She was really focused and tough; I knew then she would get it done.

3:56:49.
 

 

 














S - AM 10 PM 8

Total - 92

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M - AM 8 PM 6

T - 11 - 7 easy. Changed shoes and did 6 by 600 in neighborhood - up a hill, down a hill - with 90 seconds rest.

W - 15, steady

Th - AM 8 PM 5, gym

F - 12, with Capitol Hill Distance Project.

S - 20. Met up with Patrick at The Line. We did 10 in about 72 minutes, changed shoes, and did a 10-mile tempo on Beach Drive on the same course we on Feb. 15: 4.3 out from the Line to the Pierce Mill gate and 4.3 back, then add on.

February 15: 5:54, 40, 46, 46, 46, 6:00, 5:51, 6:05, 6:03, 6:04 - 58:55
March 22: 5:46, 5:37, 5:41, 5:36, 5:42, 6:02, 5:52, 6:12, 6:05, 6:11 - 58:41

It felt a lot different than the last time, when my legs were fresh but I was breathing hard. On Saturday I felt really controlled cardiovascularly but my legs were heavy, and I had a hard time getting them to move the last few miles after Patrick turned off. Afterward, the only thing I am scrutinizing is footwear, as I didn't seem to be getting the support I needed for my foot in the adidas adizero flats: they're either too worn down and need to be replaced ... or I need a little more in the heel. Good to learn this now rather than a month from now.

S - 15 - Ran with Charlie and Beth at Burke Lake. I planned to stop at 10 if I was tired, but felt fine and continued on.

Total - 100

Boston Training Week #10

March 3 - 9

M - 8, snow wiped out afternoon run

T - AM 8 PM gym, 6

W - AM 6 PM 10 Track: 2 by 2k in 6:23, 6:20; 2 by 1k in 3:03, 3:08. Skipped last 2 by 1k. Rusty with these paces, but got what I needed.

Th - 9, no real signs of fatigue from track workout. PM Celebrated Emily's successful dissertation defense.

F - 12, Capitol Hill Distance Project

S - 11, drove out to Pierce Mill with Luke, who was doing a workout. Ran with him for awhile and linked up with Jake and Tex, too. Out and back and such on Beach; beautiful day. Did 10 by 20 seconds on/40 seconds off during last two miles. PM 6 with Luke and Hilary in the neighborhood, out to Kingman Island.

S - 18, back to Poolesville: Sycamore Landing. Steady hilly run with Jake, Tex, and Kieran. Felt great, though my foot acted up the last few miles when I wanted to push, much like last week. There continues to be a line. 

Total - 94