Well it's official and I was not one of the lucky winners in the Boston Lottery. On paper my chances were pretty good.....2 out of 23 are great odds! For some reason I was feeling pretty confident. I am not sure why as I never win at such things, but deep inside I felt this was my time.
I had already planned some of my runs and made out a graph for my training....yeah I was getting quite excited about it. I even went out for a couple runs working on down hills.
I don't know why I was so excited about it, I suppose it is just the attention the race gets and most non runners equate the Boston race with running. It always seems to be the first question......"Oh, you are a runner, have you done the Boston Marathon?" I suspect if you haven't done it then you are not a real runner.
So anyway, at least I can say my luck is consistant and I don't have to worry about which way it will go.
Lately, I have been working on more muscle groups and trying to change things up a bit. I am hoping that a core/cardio workout will help my running for the spring. I really need to drop some fat to be at a good racing weight and honestly I can't seem to cross that threshhold. For the past 3-4 years I have been fluxuating about 8-10 lbs between winter and summer, the lighter side still being about 8-10 pounds heavier than optimum so the heavy side is much, much too heavy.
At least the running has kept me from adding on the pounds most older people seem to pack on as their metabolism slows down. Now I need to change the eating habits and cut some fat. I hope the cardio/weight workout will do the trick.
I can say at this point (about two weeks into the program) I have felt it in the legs, midsection and arms. I have seen no results physically as far as appearance goes and the weight hasn't changed. I think it must be hidden underneath my soft shell of flab. You can't tell by my appearance but I am one lean mean racing machine ...kind of a sleeper I guess.....you know like when they used to put these high horsepower racing engines in crappy/ ordinary looking cars. Well that's me (yeah right!!).
I had a fairly active weekend and was still able to fit in some quality running.
11/21/09
Saturday
This morning it was treadmill hill running then cardio/weight workout(it was dark and cold at 5:00 am and I just didn't feel like hitting the road) I found it nice to be able to watch the history channel and drink my morning coffee while getting in my run. Is that a sign of getting old or just plain becoming lazy?
I did a four mile hill run fluxuating between 6 and 10% grade, then the workout program. The work out seemed much tougher after running and I was sweating up a storm by the time I finished. I then had just enough time to eat breakfast, take a shower and head to the state championship class A football game.
11/22/09
Sunday
I was looking forward to a trail run without worrying about hunters. My goal was somewhere around 10 miles at pineland or bradbury. As it turns out, I decided to run near home in the essense of saving some time. It was destined to be a very warm day for november standards and I still had a lot of things to do around the yard to prepare for winter.
I woke up a bit lame lame from Saturday's workout but didn't feel it would affect my run too much. Right off the bat, my legs were heavy and I felt fatiqued. Damn, that workout must be working out after all. I hoped to feel better as I settled in and put a few miles in the bank but it just wasn't materializing.
The run felt long and the hills felt hillier, I got to a point where I could feel heavy fatigue settling in and decided to cut the run short. I was still able to knock off 7.5 miles and felt the fatigue running was probably good training. When I realized how good it felt to stop running, I knew it was the right decision.
Total miles 7.5 @ 1:14:17 combination dirt road / technical trail(9:55 pace)
Splits:
9:23....131-140
10:10....145-152
10:10....144-154
10:08....147-152
12:13....142-150
10:41....139-152
9:03....143-151
8:58....147-154
5 comments:
Don't sweat it. Having run it twice I can tell you Boston is a very overrated race. Mt. Desert Island would be much more fun. It has way better scenery, a more challanging course and it's not the logistical nightmare Boston is.
Kevin - sorry you missed out on Boston 2010. As for weight, I'm not sure how easy that is to control at our age, without a really herculean effort. But it's certainly a laudable goal. Heck, I was even trying to lose weight throughout most of the racing season! As for training different groups, I have friends that swear by cross-fit although I've never touched the stuff myself.
Kevin, if come run the route over the winter let me know. I try to do 2-3 of my long runs on the course.
Your luck may suck, but your drive to stay fit does not! You're doing a whole lot more than most people to take care of yourself. Looking forward to hitting those snowy trails together this winter!
It is funny how non-runners are the ones that deem it necessary to have run the Boston to really have made it. It's like in Maine, you must be training for the B2B if you're a runner. Thanks to Jeff we can say yes to that question with a twisted smile! Perhaps you need a twisted Boston to run.
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