Sunday, April 30, 2006

Weekly summary - 3 weeks to go

If I hadn't mentioned, I'm doing the Isle of Wight marathon in 3 weeks time. This makes for a frustrating few weeks of training: I can't back off too much, but at the same time I need to ensure I recover properly. I have to try to get the balance right.

My legs have felt the worst they've ever done after a marathon. I did no running for 7 days after Boston. I had a good deep massage last Monday, which tackled many of the tight muscles, and did wonders for my sore adductor, but on my return to running on Tuesday I was still concerned about how tight my adductor was. This continued through the week, but I stretched, iced and heated, stretched, iced and heated, hoping to ease the muscle. I took our club handicap race steady on Thursday - I finished last - but even so I got a big twinge. I was concerned but didn't seem to have done any harm, although my leg felt weird on Friday.

Another feature of this week is how noticably slow I've been running. At the start of the week I was maybe a minute/mile slower for a given heart rate. This seems to be getting better though. Hopefully I'll get my full pace back before the Isle of Wight Marathon.

Today I did 9.5 miles and it's the first run where I wasn't constantly aware of the tightness in the adductor. To be honest it may have all settled down when I discovered I was doing the wrong stretch. The bent leg stretch (yoga sitting, pressing knees apart) was tight and painful, but it wasn't till I did the straight leg stretch (standing, leg out to side, touch floor) that it all seemed to settle. Then again, time could be the healer and I'm completely wrong about the stretches.

Ah the paranoia of the runner!

Onwards to the Isle of Wight. I'm not going for a time, but I am going to run it to the best of my ability. It's the Hampshire championships and I fancy trying for a medal - fingers crossed!

MondayRest Massage p.m.
Tuesday7.8 milesEasy club runAdductor tight, quads ached towards the end
Wednesday4.5 milesEasy runAdductor tight, quads a little better
Thursday4.7 milesSteady run: the club short handicap raceGot a big twinge in the adductor - concerned!
Friday5 milesEasy paceAdductor tight and tingled towards the end of run
Saturday4.8 milesEasy runAdductor less tight
Sunday9.5 milesEasy runStill aware that leg isn't 100%, but much better and pace returning to normal at usual HR
Total35.3 miles  

Saturday, April 29, 2006

Mr Pig presents... Boston logoed shorts and top

Mr Pig here again sporting Susie's latest purchases: the shorts and top she bought at the expo in Boston, with the "110th Boston Marathon" logo.
Mr Pig and the Boston logoed shorts and top

Apparently the top is a bra top. I personally think it's more the sort of thing a male tri-athlete would wear.

I think it looks quite manly!


I had to wear it - she made me do it!

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Boston: the technical report

I thought I'd detail the pace, HR and nutritional details of Boston, given the tricky start time and course.

Pre-race nutrition
I did the usual carbo-load regime of emphasising carbs 2 days out. I also supplemented with SiS PSP22 energy drink - sipping it through the day before. I got through 2 litres, which is about 200g of pure carbohydrate (10%). I tried to keep my evening meal light, but as it was the pasta buffet in the hotel, I'm not sure I managed. I felt full in the evening but not bloated.

At 7am on race morning I had my usual breakfast of 100g of Kelloggs Just Right, with 250ml of Soya milk, and a banana. I then sipped PSP22 on the coach to the start and in the athlete's village - consuming 600ml or 70g carbohyrate (350kCal?). I also had 2 cups of water and an SiS energy gel in the athlete's village. I consumed nothing within an hour of the start, which was at 12:30, 5 hours 30 minutes after breakfast.

Race nutrition
I decided not to drink the Gatorade, as I'd had no chance to try it before the race. Water and Gatorade were supplied at each mile and PowerGels at 17 miles. I drank water only, and used my own SiS energy gels. As the gels are isotonic then in theory any minerals lost in sweat should in part be replaced - as I've only recently started this water only approach I was concerned about the possible consequences of not replacing minerals (ie cramp), but I believe the gels avoid this. I took a gel at 3 miles, 7 miles, 11 miles, 15 miles, 19 miles and 23 miles. I had anticipated only drinking at every other 1-mile water station, but as I felt quite warm and as I could only get a small amount of water from the cups, I had a sip of water at every mile, pouring the rest on my head. Fortunately it was easy to distinguish between the green Gatorade cups and the blue water cups, so no danger of sticky coiffure!

The above approach worked well. As ever I got a very slight stitch in the opening miles but this soon went. I think despite my caution about drinking beforehand I still had a fair amount of fluid in my stomach, but once it had emptied then the stitch went. I reached the end feeling well fuelled and hydrated, although it took me a while before I was peeing again!

A tip for the ladies concerning the carrying of gels. I'd thought about using an elastic 'fuel-belt' for the gels, but have found that the easiest approach is to stuff 4 gels down your crop-top and carry a gel in each hand. I would apply some lube (Vaseline/BodyGlide) to prevent chafing - I forgot, and got mild chafing, but I don't think the gels contributed - I often get a little chafing from my top anyway.

Pace
I tried to run on heart rate. I intended to go out at 143bpm and then try to pick it up from about 16 miles, by which time the effects of cardiac drift would be lifting my heart rate anyway. I had trouble keeping my heart rate down, but felt comfortable, so gambled that 145bpm would be OK, so stuck with that.

I think on the whole I paced well. Given my overall average pace of 8:05/mile I was pleased to hit that in mile 24. I didn't get any dips in heart rate, which would indicate I was running out of steam, as has happened in previous London Marathons, so despite early concerns that I was perhaps running at too high a heart rate, I think the HR pacing worked well.


Mile splits and heart rate
Milelap timeAve HR
17:58126
27:45138
37:34147
47:26145
57:54145
67:46145
77:45145
87:57145
97:51144
107:56145
118:02144
128:32143
138:03145
147:57144
158:06146
167:50142
178:10147
188:38147
198:08146
208:36145
218:54147
228:07145
238:12147
248:05146
258:16149
268:18149
26.21:43151
Overall3:31:45145

The splits up to 12 miles are slightly generous as they were automatic splits taken by my GPS which was measuring slightly short, largely because I was not taking the shortest line. My GPS then packed up (!) and the splits from then on are taken from the mile markers, hence the longer 8:32 split where I switched. You can see the effect the hills from 17 miles onwards had on my pace.


I still have some touristy photos I haven't blogged, but I suspect that might be it as far as Boston reports go. I may blog my finish line photo, but that will be a few weeks away yet.

Can I say a big thankyou to everyone who has posted their congratulations. I know I haven't replied to all of you, but it really is appreciated. Thanks folks!

Monday, April 24, 2006

London Marathon - the spectators view

I had a great day yesterday spectating at the London Marathon. Karen and family, BarnsleyRunner and myself made up the 'Team Gratton' support, as we tried to follow our 'Hard training' group around the streets.

First spot was the ladies championship start, watched from Vanburgh Terrace, to the north of the course 100m after the start. We watched Hilly and the elite ladies past and then we headed off at a brisk walk up Maze Hill, over the red route, and on to the 6 mile point.

At the 6 mile point there was plenty of time to see the ladies past again, followed by the wheelchairs and the elite men. We stayed to see the faster men: Vamps, JEJ, RB amongst others - I didn't manage to spot too many, but Karen had better luck.

It was then a jog down to the river and along the embankment to Cutty Sark and the Greenwich Foot Tunnel. I was surprised how easy it was to miss all the congestion by heading straight for the river from mile 6 - much easier than I expected.

From the foot tunnel it was left onto East Ferry Road, and a perfect supporters point free from crowds. We just missed the elite ladies, but saw Hilly no problem. You unfortunately have to make choices if you want to follow one group to the finish. To see the elite ladies through, we would have had to leave mile 6 as soon as the elite men had gone through.

Again choices: we now split, with BR heading off to Parliament Square, while we waited to see the elite men through. I finally got to see Haile whom I'd failed to spot at mile 6 (!), and Karen's son got 'lobbed' Huw Lobb's cap - it made his day!

No time to wait for the fast men, we caught the DLR at Mudchute, changed at Canary Wharf for the Jubilee Line, and off at Westminster for a good view at Parliament Square. We just missed Hilly and her amazing sub-3 run, and we missed the leading men by a whisker, hence the need for some choices and haste if you are following a faster group. We did get the chance to see the rest though, and finally I spotted my club mates, Neil, James, Dave and Steve - tricky though when they wear charity vests!

An hour in the pub with the Serpies, and then back to the repatriation zone to meet the group for the coach.

A good day and a good plan for spectating - thanks Karen!

Saturday, April 22, 2006

The (very) full report

I thought about a brief version that you can read quickly and move on.

Naaaaaaaaaaaaaa!




I stared down at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, painted across Boylston Street in Copley Square. After an arduous journey I’d finally made it.

Now all I had to do was run the marathon in 3 days time!

I always get really nervous before marathons, worrying about what might go wrong and make all the preparation count for nothing. With London I start to relax the moment I get off the coach at Blackheath on the morning of the race. Up until that point I keep thinking the coach is going to break down (the driver got lost one year and we were nearly late!) or some big hand is going to come down from heaven with a booming: "NO!" and dash all my hopes.

Boston has the added dimension of hotels and flights to arrange. I’d already had a cock-up with the hotel when they cancelled my booking after I failed to reply to an email. If you received an email that read "…If this arrangement is not suitable, you MUST respond to us by email or fax within the next 48 hours and this reservation will be cancelled without charges" would you reply, or assume that no reply was acceptance? I was very annoyed, but at least they managed to sort out another booking for me. Tip: don’t book hotels with e-bookers: they aren’t on-line and take ages to confirm a booking, often to tell you the hotel is already booked. Use Opodo – they are on-line and you get an instant confirmation.

As ever, I digress. I was convinced something would go wrong right up until the moment I was standing in Copley Square, having checked into the hotel, and I was looking at the finish line with the gantry being assembled around it. Breath in, out, and relaaaax! All the hard work had been done now!

As expected I woke early the following, Saturday, morning, so went for an easy 5 miles round (and round and round) Boston Common. There were some seriously thin people jogging round out there – seriously athletic! I gave knowing nods as I passed people – I felt like I was bonding already.

Next order of the day was a trip to the expo. I’d arranged to meet Nick there with what seemed like a fairly casual arrangement. I know how crowded these expos are (this one was heaving), and I didn’t have much confidence in his plan to look out for each other in the registration area at around 9:30. As expected I failed to spot him!

I had a fun time soaking up the atmosphere though, spent way too much money on shoes and logoed clothing, met Dean Karnazes (see previous post), and generally spent way too much time on my feet. After walking back to the hotel via the Boston Tea Party attraction (closed for improvements!), I was wrecked! Not good just before a marathon – at least I’d made sure I’d done all this 2 days before so I could get some proper rest.

I finally met Nick for a distinctly below par Chinese meal on Saturday night. He was very concerned about the state of his leg which had tightened up on the plane. He was seriously considering not running, and was going to use the 2.8-mile Freedom Run the following morning as a test. As I now know he did the marathon, I assume the run went OK, but I haven’t yet spoken to him.

I had no plans to run the Freedom Run but managed to shuffle out of bed in time to see the tail-enders coming in. I then went and booked on to the Duck Tour. I can heartily recommend this tour. They use converted WWII amphibious landing craft, or ‘Ducks’. They drive you round the sights of the city and then into the Charles River to cruise past Harvard and take in the views of the skyline. We drove up out of the water and on past the USS Constitution, to have the driver tell us that it was the oldest commissioned warship in the world. I couldn’t resist correcting him, to point out that HMS Victory is still the flagship of the British second fleet. Well I was my duty as a member of Victory AC! His error was omitting the words ‘still afloat’, so I guess we’ll call it quits on that one.

The great thing about the Duck Tours is you get all your sightseeing done without tiring your legs. It’s still more than I usually do the day before a marathon, but I think I got the balance right. After a nice pasta lunch, an afternoon watching King Kong in my room, and the evening pasta buffet in the hotel restaurant, I was ready to go.

Marathon morning was quite civilised compared to the insanely early start I make for the London marathon, After my usual pre-race breakfast, a measured amount of cereal imported from the UK, at 8:00am it was off to Boston Common a mere 400m away, to catch the bus to the start.

It’s a slick operation: loads of virtually identical school buses steadily filing past, ferrying runners up the "Mass’ ‘pike", to the 2 athlete’s villages, one for each wave of the start. As my qualifying time was over 3:30 I was starting in wave 2 at 12:30, 30 minutes after the first start. Apart from the staggered start, the "athlete’s village" arrangement is pretty much the same as at the start of the London Marathon, the difference being we were going to have to wait nearly three and a half hours! I’d hooked up with some folks from Philadelphia, who were good fun, so the time flew by. As I lay there almost comatose in all my layers (it was surprisingly chilly under the canvas of the marquee out of the sun) I was prompted to stand for the national anthem. Everyone stood to attention as a woman soloist belted out the song. I was quite moved! We don’t seem to do patriotism very well in England!

We were ushered out at 11:45am to get to the 12:30 start. Over 45 minutes? Surely too long? And no peeing?

In fact, we made the start corral with only 5 minutes to spare. I hope everyone made the start on time. Huntington is a very small town – it was absolutely heaving. I wonder what it was like last year with 20000 runners in a single start.

Again everyone stood to attention, slightly less rapt this time, for the Star Spangled Banner. I looked around at all the slim athletic women around me. Due to the strict qualifying, all the men under 50 were in the first wave, so any men in our corral were over 50 and hence far fewer in number. I felt privileged to be standing in such a group. It wasn’t like the motley bunch you get at London, with all the beer bellies and football shirts. I’ll get shouted at for this, but I’m going to have to lose a few more pounds if I’m serious about my times!

And then we were off!

The start is quite markedly downhill for quite a way, and with a few rises, continues downhill for 3 miles. Immediately one of my fears was realised: as I was a corral or 2 back from my true capabilities, having improved so much lately, I wasn’t able to run at my full pace for most of the opening miles. While this might be a good thing in many marathons, and indeed you should save yourself in Boston for the hills at 20 miles, it meant that I was digging my heels in to slow down and wasn’t able to relax and let gravity take over, as I’d done in training. This was a recipe for quad abuse!

I felt OK though, and was able to enjoy the lovely rural views and white picket fences for a few miles. I was trying to keep to 143bpm on my heart rate monitor. I was mostly succeeding, but it seemed my average was up a few beats. The day had warmed up to a pretty ideal air temperature, but it was noticeable that every time the sun came out my heart rate would rise and I’d have to try to slow down. Despite the apparent cloud cover, we seemed to be running mostly in sunshine. As Boston is the same latitude as northern Spain, I can see why this race can be very hot some years!

The support along the route is excellent. I think though there are less crowds than London, largely due to the rural nature of much of the first half of the race, but you can’t fault the support in the many towns along the route. The difference a crowd makes was demonstrated most clearly as we neared Wellesley College.

For those of you who don’t know the Boston Marathon, Wellesley College is one of the things the marathon is famous for. It’s a women’s college which has educated such luminaries as Hilary Rodham Clinton. It was featured in the film ‘Mona Lisa Smile’ starring Julia Roberts. The college is a few years older than the marathon and from the very early days there has been a tradition that the women would line the route and scream for all they’re worth: the ‘Wellesley Scream Tunnel’.

As I approached half way I could already hear Wellesley, still a distance up ahead. The noise outside the college was incredible. It must have been amazing to be a woman runner in the late 60s and early 70s when the sexism of the race was starting to be broken down and a few women runners started to appear. The women of Wellesley reserved an extra loud cheer for the female runners. I gather this still happens at the sharp end of the field, but alas in my predominantly female part of the race it wasn’t so much in evidence. Even so the noise was deafening. As I emerged from the screams a half mile later, my ears were ringing!

A bit of history: in 1967, race director Jock Semple tried to physically remove Kathy Switzer - she turned up with an ‘official’ number having applied as K.V.Switzer – the entry form didn’t actually ask for the sex of the entrant – the resulting photo of Jock struggling with Kathy’s ‘minder’ made the front pages of the newspapers, and women’s marathon running was born. Roberta Gibb was actually the first woman to run the marathon in 1966, tolerated because she had no number, but Kathy is the one credited with finally breaking down the barriers. Women were finally officially permitted to race in 1972.

Two things were immediately evident after Wellesley: the comparative silence was quite a let down. A further let down was that it was now quite noticeable after only half the race that my quads had indeed suffered early on. The very marked and long downhill stretch into Wellesley town was very uncomfortable. My right knee was aching badly. The uphills were now coming as something of a relief. Every time I hit a downhill my legs would complain.

I’ve worked out that there is roughly 1000ft of climbing and 1500ft of downhill, so it’s quite a hilly and challenging course. The feature that marks it out though is the downhills. I’d been warned they would test my quads, and I was now finding this out for myself.

Still though, I felt comfortable, and the occasional shouts of ‘Susie’ kept me going. It’s a shame I chose silver for the colour of the letters on my top though – it didn’t stand out enough. The shouts of ‘Tammy’ and ‘Cindy’ were far more evident, as was the fact that I must have kept pace with Tammy for much of the first half and Cindy for much of the second.

I passed halfway in 1:43:26. While I felt that sub 3:30 was still a possibility, I knew that the hard work was still to come with the infamous Heartbreak Hill, and my mind started turning to the task looming ahead. Heartbreak is actually the third and last of the Newton Hills, and this is what marks it out. It’s no worse than any of the others. I got a bit of a shock after 16 miles though when we went over an intersection and I thought it was the start of the hills. It seemed just as tough to me! As we hadn’t yet entered Newton though I realised that worse was to come.

After 17 miles we turned right at the Newton Fire Station, a landmark I’d read about, and realised the hills were about to start. They really aren’t as bad as their reputation. Our club regularly runs up Portsdown Hill from Bedhampton to Glebe Park Avenue, a rise of about 100ft over half a mile, and that is about what each of the hills is like. Heartbreak Hill is the third and final hill at around 20 miles. The only thing that makes it tough is the fact that it is the third hill. If you’re running out of steam at that point then I guess it must be really hard, but if you’ve paced yourself well then you should be OK. I was OK.

Far worse are the downhills. Heartbreak Hill is now the highest point of the course since the opening miles, and it’s downhill most of the way to the finish. After feeling OK up the hill, as I crested the top back came the aching to my knees as my quads tried to pull them apart. In training I’d been able to run the downhills so that I’d get back most of the time I’d lost on the uphill. Here though, I was struggling to keep form and despite the gradient I wasn’t running much quicker than on the flat. I joked on the Runner’s World forum that I had great flaps of muscle trailing on the ground behind me from my exploded quads. OK, I exaggerated, but the downhill was not the relief that I might have expected after the hills.

I was still hopeful of making up the lost time on the downhills and getting the 3:30 I’d hoped for. It was going to be a close call though.

A nice feature of Boston is that it must be one of the only marathons where you can see the finish line from 5 miles out. As we crested the hill, the Hancock Tower, the huge glass monolithic skyscraper, came into view. Not far now then. Got to just hold it together.

I kept telling myself to push. I remembered how painful the last 2 10k races were. I told myself that the last miles of the marathon had to hurt as much as they did. This was a one-off event. The pain is momentary. I had to give as much as I could or regret it afterwards. It had to hurt like hell!

Marathons are a different pain though. In the 10k races at Eastleigh and Totton, my legs and heart were OK. It was my lungs that were the limiting factor. I was gasping for air. I couldn’t breath. It hurt! Here in the marathon though, it’s the legs which are the limit; heart and lungs are functioning within normal limits. OK, my quads were painful, but that eased as we hit the flat of the last few miles. What remained was just a pair of seemingly lifeless legs. I wanted it to hurt, I really did, but no matter how much I pushed I couldn’t go any faster.

I contented myself with catching the lime-green girls. I’d noticed them in Wellesley as they crossed in front of me to kiss their supporters, then nearly knocked me over as they returned to the race. They were wearing very distinctive kit. I suspected it wasn’t club kit, as I suspect not many team mates would want to wear it. They stood out and I guess that was the objective. They’d got away from me at half way, but now I was catching them. Soon I’d overtaken them and could target some others, this time the ‘Multi-sport’ guy.

The final major course landmark comes at exactly 1 mile to go: the ‘Citgo’ sign. I only found out on the morning of the race what Citgo is: it’s a petroleum company. They have a huge sign on the outskirts of the city. As soon as I saw it my heart lifted as I knew we only had 1 mile to go and now surely I was going to break 3:30. Trouble with a huge sign though, is it is a lot further away than you think. The seconds kept ticking until it was 3:24 as I passed the sign. I knew now that 3:30 was not possible. I mustn’t let that slow me though. Keep going. Give me pain. Keep up with Mr Multi-sport.

A final cruel kick, just as you think you are nearly there, is the short uphill section as you turn right then left into Boylston Street and the final straight. I pushed on and was able to overtake Mr Multi-sport up the hill. I was still strong despite the miles. The final straight seemed to last an eternity. It’s much longer than the Mall in London, and not quite so stately, but this is the most historic finish line in the world. I enjoyed it!

I crossed the line in 3:31:45: a personal best by 10 minutes.

I was disappointed at first, as I knew that on the flat I was so much quicker, but with hindsight I’m really pleased to do that time on such a tough course.

As I crossed the line, I couldn’t help thinking I knew the marshal on the finish line. After a few more strides it came to me: I’d sat opposite her in the departure lounge at Heathrow. I went back to introduce myself. She said she remembered looking at me at Heathrow wondering if I was a marathon runner. Now she knew! She was catching the same flight back. She lived in Edinburgh, and was part of the organisation for the Edinburgh marathon. If I ever wanted to do Edinburgh I just had to get in touch for VIP treatment!

Spookily, on the trip back, I got talking to the woman next to me in the check-in area at Logan Airport, and she turned out to be part of the organisation of the Dublin marathon. If ever I wanted to do Dublin, I just had to get in touch for VIP treatment. Wow! I now have international marathon connections!

The baggage collection was a bit of an ordeal. They use the school buses to transport the bags to the finish. You deposit your bag through the window corresponding to your number and then go back to the same bus at the finish. The thing about being so much ahead of my qualifying time is that I was one of the first back to the bus (the numbers are allotted according to your qualifying time so all the folks on this bus were the 3:40 crowd). Trouble was though, I was one of the first to hand my bag in, so it was right at the bottom of the pile. The people on the bus couldn’t find my bag. I was waiting for maybe 15 minutes until most of the others had returned and collected their bags. The organisation is slick, but London have the edge on that one I’m afraid.

There were free massages, without too huge a queue, but I didn’t think much of the massage. After a few minutes of gentle pressing on my legs, I asked if that was it. "We are allotted 15 minutes per person, but try to save that for those who really need it". I guess he meant that my legs weren't cramped or otherwise damaged. I suppose I should feel grateful, but I was a little annoyed at not getting the same level of service as more 'deserving' cases. I’d just run my little legs off!

A sign that my legs were probably a little more shot away than he reckoned came on my return to Heathrow. After spending Tuesday after the marathon on my feet all day doing the art galleries (which are excellent by the way, particularly the Museum of Fine Arts) I returned to Heathrow to find I had to walk all the way to terminal 2 from 3 to catch the temporarily re-routed car park bus (I’m assuming something to do with all the terminal 5 works). After pushing my trolley up and down far too many ramps I could hardly walk when I got to the bus stop. A short mini-bus ride later and the driver handed me my bags out of the back of the trailer. I promptly over-balanced and fell in an undignified heap in the car park. To add insult to injury I couldn’t then get back up and the passengers had to lift me back onto my feet!

Well I didn’t get the pain I wanted during the race, but I certainly got it 2 days later!


Would I do Boston again? Definitely. I’m doing London next year come hell or high water, but I’ll be back at Boston one day. London may have the edge in spectacle, but there’s a certain quality to Boston that’s more subtle: the history, the scale, the part it plays in the life of the city, the sheer quality of the runners taking part. You really feel privileged to take part.

I saw a poster at the expo: one of the Adidas series of "Reason number xxx….". It read:
Reason number 2006: Three words "I’ve done Boston"

Thursday, April 20, 2006

First pictures

Here is the pictorial version of the marathon. Clearly no pictures during the race itself (I was tempted though!), so you'll have to wait for the report which is on its way.

The race is part of Boston history. The course is unchanged since around 1908 when it had to be lengthened due to the new official distance at the London Olympics. The finish line and start lines are permanently painted on the road - I believe the yellow line and painted mile markers are a permanent feature too - in London the painted blue line is removed while the tail-enders are still finishing! Here's the finish line before it was repainted for the race:
The finish line
There is a map of the course inlaid into Copley Square near the finish line:
Course map in stone
with the names of all the past winners:
Winners' names
Now does London celebrate its marathon in the same way?

This is the view up the finish straight, taken during the Freedom Run the day before the marathon:
The view up the finish line
and the view of the South Church to the left of the finish line, and the Library, with the Hancock Tower, to the right of the finish line:
left of the finish   right of the finish
All quite nice, but lacking the spectacle of London.
I spotted a good omen at the finish line:
Victory banner
The name of my running club - had to be a good sign!

I had a really nice hotel - the Hyatt Regency in the theatre district:Hyatt Regency. I had tried to get one close to the pickup points for the start buses. I reckon I got as close as was possible. Result!

The expo was good, but very crowded, I bought lots of stuff (shoes, shorts, crop top, nice Boston jacket...). I got the chance to meet Dean Karnazes, author of Ultra Marathon Man. Really nice guy! His challenge for later in the year is 50 marathons, in all 50 states, in 50 days. Wow! He'll be using offical courses, but clearly not all on the day of the official marathon, although it does include a few full events such as New York and Chicago. He'll come back and run Boston on 15th October, with BAA officials starting and finishing him. He did the official Boston marathon 2 days after this photo, in 3:40. I beat him! Mind you, I didn't first run out from Boston to the start line in Hopkinton 26.2 miles away, so maybe I was a bit fresher!
Dean Karnazes

And so to the race. The organisation was excellent, everything was laid on. If your bicycle needed defibrillating, that was taken care of too:
Bicycle defibrillation
The cops have so much more style than in London - Harleys!: (pic taken during the Freedom Run)
Cops on Harleys

As the course is a straight line point to point, we had to catch buses out to the start at Hopkinton. The organisation was very slick, as it should be after 110 years.
Buses to the start   lots of buses to the start

The weather was surprisingly cool at the athlete's village in Hopkinton:
In the athlete's village
but felt very warm after 3:31:45 of running:
Finished!

Despite the state of my legs, I managed a couple of hours at the official post-race party. Great band!
Party!

I guess we're lacking some details of the race here. It seems a photo can only paint so many words. More words, and a few tourist photos of Boston, later...


Wednesday, April 19, 2006

First report (the club newsletter version)

I have a reputation for my reports in the club newsletter, so, as for Cardiff, here is the tongue-in-cheek brief version that will appear this evening. I'll blog a full report tomorrow.


You know it's only carbon dioxide, but its effect is something magical. It could be the purest freshest mountain oxygen, breathing life into your tired body. The liquid has a dryness, the volatile molecules dissolved therein giving it a pleasing if unspectacular aroma. Here though, gas and liquid come together in true synergy, giving a result not short of spectacular. Your nostrils sense the shower of droplets propelled upwards. You are suddenly transported to a waterfall cascading down to the shore of a hot tropical island. How can such a simple device give such instant bliss, before the heavenly liquid has even passed the lips? Did I say simple? No. This is the result of centuries of development of the wine makers art.

Another marathon, another PB, another way to celebrate.

A glass of champagne. That’s what it’s all about.

The 110th Boston Marathon, 17th April 2006, finish time: 3:31:45.

Job done.

Friday, April 14, 2006

Weekly summary - 3 days to go

Well my plan to put my body clock back, halfway to Boston time, has backfired. I've had the last 2 days off work. The idea was to have a few late nights and get up a few hours later, so that I was closer to Boston time, thereby minimising jet-lag effects. The result, unfortunately, was that I still got up at close to my normal time, meaning I've had a few less hours sleep over the last 2 days! Last night I did my packing and went to bed late, getting to sleep after midnight, but by 6:30am I was awake - 2 hours less sleep than I'd normally have. So here I sit at 7 in the morning typing at a PC. The best laid plans...

I've loved all the messages wishing me well. I've had loads of emails and forum postings. I marshalled our club handicap race last night; afterwards coach Pete made an announcement wishing me well. It's all very appreciated. Thankyou everyone!

Well I guess I'm going to be leaving for Heathrow a little earlier than planned. I'm not sure if I'll be able to log on easily in Boston, so bye for now!


MondayRest Massage p.m.
Tuesday7.5 milesRecce of new long handicap course 115bpmReally cold and windy. Very slippery underfoot, but no mishaps!
Wednesday5.3 miles10*200m at 6:55ish 10k pace 200m jog recovery. Max HR 137bpm on 3 of the intervalsFinally got to wear shorts and T-shirt!
Thursday5 milesEasy paced 117bpmWarm in the sunshine - wore shorts for the 2nd day in a row (!), but boy was it windy!
FridayRestTravel to Boston  
Saturday5 miles (planned) 
SundayRest  
Total22.8 miles  

Monday, April 10, 2006

Weekly summary - 1 week to go

Wow! 7 days to go and I've had my best prep ever. Nothing I do now can improve my marathon chances, so it's just a matter of making sure I don't do too much.

The Garmin Forerunner 305 has a great feature where it reads average HR per lap. I used this feature for my Wednesday run, running each mile at successively higher target HRs, hitting each target spot on. This should be useful for Boston where I aim to run at 143bpm for most of the way. I wanted to do this at Cardiff, backing off every time I went over 143, but the result was I was well under a 143 average. I felt I ran too easily in the opening miles of Cardiff, so hopefully at Boston I will be able to keep pushing without overdoing it.

Getting excited now!

MondayRest Massage p.m.
Tuesday7.3 miles5*965m @7:40 611m rec Uphill into the wind on the efforts!
Wednesday10 milesSlow run 8:45/mile 117bpmplayed with running to HR, did miles 2-10 at 114, 115, 116...122 paces 8:57 to 8:27
Thursday7.82 milesRecce'd the new club handicap course. 8:19/mile 128bpmBruised knee on kissing gate I didn't realise was latched!
Friday5 milesEasy run 9:12/mile 111bpm  
Saturday5 milesran 3 miles at marathon pace or faster. paces/HRs: 1ml 7:32 133, 0.5ml 7:30 139, 1ml 7:25 144, 0.5ml 7:41 143.The 0.5 ml were mostly into the wind so tricky to make any judgements on the data
Sunday12 milesSteady run 8:22/mile 124bpm 72%MHRBeautiful day. Cold out of the sun, but stripped to crop top for some of run. Fastest 'long' run yet!
Total47.1 miles  

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Weekly summary - 2 weeks to go

2 weeks to go! (13 days as I write this!)

I've written about the Totton 10k, but another highlight was our club handicap race on Thursday. I ran it at tempo pace - 7:20-7:30 although slower due to the foot bridges and gates, in other words fairly comfortable. Even so I still got within a second of my PB and over-40 club record (which I'm fairly sure Gina will have beaten!).

I'm running so well! My preparation for Boston couldn't be better. Best marathon prep yet!

MondayRest  
Tuesday8 miles12*400m @3k 6:30, 160m jog recover 10secs breather. Times: 1:35, 1:36, 1:36, 1:37, 1:33, 1:37, 1:35, 1:38, 1:36, 1:37, 1:38, 1:38Felt good - fastest ever speed session
Wednesday8.7 milesSlow run 9:33/mile 112bpmFelt really tired - kept it slow
Thursday5.9 milesClub 3.6miles handicap. Splits: 7:36 130bpm, 7:30 137bpm, 7:39 143bpm, 4:14 0.6m 151bpm total 27:01Ran at tempo pace, got within a second of PB!
Friday6 milesEasy run 9:02/mile 116bpm 67%MHR 
SaturdayRest  
Sunday8.2 milesTotton 10k 43:12 155bpm 90%MHR + 2 miles warm up/down 
Total36.8 miles  

Sunday, April 02, 2006

Race tactics: The Totton 10k 2006

It’s good fun this racing lark.

Testwood school, 11a.m. on the starting line, similar situation to 2 weeks ago, different cast of characters. No Ruth to chase down this time, but according to Amanda, Rob was the designated Ruth of the day. Ruth was getting her dog measured! Is that not the weirdest excuse ever?

Also assembled was Mark, keen to get his revenge after last time – he apparently tracked me the whole may through Eastleigh but couldn’t quite catch me. Shame! Also there, as ever, was young Richard – could I make it 2 in a row?

The plan for me and my new best friend, my Garmin Forerunner 305, was to try to go a bit slower at the start. Well that didn’t work! Take a look at my splits and you will find that the first 3 kilometre splits are identical to Eastleigh. Spooky! Consistency is a wonderful thing!

I had to let Mark run off ahead or I would have certainly failed in my mission to slow my opening pace. Richard was gone though, smoking heels, and I think a few flames this time. Rob was nowhere in sight – he must have been well ahead.

The Totton course is very similar to Eastleigh in that there is a slight incline after the opening kilometres. It is a fast course though – the incline is a lot more gentle.

More similarities between the 2 races – stitch! Again it hit me after the first couple of kilometres. Why? I tried to belly breath and massage it a bit, and it went away, this time for good – at least that much was an improvement.

My patience with Mark paid off as I caught him at the top of the incline. Next target was Richard just ahead. This was going well!

Then came the customary grilling about the elapsed time from a fellow competitor. Please! No talking! This is serious stuff! I didn’t have the page with the elapsed time up on my watch/GPS though so I just gasped:
“ugh only hah splits aagh”
He was happy enough with that – had to be really!

The wind was quite strong today, so I was happy to tuck in behind talky-man. I soon realised he was slowing a lot in the wind so had to press on past him.

I finally took Richard with about 3km to go. Got ya!! (Competitive, me?!!) Now Rob, designated Ruth of the day, was at last in sight and looked catchable. Bring ‘em on!

This was really hard work though. My legs felt strong, but it seemed like I was gasping for air. My heart rate was under control, but it felt like I just couldn’t breath hard enough. Maybe a lack of hard speedwork showing itself?

By force of will I took Rob at 9km. This was looking good! My pace was showing no signs of fading and I just had to hold it together for the run in, my targets all snivelling in my dust behind me.

Problem: unbeknownst to me, my targets were immediately behind me and not exactly snivelling. 400m to go and both Rob and Richard came sprinting past me. Noooo! I tried to lift my pace but Rob was a lost cause. That was a decisive move! The motivation of not being beaten by a girl was strong with that one!

Richard was also clearly quite motivated by being overtaken by a woman 28 years his senior. He was also strongly motivated, I later learnt, by a bet with his dad about beating his PB. His move wasn’t quite so decisive though. As we entered the school gates and the final finishing straight, I went for it. I gave it everything and took Richard right on the line! [Evil cackle] You’ll have to learn some better tactics Richard! Eat my dirt youngster!

Oops sorry! Don’t know what came over me there!

Ahem.

Fine performances from the team all round. As ever I haven’t seen the official results, apart from my own time, but I think once again we put in a good performance. Lee in particular led the men home in a great time (34 mins?) and beat old rival Russ, now running for Southampton. As Gina was nowhere in sight I assume she had her usual brilliant run, making for a good women’s team performance, with me in second and I’m assuming Beth, who PBed with 46mins (I think), in third. Unfortunately for Richard, his bet was to break 43 minutes, so I think he owes his dad a tenner. I think he PBed though!

My time?

43:11. Another big PB. What is happening to me? I joked that I’d be happy to keep improving by 2 minutes every 2 months after Eastleigh. Well, I am continuing that improvement with 34 seconds in 2 weeks. On May 16th 2007 I’m going to break the world record!

Now the tech bit. Here are the splits:

km splits and heart rate
kmlap timeAve HR
14:09140
24:14153
34:20154
4+58:45156
64:15157
74:20157
84:26158
94:22157
104:13157
Overall43:12155


So better paced than Eastleigh, same first 3 splits, for a slightly lower HR, then able to maintain a higher HR and pace for the closing kms. 33 second PB over my Eastleigh time of 43:45 (official)

Saturday, April 01, 2006

March total mileage

March total mileage: 271.4 miles

I keep saying it's my highest every monthly mileage, but it's true!

This will be the maximum for a couple of months due to the marathon tapering and recovery, but I hope to get back to this sort of mileage in the summer.