Ten weeks down. Two to go. And other than a tune up race tomorrow, it’s taper town from here on out. With the end of last week, I wrapped up the hard part of the training cycle. The toughest things I had left this week were a 5k on Sunday and a shortened long run … Read more
This was a tough week. The final one. And I made it through. It started off with a race – the By Hook or By Crook 12k. Then, I was out of town for a conference in San Francisco. I knew the conference schedule was going to be busy, and I wasn’t going to be … Read more
Last week was tough. I enjoyed the cutback the week before, but jumping back up to 85 miles was rough. It started out fine, but by the end of the week I was really dragging. I kept things super easy on Saturday, and that seemed to help. My schedule this week works out that my … Read more
This week started off great. I was coming off an easy week last week, and I cruised right into a cross country 5k race to begin the week. It went pretty well – see the race report below. From there, things went a little south. I think I overdid it a bit on Monday’s long … Read more
Update: Once you’ve read this analysis, check out the follow up I published after BAA released the number of applicants. But the short version is that my confidence in this prediction has increased. If you are interested in running the Boston Marathon, then you know that you need to meet a qualifying time to get … Read more
I survived the first four weeks of marathon training – including two peak weeks at 85 miles, a twenty mile long run, and two 18 milers. My reward? A quick mile race on Sunday followed by a week of relative rest and relaxation. I worked a down week into the schedule here to give myself … Read more
This week, it gets real. Not only do I need to hit peak mileage – 85 miles – again. But I also have my first 20 mile long run. Even though it’s not much farther than the 16 mile long runs I do every week, something about it just feels qualitatively different. It’s both anxiety … Read more
Another week is in the books, and I’m a week closer to the Chicago Marathon. The race is quickly approaching. This was the third week of my official training block – and the first one at peak mileage (85 miles). It was also another solid(ish) long run and a good Wednesday workout. Although the weather … Read more
With last week’s cross country 5k out of the way, I’m now fully focused on the upcoming Chicago Marathon. I sketched out my plan here, but this week is the first week that I’ll be attempting a real, solid long run. Since I ran Jersey City in the spring, I’ve just been doing simple 16 … Read more
Sunday marked twelve weeks until the Chicago Marathon – which means that this was the first ‘official’ week of my twelve week training cycle. I’ve maintained consistently high mileage since I ran Jersey City in the spring, so I don’t need a longer build up than this. Twelve weeks should be enough time to slightly … Read more