The Boston Diaries: Chapter 12
Keep pushing
“You’ve gotta be looking at 36:xx for the 10k right?”
I got that text on Tuesday, from a running friend I’ve leaned on a lot for advice the last year — Derek from Strava1.
To be honest, I had no overall goal in mind as I closed in on my first tune-up run of the cycle. I knew I’d set a PR, and I hoped to go sub-6:00 in one of the miles, which would be a first for me since high school. Otherwise, I hadn’t really set a goal.
Sub-37:00? In the 10k? Could I really run 6.2 miles in 5:57 per? Was that possible? That night, I decided I’d go for it.
By the time Friday rolled around, I was stressing hard. Could I really do this?
We’ve entered the home stretch of the Lincoln Marathon cycle. Saturday was the first of three tune-up runs. In two weeks, I’ll hit 20 miles for the final time. The taper begins the following week. Before then, I’ll run my final 70-mile week of training and put in one more marathon pace long run. I’ll run the hard runs hard, the easy runs easy. Hopefully easier than I am now, to be honest.
I’ve cut out alcohol until after the marathon, something I like doing in the weeks leading up to the race, but this time it’ll be about a month and a half without. I expect it to pay off big, just like it did in Chicago last fall.
All the while, I’ve changed how I build my weeks: No more Saturday long runs2; they’re on Sundays now. The reasons are plentiful. Wanting to get my body used to running long distances on Sunday mornings, ahead of two marathons that day of the week this year. Allowing my body to recover from the three Saturday tune-up runs at home, not at work.
I’m going to keep this going throughout the entire spring and summer, which means I’ll continue dialing in the diet, dialing back the alcohol, and hopefully get my body into the best spot it can be ahead of the Des Moines Marathon in October. Ahead of the Boston Marathon on April 15th, 2024.
After an incredible set of runs on Tuesday and Wednesday, my legs felt heavy. My routine was upended on Thursday, pushing a scheduled AM/PM double to Friday and causing me to get my first run in that Thursday night. Annoying, sure, but it felt like something grander. I felt fatigued and wondered if it was because of the travel. Was my body still getting used to the time change, not to mention slingshotting my body from Central Standard Time to Central Daylight Time to Eastern Daylight time, all in the span of a week?
Was it stress? I was about to run a distance that’s not even my bread and butter, at least at whatever race pace I’d go after. Was I putting too much pressure on myself to break an arbitrary time?
Whatever it was, by Friday night, my stomach was in knots. I didn’t sleep well. I woke up Saturday, thankful my legs finally felt fresh again3. My stomach still didn't feel great though, and by the time I made a last-second trip to the bathroom at the lake, I figured a sub-37:00 10k wasn't in the cards. Two more tune-ups would present a couple opportunities to go after it. But by the time I finished a warm-up mile, I kind of snapped back into focus. I decided to see what I could do over the course of the first mile. After that, I'd know what's possible.
I ran it in 5:47.
So I kept pushing.
I was ten seconds ahead of pace, which was something I thought about after each mile — how much time I had banked. After running so many longer distances, and attaching goals to those runs, it’s a whole different ballgame when chasing something over the course of 6.2 miles. Each lost second on average is harder to get back, not just because of the mileage, but because of how fast or slow I was going. A 5:51 second mile and 5:54 third mile ultimately put me ahead of pace by 19 seconds — about three seconds per mile, if I ran a 5:57 pace the rest of the way. Ultimately, not that much time. Easy to lose over a few miles.
By the time I clocked a 6:02 on the fourth mile, five seconds given back, I was doing my best to just hang on. I had 2.2 miles go to, 12.5 minutes, give or take a few seconds. If I could stay in the same ballpark for the fifth mile, I knew I had one more mile in me at a sub-6:00 pace.
So I kept pushing.
The fifth mile at the lake has just the slightest uphill about halfway through. Close to 20 feet in elevation gained, it’s not even that big, but it often comes at the worst time in so many of my workouts — the beginning of intervals somehow, seemingly every time. Mentally I was preparing for that uphill for the first half of the mile. I just didn’t want to see my average pace begin with the minute showing the number “7” — it climbed into the high 6:xx, but I got back on track and finished another mile right at 6:02. I was hovering around a 5:55 pace overall. I had ten seconds in my back pocket with one mile to go. I could do it.
So I kept pushing.
The last mile ended up being easier than four and five. Whether it was because I had so much time banked or that I felt like I made it past the toughest part of the run, my focus turned to beating my time goal by as much as possible. I felt strong out there. Wouldn’t you know it, mile six clocked in at exactly 5:57. With a fifth of a mile to go, I went a little harder, saw myself pass 6.22 with my time still showing 36:xx, and added a hundredth of a mile, just to be safe.
By the time I uploaded my time into Strava, I knew I beat my goal, I just didn’t know by how much.
36:44, it showed. A new 10k PR. Not to mention, a few others. A hell of a way to finish up another Saturday morning.
The log:
Monday: 20 minutes of weightlifting + a 1.2-mile walk with Riss and Banks
Tuesday: 9 miles with 5 x 600 meter intervals
Wednesday: 14 miles
Thursday: 6 miles with 6 x 100 meter sprints
Friday: 5 miles in the AM + 4 miles in the PM
Saturday: 10k tune-up (went 6.23 overall, just to be safe!) with a 1-mile warm-up + 1.03-mile cool down
Sunday: 18.01 miles
Total: 64.27 miles
Year to date: 744.45 miles
Day 79: It’s weird not running on Mondays anymore! It’s especially weird not running on a Monday, then traveling all day, before squeezing in a quick walk + weight session at night to get the blood pumping a little bit. I look forward to my new Monday routine — hoping for an AM and PM walk if the weather allows, plus the weights — moving forward. All in all, I was just happy to be home again.
Day 80: Derek and I started talking Tuesday after we both put together a couple similar workouts. He had 800s, I had 600s. Both our paces were similar. I wanted to keep mine at a 5:40-per mile pace, which meant I was knocking them out in about two minutes each. My times: 2:02 (5:21 pace), 2:07 (5:35 pace), 2:01 (5:23 pace), 2:01 (5:18 pace), and 2:05 (5:31 pace). Because I wasn’t on a track, I had to guess on when to stop my watch after each .37 of a mile, hence the different mile paces even with a similar time. All told though, a beast of a workout and the reason why I went after the sub-37 10k. Nine total miles, 7:37-per, 148 average heart rate.
Day: 81: I’ve written it before and I’ll write it again: The midweek runs of 12+ miles are, to me, the biggest reason for my gains in the last year. Tired legs from Tuesday, I had 14 on the books. Knocked them out in 1:47:37, a 7:41 pace. Throw in a 150 average HR on this one and I went into the latter part of the week feeling incredibly confident.
Day 82: Which is what made Thursday so frustrating. Originally scheduled to have six in the AM (with some speed work) + four in the PM, a last second change of plans at work completely altered my morning. Didn’t get a run in, which had me feeling, oddly, more tired as the day went on. With five on tap on Friday, I decided to keep the six-mile run on Thursday and go with nine total Friday.
Overall, wasn’t super pleased. Finished the six at an 8:50 pace with my HR at 135 on average. My 100 meter sprints did see paces go below a sub-5:00 mile, but the turnover on my legs wasn’t where I wanted it to be. A workout (and day) I was ready to move on from.
Day 83: Thankfully, Friday was better. Went to the lake for five in the morning — 9:10 per, 128 HR — before four more on the Keystone Trail that night — 9:21 per, 128 HR. Just what I needed after a couple weird days. More importantly, my legs weren’t stressed at all, leaving them in the best spot they had been in since Tuesday morning. Outside of my stomach tossing and turning, I felt ready for Saturday.
Day 84: The overall numbers, according to Strava: 6.23 miles, 36:58 total, 5:56 per. Average HR: 175. As I said above, 36:44 is now the new PR. Incredible, incredible run. Added a little over two miles before and after it as well. Always fun to chase something and catch it. Here’s to that happening more in 2023 and beyond!
Day 85: One of these days, my favorite radio bit was going to come back to haunt me. Sunday was that day.
The snow was indeed not done. Which led to a conundrum: Wait for the sun to come out and melt the snow or keep the 18 miles on the treadmill. Given Creighton was playing at 1:20, I wouldn’t be able to get out until 3:30 at the earliest. That didn’t really sound super fun, but neither did running for 2+ hours on the treadmill! I ultimately decided on the latter. I wanted to get the run in and I worried that it might be too cloudy to melt as much snow as I needed. All this happening on my first Sunday long run in Omaha since I moved my schedule around. Incredible.
I’ll search for positives anytime I’m running on a treadmill for this amount of time, so here it is: I got to wear my new half tights, as well as the singlet I’ll wear in Lincoln, for this run. So I know that’ll work well! Otherwise, not too much to say. I decided to run eight miles per hour the entire time — a 7:30 pace — even if that kept my HR lower than I would have had it outside. 2:15:07, 139 average HR. Here’s hoping it’s the last long run inside for many, many months.
A frustrating week of running.
A weird week of running.
A good week of running.
I’ve mentioned Derek before, and he does indeed have a last name! But I’ll always think of him first and foremost as a guy I saw on my old trail, found on Strava, and used as a measuring stick for well over a year before I finally met him. It’s been really fun chatting about running ever since we met at one of Peak Performance’s Monday night runs last summer.
Barring the occasional juggle, I’m sure.
Fresh is an interesting word here. They’re fresh for week 12. I look forward to the taper and a new definition of fresh by the time May 7th arrives.
Great job Josh! Way to push it and hit such a big milestone! Happy Running and good luck with your final weeks of prep for Lincoln!