Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Back of the bus

It's starting to feel like spring! (it was +4C here today)

And...they put up the Boston bib numbers today but my PEI time of 3:21 only got me into the 9th corral with bib #9024. It seems like there must be an excess of fast people running Boston this year because I'm usually in the 7th or 8th corral with a similar time. Thomas on the other hand (one of those fast guys) is way up front in the 3rd corral and will have to deal with all the crazy runners zooming by him in the early going. Being at the back gives you even more people than ever to pass! It will also be fun having my cousin Jerry with me in the same corral running his 1st Boston.

A couple of decent runs are now in the bank this week after the nice 20 on Sunday. Again the gory details are available by clicking on the sidebar of my recent runs but here I get to muse about how it actually went. Yesterday's interval run was a bit rushed as I finally figured out how to program the new Garmin. It's cool having the watch push you along, warmup.... run hard for 0.x miles... rest.... repeat. I was doing 5x600 m repeats and felt off at first as I ran the 1st one too fast and got wobbly by the end. The next one was too slow on partially recovered legs and I didn't really get into a good rythym until the final one. I then ran up a steep hill and joined a fun run group that was meeting by the hotel. I did a very very easy 3 mile loop with some beginner runners before peeling off home to finish.

Here is a cool/weird graph of the intervals to keep your head spinning
Today's 11 miler went better than expected which seems to happen when I allow my pace to just 'be' what it is and not look at the watch. Despite some residual stiffness from Tuesday's speed session the legs felt quite good and the run just rolled along smoothly. I think my hamstring issues are almost behind me now but just have to remember to continue the stretching and stability work. And it actually started to 'RAIN' towards the end of the run! Woo hoo! Another sign of impending spring which is due at 8:44am local time this Friday!

Happy Spring (almost)!

9 comments:

MB said...

gotta love those runs that just "roll along" -will see you in Boston!

Deb said...

Yeah! I have bib #13833 but I don't exactly know what that means in terms of what wave...do you? I'm getting super excited, it's so close now! :)

Thomas said...

Well, my main worry is turning into on of those crazies myself, ruining my race in the process. I think I'll have to make doubly sure my head is screwed on the right way during the first few miles.

It looks like your training is catching up nicely, just as the weather starts improving. Possibly no coincidence.

Unknown said...

I'm happy for you that spring is finally springing. Nice job with the Boston race prep runs. I'll have to add your bib number to the ones I'm planning on tracking.

Garry said...

Nice charts! It looks like you have put together some good runs over the last little while and will be good to go for Boston.

Garry said...

Nice charts! It looks like you have put together some good runs over the last little while and will be good to go for Boston.

DawnB said...

it doesn't matter what wave you are in mike. comes race day you're going to kick butt.

Unknown said...

The intervals are easy to see on that graph. I like it! The further back you are the more people you have a chance at passing.

Ewen said...

Nice pace for the 20-miler. Is that because you were pushing it to reduce the number of jokes told?

+4C... yes, sometimes we run in temps that cold in mid-winter ;)

9th coral sounds fun. I'll buy you a beer if you catch Thomas.