Final Race Preparation Run before Boston: A+

Didn't quite know what to expect for this race prep run today.

You may recall that 3 weekends ago, I ran a great 24 mile race preparation run with 20 of those at 6:41, with my goal pace being 6:45. Since then, nothing over 8 miles except for a slowish 18 mile trail run, lots and lots of Aqua Running, and then three runs this week Tue-Wed-Thurs. I knew I had fitness for short workouts, but to run a long hard run was a HUGE mystery.

Today was a 27'ish mile training run that included two sets of 4 miles at marathon goal pace (MGP) on the road, and miles 20 to 26 were on the track: 2 miles at MGP, 2 at half marathon pace (HMGP) and 2 at 10km pace.

Goal Times based on a 2:57:00 marathon:

• MGP 6:45 min/mile
• HMGP 6:25 min/mile
• 10KM 6:05 min/mile

How'd it go?:

• Road MGP Miles 4-8: 6:44 overall pace
• Road MGP Miles 8-12: 6:44 overall pace

Road Miles 13-18: +/- 7:05

Road Miles 19-20: +/- 7:30

• 2 Track miles MGP: 6:45, 6:45
• 2 Track miles HMGP: 6:25, 6:25
• 2 Track miles 10KM: 6:04, 5:58

Broken body part updates:

• TOE: The broken toe was not felt at all. I'm going to stop talking about it as of now.
• QUAD: The "quad-muscle-at-knee" issue felt "OK". (I can feel a pain that comes and goes, but it's nothing worse than a bad bruise.) After the run, I soaked in Barton Springs, then iced it for a good 20+ minutes. An hour later I was home and took Karma for a walk. I could feel it a little unhappy, but it should be OK.

I go back for more manual treatment, electro-stimulation, and ultrasound work on the quad on Monday afternoon, and have a full leg massage scheduled for Tuesday with heavy focus on IT band, Hamstring and Adductor work around the issue, and also to flush out everything elsewhere.

This was the final piece to the puzzle, so as long as all body parts get better or remain the same, I'll stick to my 2:57:00 (6:45) plan for Boston, with at 2:5X:XX as the final time goal.

Important note: Big thanks to coach Sisson for getting out there for all logisitical stuff despite only 2 hours sleep (late return from other coaching duties last night), and to John P, Jon A, Sadie and Trey for coming out to feed us water and cheer us on at the track. That was VERY much appreciated!!!