3rd At-Bat to BQ

Well my plan was to take a shot at Glass City at the end of April for this, but for the first time in 7 years I got slammed with the Flu and then got pneumonia. So with the set back I'm going to run Providence in mid-May. The race doesn't have the greatest of reviews. Also, work is going to be really crazy this year so I'm not going to be able to run as much. I'll just see what happens.

So last year was a tale of two dumb mistakes. The first at Bayshore was eating too much the day before. This caused a GI pit stop and missed the BQ by 16 seconds (still haven't gotten over that). Then dumb mistake number two was not recovering and going right back to training. By the time Hartford rolled around my legs were done. I missed by 1min 16sec.

I think also last year I was cranking out too many 20+ mile runs, which I love doing, but it may have beat me up a little.

I'm also going to diversify my speed workouts. Basically all I've done was straight tempo with a couple of interval weeks. I plan to do a bunch of different types of workouts.

I don't know what to expect this year because of work, so I'm just going to run and show up on race days and toe the line and see what happens.

You are so close, I really hope you get it this time! I hope you recover from your pneumonia quickly. It's been an awful year for colds and flu.

Good luck with the BQ attempt! I ran Providence in 2011 and 2012. Both years the weather was seasonable - 50s/60s and partial overcast - so I hope that you get reasonable conditions too. It's not a big race, so the atmosphere is relaxed (I was able to use the porta-potties 5 minutes before the race started and still get back to
line up toward the front). It's nice to be able to do pre-race prep
inside the convention center. The course is a mix of city/industrial and scenic/residential, not very hilly. Last year part of the bike path was under construction so more of the course was routed on a busy road (with more of a hill) but that may not be the case this year. The worst part is crossing the bridge at Mile 24 - it's narrow and crowded and hard for the legs to adjust to the steep ramps at that point. My biggest complaint about the race is that the water stops are not evenly spaced, so it's hard to anticipate when they are coming up. I was grateful my husband and son were on bikes and met me at several points and handed me a water bottle and extra gels.
I think your attitude is a good one - who knows, you might end up feeling lighter and sharper than last year. Hear's to staying healthy!

Julie, yeah I can't remember the last time I've seen so many people get wacked with the flu.

Kath, thanks. Mid-May around here for weather can be anything as you know. I'll just look out the window race morning and go from there.

Monday am - 4M. Easy. 4:30am run with very little sleep thanks to the Pats getting killed.

Monday pm - 9M GA with 12 1min pickups. I enjoy doing these pickups.

Tuesday - 5.5M. GA. Nice and chilly but only a prelude to later in the week. What was not fun was finally having to pull off the side to pee. No way I was going to make it back.

Wednesday - 11M. Did this as a progressive. Started easy and made my way down to slightly faster than MP.

Thursday - 4M. Easy. My new job has a fitness room so I did this at lunch on the treadmill.

Friday - 5.5M GA. 4:30am. Running into a headwind kind of sucked. Thankfully they make ski masks.

Tomorrow I'll probably do 12M and throw in some tempo miles.

Ugh. What rotten luck! This really does seem to be a bad year for the flu. Hope all the gunk clears out so you can get ready for Providence.

You are so close to hitting that BQ, it's not a matter of "if" -- just "when." Here's hoping the pieces come together and May is your month.

Good luck Alex! I bet you get it this time, if you can stay healthy, which I bet you can.

I signed up for Providence as my target spring marathon in 2010, and then decided at about 1:00 a.m. the morning of the race not to run it, because the forecast just kept getting worse and worse every hour (hot). Didn't turn out as hot as they predicted, but the reports I read indicated it was quite warm, so I was glad I pulled the plug and did Vermont instead. Still, I've always wanted to run it, since it's in the area.

I think it's good that you are planning on mixing up the speedwork, and I agree (as I get older!) that a bunch of runs > 20 is not a great idea, at least for me, so I think you are on the right track.

For the record, I would have done the last run on the treadmill - too f'ing cold in these parts the last couple of days!

A couple of things for you after reading your first post. I think you still have plenty of time to get ready for a marathon at the end of April. I've gone to 16 week cycles because more than that just feels too long and drawn out and I get mental training fatigue. You've still got 13 weeks until the last weekend in April, so I think you'd be able to get in plenty of miles before then to be in great shape by then.

On the training philosophy, I think you're probably on the right track about mixing things up a bit, but instead of just jumping from tempos to intervals week to week, I'd look at a progression of tempos leading into some interval stuff the last 4 weeks before the race. Mix in some strides throughout to keep your legs from getting that stale feeling too. The stage your at, if it was me, I'd probably shy away from doubles most of the time and try to focus on nailing 3 workouts every week. A tempo/speed workout, a mid week long run (up to 14 miles or so)-with those two back to back if you can manage it, and the weekend long run. Just fill in miles around those runs to get to the numbers you want each week. I'm a few years younger than you, but I just ran a 3:25 by basically doing exactly what I just described.

Alex Kubacki wrote:

I think also last year I was cranking out too many 20+ mile runs, which I love doing, but it may have beat me up a little.

You should read the Hanson training book that just came out a few months ago. Very few 20 milers. I am now working with one of the Hanson-Brooks runners and he is not going to let me run more than two 20s this cycle. It has me a bit nervous, but the logic makes sense. After some point (2.5 hours or so) there is little benefit from a training perspective. So they back off after a certain point. Might be worth picking up the book.

Brad Hudson's book Run Faster has some good multi-pace workouts. Even worked some good multi-paced runnind into longer stuff. Good luck with solid training.

Good luck Alex - rooting for you all the way. You deserve it for sure.

mountandog wrote:

Alex Kubacki wrote:

I think also last year I was cranking out too many 20+ mile runs, which I love doing, but it may have beat me up a little.

You should read the Hanson training book that just came out a few months ago. Very few 20 milers. I am now working with one of the Hanson-Brooks runners and he is not going to let me run more than two 20s this cycle. It has me a bit nervous, but the logic makes sense. After some point (2.5 hours or so) there is little benefit from a training perspective. So they back off after a certain point. Might be worth picking up the book.

I haven't run more than 2-20s in many years and I've had success with the approach and even ran some pretty fast times (sub 3:40) for the then late 40 yr old me. I even successfully navigated Boston last year and missed a BQ in the 89F heat by 11 sec. And like Jim, I've gone to shorter cycles. I've also added more half marathons, more quality miles, and more rest.

And for some positive karma, my first BQ was in Rhode Island.

Mark B wrote:Ugh. What rotten luck! This really does seem to be a bad year for the flu. Hope all the gunk clears out so you can get ready for Providence.

I guess I was due. Seven years without it isn't bad.

Michael Enright wrote:Good luck Alex! I bet you get it this time, if you can stay healthy, which I bet you can.

For the record, I would have done the last run on the treadmill - too f'ing cold in these parts the last couple of days!

Thanks Michael. I already use the treadmill more than I'd like so when I can be outdoors I try to get out there.

mul21 wrote:A couple of things for you after reading your first post. I think you still have plenty of time to get ready for a marathon at the end of April. I've gone to 16 week cycles because more than that just feels too long and drawn out and I get mental training fatigue. You've still got 13 weeks until the last weekend in April, so I think you'd be able to get in plenty of miles before then to be in great shape by then.

Actually I have changed my mind and am back to running Glass City. I just didn't want to wait until Mid May.

mountandog wrote:You should read the Hanson training book that just came out a few months ago. Very few 20 milers. I am now working with one of the Hanson-Brooks runners and he is not going to let me run more than two 20s this cycle. It has me a bit nervous, but the logic makes sense. After some point (2.5 hours or so) there is little benefit from a training perspective. So they back off after a certain point. Might be worth picking up the book.

Yep that book is on my to-do list. I too am a little nervous about running few 20's but will trust it.

Dave Wolfe wrote:Brad Hudson's book Run Faster has some good multi-pace workouts. Even worked some good multi-paced runnind into longer stuff. Good luck with solid training.

That's another on my to-do list. Thanks Dave.

John Kilpatrick wrote:Good luck Alex - rooting for you all the way. You deserve it for sure.

Thanks John. I don't deserve anything more than anyone else.

Michele "1L" Keane wrote:I haven't run more than 2-20s in many years and I've had success with the approach and even ran some pretty fast times (sub 3:40) for the then late 40 yr old me. I even successfully navigated Boston last year and missed a BQ in the 89F heat by 11 sec. And like Jim, I've gone to shorter cycles. I've also added more half marathons, more quality miles, and more rest.

And for some positive karma, my first BQ was in Rhode Island.

I'm going with three 20s. We'll see how it goes.

Saturday - 12M with 5M Tempo/Steady State. We got a coating of snow overnight and so it was impossible to maintain the pace I wanted without my feet slipping. If I had waited a couple of hours the roads would have been fine.

Sunday - 6.5M easy. Just a nice enjoyable run.

Monday am - 4M easy. I usually do these on back streets with dead ends and being that they're at 4:30am I tend to set off a lof of motion lights and dogs start barking.

Monday pm - 8.5M GA with 16 x 30sec. I was on the treadmill because trying to remember we had some crappy weather that would have been tough to do my pick ups outside.

Tuesday - 5.5M GA. At work so on the treadmill.

Wednesday - 11M with 5 x .75M HMP. These went well. Still doing just LT type stuff.

Thursday - 4M easy. So by now I had done three straight runs on the treadmill. So despite the fact that we were in the midst of a major wind and rain storm and it was 4:30am I was going outside. I was getting blown all over the place, my feet were soaked in less than two minutes but it was fun.

Friday 7M GA. My third early early morning run this week. They get annoying. But I felt great out there.

Overall a pretty good week. Tomorrow will be about 16M. Next week in anticipation of a hilly 10M race I'm doing later in the month I'm going to start some hill repeats for a couple of week.

Saturday - 16M. Felt great out there. Brought some water and when I went to use it after about 12 the spout was frozen as well as the cap itself when I tried to unscrew it and get at it that way. So no water.

Sunday - 6.5M Easy. Once again just another enjoyable recovery run.

Monday AM - 4M Easy. I basically do this one because I don't really like going from Sunday morning to Monday night without running. Mostly because I really go to town eating over the weekend.

Monday PM - 9M with 12 x 1min pickups. Being that it's dark for this I bang this out on an empty street and just go back and forth.

Tuesday - 5M GA. Legs are usually a bit tired so I'm a little slower on this day.

Wednesday - 10M with 8 x .25M hill repeats. There's a hill I do that starts about 6% and gets to between 7-8%. The last couple of these were real brutal.

Thursday - 4M very very very easy.

Friday - 7M GA. So this was done about 12hrs after donating blood Thursday afternoon. You're supposed to wait about 24hrs to exercise. It went better than I thought. I downed fluids after fluids in that 12hrs. I know it takes about 4-6 weeks to fully get your red blood cells back, so we'll see in two weeks for this hilly 10 race I'm doing.

We're in the beginning stages of what will be a borderline blizzard that will last until tomorrow afternoon. Looks like I'll be doing the 16M on the treadmill tomorrow. Not thrilled about that. Oh well.

Alex, I'm glad to see you went back to the April marathon. With your base, you have plenty of time to get into solid marathon shape. I also think mixing up those mid-week workouts is a good idea. You're so close man...

Thanks Seth. I'm more and more glad I went back do doing Glass City in April.

Saturday - 4+ hours of shoveling put the kibosh on doing my long. Woke up to no heat thanks to the outside vents being burried. Got about 20" with 3' drifts. Had to get up on the roof and get some of it off there where the angle isn't as steep and had some big drifts. I had to dig a tunnel out the window to get on that section of the roof with half the snow falling into the room in doing so. Comical.

Sunday - 16M. With the roads still crap this was done on the treadmill. Plugged in the movie Miracle and that took care of the time. I jacked it up to MP pace during the US Soviet game because those scenes jack you up anyway.

Monday am - 4M Easy. Early morning I was outside for this and the roads were still crap and I was slipping all over the place. I guess living in MA I should probably get some shoes that can handle the snow.

Monday pm - 8.5M with 15 30sec pickups. This was about 36hrs after the long so my legs were ok and I was able to get the pickups in.

Tuesday - 5M Very Easy. My legs were gone for this.

Wednesday - 10.5M with 10 x .25M Hills between 6-7% outside. This was the first run I really felt the effects of giving blood and not having all my red blood cells providing O2. My legs almost gave out on the last one.

Thursday - 4M Easy. Suprisingly my legs bounced back and felt pretty good.

Friday - 8M GA. Felt awesome out there. I scared the heck out of some girl I passed. This was around 4:30am and she didn't hear me until I was almost right behind her. You have to always be aware of your surroundings especially in the dark.

Tomorrow will be another 16M. Next Sunday is a 10M race I'm doing that has a couple of really big hills. Looking forward to it to test my fitness.

Good job getting miles in! We had 30" at my house. Stuck on the treadmill for a while. Keep it going Alex!

Looks like a solid week of running for you. Loved the Saturday cross training tunneling out of the house. Saw some of those pics...incredible.

Nice work, Alex. Love that you ran to Miracle - love that movie. My daughter gets to see several of those players at BU games all the time. Some never leave their glory days.

Thanks Dot and Michele.

This has been a bit of a step back week.

Saturday - 16M. Great run. Got some more annoying snow Friday night so there were some slippery sections.

Sunday - 8M easy. The beginnings of a wind storm. Running into a headwind wasn't fun.

Monday am - 3.5M easy. Early morning for this and it was 10 degrees but the windstorm made the real feel below zero and I had a ski mask on. The headwind really sucked.

Monday pm - 10M with 13 x 1min pickups. As I've said before I really enjoy doing these pickups.

Tuesday - 4.5M easy. At lunch at work on a treadmill.

Wednesday - 12M with 7 x .75M 6:55 down to 6:40 with 75sec in between. At least being on a treadmill I could force myself not to run the first few too fast like I end up doing outside normally. I felt good doing them.

Thursday - 6.5M easy. Back outside thankfully but still windy. My legs were fairly trashed from Wednesday night.

Today will be a non-running day. It's been over a month. I was supposed to race a 10M on Sunday, but we're getting yet another storm Saturday night into Sunday. I have no shoes to race in that. So instead I'm going to do a local 10K Saturday morning. I'm not expecting anything fast as Wednesday was the first speed stuff I've done so far this cycle outside of slower tempo stuff. Should be fun though.

Enjoy the race - is it one of the snowstorm classics at Forest Park?

My mom is freaking out about more snow while my daughter is laughing at the "alarmists (her word)" on TV. Of course, she is in downtown Boston and my Mom is 12.5 miles west. Hope the storm is easy on you. We are being completely missed here in NE Ohio and we are only going to get some freezing rain (now) and drizzle later as our temps are warming up (35F) a bit.

Enjoy the 10K!

Michael Enright wrote:Enjoy the race - is it one of the snowstorm classics at Forest Park?

Thanks Michael. Yes that's the one. I've done it before in prior years. I can actually run to the start.

Michele "1L" Keane wrote:My mom is freaking out about more snow while my daughter is laughing at the "alarmists (her word)" on TV. Of course, she is in downtown Boston and my Mom is 12.5 miles west. Hope the storm is easy on you. We are being completely missed here in NE Ohio and we are only going to get some freezing rain (now) and drizzle later as our temps are warming up (35F) a bit.

Enjoy the 10K!

The '78 storm created these "alarmists" and it hasn't been the same since. Its annoying from the standpoint of everyone flocking to the stores and gas stations. People think they're going to be trapped in their houses for a week and so they buy up everything. It's just ridiculous.

I've run that 10k twice. The first time I ran it, I didn't know where the finish line was (AFTER you cross the start line again), and as a result sprinted too soon and was gassed for the finish!

Fun race, but a bit hilly for my tastes. Enjoy!

Did my 10k race over the weekend. First race since the fall. Had no clue until later in the day because I didn't stick around, but I finished 3rd overall and 1st in my AG. Now to be honest most of the good local runners were elsewhere but it was fun. The time was 42:46 which I'll take considering I'm just starting speed work now.

The first mile has a pretty big hill and then you have to duck under a gate to get out of the park. So my first mile was only around 7:30. The next two miles there were about four of us and I was leading (the race leaders were gone), and I tried not to let anyone pass me. Briefly on a downhill someone went by me but I retook him shortly after. Then around halfway I was able to get to another gear and slowly pulled away from them and finished it out. Before the last mile there's a 10yd section on a path that was all ice and you had to basically tip toe through it.

It was so much fun be actually racing people instead of time trialing a race to get a time.