Forums >Racing>2016 Boston Marathon Thread
Can I ask why you broke up with Pfitz? I've never failed to have a good race after successfully completing a Pfitz plan. I did try Hansons, once, just for something different. Nah. No long runs? Screw that.
I felt like I had plateaued with Pfitz and should try something different. The whole "insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result" idea. I had three straight training cycles that all ended in 3:23:00/3:24:00 range from 2013-2014, and then my times started getting slower. (I wrote about it in more detail on my blog.)
Yeah, if there's one thing that's making me nervous going into Sunday, it's that I don't feel good about my endurance. I feel like I could run an awesome half marathon right now, but 26 miles seems kinda far. But, I'm trying to trust the plan. Trust the plan. And, I did one of the online plans that has some 20 milers. I'd be off the walls right now if I'd only done 16s. But, they came at the end so I don't feel like they really took hold. I'll see in a couple of days.
My blog is JT Running DC. It's awesome. Guide to Washington DC Area Running Routes. Guide to the New York City Marathon. Guide to the Boston Marathon. Guide to Running Gear. Guide to Running Clothes.
To be fair, what a "long run" is is subjective and a long run for you might be a little different for "normal" runners. I kind of followed Hanson's, sort of. Think I upped mileage into the 70 mile range to get my long run up to 18.5 miles last year before CIM. Things seemed to fall in place last year.
Julia, you'll be at CIM? DW and I will be there. I'll probably be with the 3:35 pace group. Training has fallen off the last couple of weeks and BQ'd for 2017 earlier, so not sure what will happen. Weather is looking pretty good for Sunday.
Ray
FWIW I wrote up a detailed comparison of Pfitz. vs. Hansons, when the Hansons book came out.
I remember that write up. It was a great discussion. And, if I remember correctly, somewhere in there I was doubting Hansons could be tougher than Pfitz. Or, that Pfitz had as much goal marathon pace work as Hansons because of the progression runs... Man, was I wrong! Hansons has a lot more quality work. Which is probably why I feel like I'm good for a half now but not so much for a full.
Thanks again for that write up and the re-post!
Hmm...I'm not sure how I feel about the jacket. I initially hated it when I first saw it, but it's not THAT bad. It reminds me of My Little Pony. I showed a friend, who knows nothing about Boston or running, the picture that Julia posted and she said that it reminds her of a unicorn. Too funny that she would say that. Mission accomplished, I guess? My only goal at this point is to re-BQ so that I can go back in 2017 with a friend. I'd like a PR, but we'll see what winter training holds. I'm doing my own program, loosely based on Hudson and plan on starting the 2nd week of January.
Hmm...I'm not sure how I feel about the jacket. I initially hated it when I first saw it, but it's not THAT bad. It reminds me of My Little Pony. I showed a friend, who knows nothing about Boston or running, the picture that Julia posted and she said that it reminds her of a unicorn. Too funny that she would say that. Mission accomplished, I guess?
My only goal at this point is to re-BQ so that I can go back in 2017 with a friend. I'd like a PR, but we'll see what winter training holds. I'm doing my own program, loosely based on Hudson and plan on starting the 2nd week of January.
LOL! It is My Little Pony as jacket... It is growing on me, though.
Funny thing. After that is when I did try Hansons, training for Boston 2013. But I only got about halfway through before giving up. I had hamstring issues that prevented me from doing the speedwork. I threw my hands in the air at that point and just ran whatever I felt like each day (mostly hilly trails). Race day arrived, and I knew I had little shot at a PR, but the weather looked good, so I went for it... and PRed. I officially know nothing about marathon training now!
I'll be there! I don't think there's a pace group for me, though. My goal is 3:20 and it's one of those times that no one really cares about. Have a great race!
What training plans are people using? Or, are you winging it?
I've only run one marathon so far, and I used Hansons. I was satisfied with the plan, and the result. I would use their plan again (and probably will) but I'm not sure I'll be able to systematically run my Thursday MP workouts in the winter in Montreal.
So either I go the Daniels way (target weekly mileage + 2 workouts, or something like that) or I'll go again with Hansons and try to be imaginative in finding ways to get the looong workouts done.
Funny that CIM has a 2:43 pace group (ok, no so funny - women's B qualifying standard) and a 3 hour group. Every other pace group is based on BQ time and 3:20 ain't one... I picked 3:35 with out really thinking about it, but I really liked the pacers. Tim is about my age and runs CIM every year. Jamie seems to be more of an ultra marathon runner (Tim as well). IIRC, this will be there 4th or 5th time leading the 3:35 group together and they seem well matched. Think they're the main reason I'm sticking with 3:35 this year.
Ouch, looks like we'll get some rain - temp should be good tho...Good luck on Sunday!
Funny that CIM has a 2:43 pace group (ok, no so funny - women's B qualifying standard) and a 3 hour group. Every other pace group is based on BQ time and 3:20 ain't one... I picked 3:35 with out really thinking about it, but I really liked the pacers. Tim is about my age and runs CIM every year. Jamie seems to be more of an ultra marathon runner (Tim as well). IIRC, this will be there 4th or 5th time leading the 3:35 group together and they seem well matched. Think they're the main reason I'm sticking with 3:35 this year. Ouch, looks like we'll get some rain - temp should be good tho...Good luck on Sunday!
I ran a 3:27:09. No excuses really. The weather was just about perfect. I just wasn't in the shape I hoped I would be and also ran the first half too hard - I was on pace for a PR through mile 20 and then... I wasn't. If you're interested in more details, I'm hoping to have a race report up on my blog by Wednesday or Thursday.
You probably found this out, but... The pacers agreed to a strategy whereby, after the half marathon, one of the pacers would increase the pace to go BQ-3ish since that's really what you need to qualify for Boston these days. I wonder if more and more marathons will do something like that. I think it's actually a good idea in general. Give the people who want to push themselves a little harder someone to go with.
How did your race go?
I was on pace for a PR through mile 20 and then... I wasn't.
Of course, this is a not uncommon marathon experience, but it seems to happen more often at CIM. I just spent the last 15 minutes chatting with another friend who had the same thing happen yesterday. She ran a BQ-2, instead of the BQ-5 she was on pace for... probably not good enough.
I blame CIM for removing carb drinks from the course. That's just asking everyone to bonk at 20. I boycott them. And the feeling is mutual; I've been banned from their FB page.
The pacers agreed to a strategy whereby, after the half marathon, one of the pacers would increase the pace to go BQ-3ish since that's really what you need to qualify for Boston these days. I wonder if more and more marathons will do something like that.
Interesting. And kind of ridiculous. I blame Boston for this. As I think I probably posted above somewhere, all this drama about how much you have to beat your BQ time by is all on them. There is NO excuse whatsoever for not just tightening the times another 5 minutes. BQ should mean you get in. Plus, if it didn't fill until later, you could still get in with a fall qualifier. But no, we have to have a complex, multi-staged registration system, did you get a BQ-5? -10? -20? Oooh! Boston, Boston, Boston. It kind of makes me sick. I'm still reluctant to break my Boston streak, but I am really beginning to wonder why. Very tempted to just say screw it, been there, done that.
I blame CIM for removing carb drinks from the course.
I wonder if this is a marketing thing because I don't think I've ever had so much Nuun exposure at a race in my life. I hadn't realized there was only Nuun on the course. I mostly take water on the course but sometimes, Gatorade is a nice change. Plus, But, I agree 100%. In a late fall/early winter marathon, with a field as fast as CIM, I would be more concerned about calories/carbs than dehydration.
Overall, I thought the race was great. I think it's the smallest marathon I've run and my expectations were really low but they did a great job. Until you reminded me about the Nuun , the only knock I could think of as I was drafting my race report was that I thought there was an over-emphasis on a) elites trying to meet the Olympic standard and b) BQing. I felt out of place not aiming for either. Which is why I thought having one pacer go out faster at the half would challenge people to run a little harder than their BQ! Put it all out there! But, I guess in the end it's still about getting into Boston.
Banned, huh? Nice.
Yesterday's CIM race felt warmer then last year's, but not much. I remember shivering as we waited for the start, but not really yesterday. Things didn't go as well as I hoped, but not the best either. I got a bit out ahead of the 3:35 pace group and when I saw pacers catch up I went with them. Turned out it was the 3:30 group and I thought, well might as well go for it. I leaked out a bit in front of them just before the 1/2 way point. When the BQ-3 group caught me at 14 miles went with them. Was feeling good that I was staying with them until mile 17 when we dropped to a 7:35 mile and kind of went "uh-oh". Mile 18 was 7:45 and I started to think, "I need to slow down or I'm going to blow up", too late. So, I let them go and figured I try to stay with the regular group. They caught up to me at mile 20, but by then I knew I couldn't maintain anything close and was just hoping to finish around 3:35. Started to feel ill around mile 24 and hammies were feeling funny. Think the 3:35 group passed me here as a big cluster went by. Tried to give it a little extra as I approached the finish, but right hamstring started cramping and about 10 yards out had to slow almost to a walk. Finish time was 3:37:53, BQ - 2:07.
For scenery and interesting things to look at, this might be one of the worst courses. I think the pacers are pretty good and can be really helpful. Tho there was a bit of rain yesterday it wasn't too bad - my shoes are still wet. It was just a tad warm for my preferences (I'm always surprised at the amount of clothes people wear).
I don't drink much out on the course and gotta admit I prefer Nuun over Gatorade, so that didn't bother me. But, I had 1 nuun at station 2 and then 4 waters (didn't finish any of them) and didn't feel thirsty, but I did cramp up at the end.
For those of you looking for a fast race, well organized race I'd recommend the Revel series. These are net downhill courses (BQ, but not Olympic - kind of feels like cheating to me). We did Canyon City in Asuza this year and DW lowered her PR by 16 minutes and BQ - 10! You have to like downhills and pacing is tricky. Anyway, we're thinking of doing their Denver race in June.
Congratulations on your race!
I don't remember any rain during the race. I remember a short burst a few minutes before but that's it. Weird.
How much rest age you taking before training for Boston?
Yesterday's CIM race felt warmer then last year's, but not much. I remember shivering as we waited for the start, but not really yesterday. Things didn't go as well as I hoped, but not the best either. I got a bit out ahead of the 3:35 pace group and when I saw pacers catch up I went with them. Turned out it was the 3:30 group and I thought, well might as well go for it. I leaked out a bit in front of them just before the 1/2 way point. When the BQ-3 group caught me at 14 miles went with them. Was feeling good that I was staying with them until mile 17 when we dropped to a 7:35 mile and kind of went "uh-oh". Mile 18 was 7:45 and I started to think, "I need to slow down or I'm going to blow up", too late. So, I let them go and figured I try to stay with the regular group. They caught up to me at mile 20, but by then I knew I couldn't maintain anything close and was just hoping to finish around 3:35. Started to feel ill around mile 24 and hammies were feeling funny. Think the 3:35 group passed me here as a big cluster went by. Tried to give it a little extra as I approached the finish, but right hamstring started cramping and about 10 yards out had to slow almost to a walk. Finish time was 3:37:53, BQ - 2:07. For scenery and interesting things to look at, this might be one of the worst courses. I think the pacers are pretty good and can be really helpful. Tho there was a bit of rain yesterday it wasn't too bad - my shoes are still wet. It was just a tad warm for my preferences (I'm always surprised at the amount of clothes people wear). I don't drink much out on the course and gotta admit I prefer Nuun over Gatorade, so that didn't bother me. But, I had 1 nuun at station 2 and then 4 waters (didn't finish any of them) and didn't feel thirsty, but I did cramp up at the end. For those of you looking for a fast race, well organized race I'd recommend the Revel series. These are net downhill courses (BQ, but not Olympic - kind of feels like cheating to me). We did Canyon City in Asuza this year and DW lowered her PR by 16 minutes and BQ - 10! You have to like downhills and pacing is tricky. Anyway, we're thinking of doing their Denver race in June.
We're something like 20 weeks out, so I thought I'd update the main page. A little nudge for those of you who haven't started training. What training plans are people using? Or, are you winging it?
We're something like 20 weeks out, so I thought I'd update the main page. A little nudge for those of you who haven't started training.
I've decided to get the Tenex procedure for my right Achilles after my next race, in two weeks. That will mean 4-6 weeks recovery, then building back slowly. So, no training to speak of for Boston for me. It will have to be another fun-run year.