Post-Marathon Rest Week Concludes

Well, I have reached the end of the post race "noodle" week. One week of baconators (no wonder why Americans are so fat), ice cream and beer will get that out of my system. A week of partying comes to an end and I need to start getting serious about the switch over and organizing my schedule the next few weeks. I even stepped on the scale last night to give myself a scare, but it will be back to reality (after the BAA reception tomorrow night) with focus on diet and training. And ... I have another race in two weeks! Sudbury Sprint triathlon is 13 days away! I have done it again; 5 months of endurance stuff and now I try to switch over to fast, fast and more fast. It's a short race though - the shortest tri I will have ever done, so I might take the pressure off and do it as a hard workout (yeah, right). Unfortunately, no pictures yet. I'll still try to find some and ping those that got me on the course. My total workouts last week were a 20 min spin and a 2.5 trail run. I am going to start easing my way back this weekend hope to get a bonus long bike with this beautiful spring weather. Hope everyone has gotten some rest. I don't want to screw up again - I'm taking it easy and will ramp my way back into full blown IM training torture next few weeks. Looking back at the training numbers, I wouldn't change a thing. I will still come back next year and try for a new PR. On to the Kona or bust wagon for now. -Kyle

113th Boston Marathon 2009 Brings New PR!

This race report is simple; I had a great race, on a great day and felt great!

Time: 2:52:10 New Marathon PR !!!

The temperature was 43 degrees to start and 52 at Boston with some sun and clouds. The only negative was the head wind which got progressively worse toward Boston - with some very heavy gusts at times. I enjoy these conditions and will take this over a hot day like in 2004.

My pace was strong and very consistent. I only gave back time in the hills and with the headwind. The last mile was tough, but I still felt fast through the entire race.

I feel like this may be the comeback year for me. Also, great to see team-mate Mark Bell come back this year and score second for the BAA masters. I wish I could have found that other ten seconds, but I finish this one happy and content to have had my best race at age 43. My BAA-team did very well and we had quite a showing.

I have a renewed confidence in my running, now that I seem to have proven myself to be peaking in 2009. None of those other shorter races matter and I will be looking to find a non-Boston PR this year, probably at a smaller and easier marathon such as a Baystate, etc.

I will celebrate this race for the entire week! and then restart IM training next week with bike centric workouts.

That's it. I hope everyone had a great race! and congratulations to everyone that finished!!

I know look forward to a new IMLP PR this year and getting the family to Kona in October!

I will post some pictures when I get them.

-Kyle

The Final Few Days - Race Week

Boston # 2223

Qualifying Time: 2:56:59 (Manchester Marathon 11/08)

It has been a few weeks since my last post. All has gone well. The final few week's numbers are what you would expect. I just finished a 15 minute light tempo and will wrap-up tomorrow with an easy half hour run, and then it will be the race.

I think I have paid my dues this year. At the cost of a lot of hard work and a bit of torture too. Long term forecast is 50 degrees with afternoon rain and a head wind coming off the ocean. Sound familiar? That's about the same conditions as 2007 which yielded a 2:53:11 PR. I'm okay with light rain and windy/cool conditions - I always run my best times in those conditions - Manchester Marathon = 35 degrees, windy, blustery, etc. Bring it on!

I conclude this training period with no issues. I have been off the bike this week and it is weird to actually drive a car to work every day. I think after this week is over I will go back to riding each day, but it is an unusual treat for me to be able to listen to music each day to and fro work. I do crave the bike though and look forward to "crossing" over and doing some long rides now that warm weather is here and I don't have to wear all that gear!!

I hope everyone's training has gone well and the most important thing is to get rest the next few days. This is a big year for the Boston Marathon! Ryan Hall and Kara Goucher potential winners - keep fingers crossed. This year marks running partner and four-time winner Bill Rodgers returns to the race. We ran together yesterday and he looks good. Our group is the self-proclaimed "Ice Road Runners" - read this months article on him in Runner's World Magazine. I think this will be a great year for him.

Anyway, the final words are what you would expect. I will not be holding anything back. I am due for a big race as the two prep races; DH Jones 10miler and New Bedford races were just insult and punishment on top of a whole lot of training. The goal and it is always the goal with me; to come out with a new marathon PR for 2009!

-Kyle

21 Days and Counting: Looking at the Training Numbers

Steve and I squeaked in the 18 miler just as the weather conditions started to deteriorate. I had added a long sleeve coolmax after the first loop with Annie. Then the day would just be a damp, raw and treacherous rainy day where I did not go outside for the rest of the day. That will be my last LSD run and next weekend I will go to MLR 14-15 or so and then start to shut things down. Last week was another good week with hard workouts and some good distance. I'll post the numbers (total and long run) for the 16 week training program here, starting with week 2. People can then look back and comment after Boston on whether they think the mileage is enough or too much.

Week:
2) 45mi (LR 16mi)
3) 37 (10)
4) 59 (16)
5) 57 (19)
6) 72 (12)
7) 63 (20)
8) 48 (17)
9) 69 (22)
10) 66 (18)
11) 72 (18)
12) 86 (24)
13) 75 (18)

Summary:

Total weeks 2-13: 749mi
Avg. Week: 62.4mi
Avg. LR: 17.5mi

To compare to 2008: 672mi (56mi avg) which is about the same as 2006 (2007 record lost)

Last year I was definitely feeling the pressure to train on the bike for IM France, so I'm sure that played a role in there being less running miles. I am going to guess that this year also trumps 2007 miles. I was also swimming 3-4 days a week in 2007. We'll have to wait and see if there is pay-off come 4/20.

-Kyle

Less Than Four Weeks Out

It's coming quick and the piling of the miles will soon come to an end. Last week was another big week, with my last run with the boys out on the Boston course - 24 miles with tempo 8.3 miles, first half fast at 1:32 flat. The course run tops off my week with 87 miles total. I'm looking back at my logs and can not find a bigger week in years. Believe it or not, my legs felt better last week with all the miles, than the week before. The New Bedford week was tough and my legs were definitely responding to the increase in mileage. This week, legs feel great! and I'm still piling on those miles!! My swimming has exploded recently and I am doing intervals at what would be PRs for me a few years ago. Biking also going well and has gotten a lot easier now that winter is over - definitely less taxing on the body cycling in the 40s&50s - over those days that were teens morning and 20s afternoons and now there's no snow ruts on my street. I survived a full winter of outdoor cycling! another first! My weight has also come way down - 150lbs @ 7% body fat - 18 pounds down since the holidays - I can never let that happen again. No more beer and ice cream diet.

Anyway, I hope everyone's training has gone well. It comes to a quick hault pretty soon. Next week I will be focusing on shorter quicker and broken-up doubles of less distance. I hope to get a long bike ride in also, as LP09 is now 4 months away.

-Kyle

New Bedford 1/2M

Well ... I did it again. A week of heavy training and tight legs led me tired and a bit achy into race day. Even though I was tight, I still ran a 1:23:48 - not far off my 1:22 PR in 2007. In fact I was well on that pace right up to mile 8 (49:58), but slowed a little towards 10 and then at 12 I was really struggling up the big hill. I felt like I was dragging a cinder block behind me. My legs were shot, but I continued to push and finish with a decent time. The day capped off a 75 mile week. The coaches feel it's better for me to train for Boston and not worry about this race. I've never been a great half runner anyway.

Some interesting notes on this year's race:

Not much wind at all - very unusual for NB.

Warm temps ~50 to start and then maybe a bit warmer.

American winner - it was good to see race winner Pat Tarpy leave a trail of Kenyans behind. They could not keep up with him and he ran the fastest time in a decade. Also, nice to see women's winner and BAA teammate Heidi Westerling shed 3 minutes off her PR, wow!

Today I am very tired and need to get some rest! An easy run, bike commute and we'll see if I survive tonight at the pool. I guess it's really not a rest day!

I will try to post training numbers the next few weeks, as I have not been recording anything except running miles. Also, 5 weeks out means the next 2-3 weeks I will be piling on the running miles on. Expect to see some big numbers as I start to do more doubles (last week I had two doubles) and now that the trails are opening up I can do that, get off the roads for some easy running and not get injured.

Hope everyone has time to get the big miles in the next two weeks. I will be running on the course again. Hopefully I will get to chat with Olympian Ryan Hall again ...

-Kyle

Race Schedule 2009

I've realized that it has been a month sinced my last post! 2009 so far has been very good to me. Although it has been a harsh New England winter, I still continue to prevail. I am WAY ahead of where I was at this time last year. Not having a car has forced me to cycle outdoors and it has really helped me get fit. That on top of a lot of running (73 miles last week) helped shed all of that December weight. I am now back down at 8.5% body fat @ 157 lbs and feel a lot better. How did I get so fat in the first place? Anyway, it's gone and forgotten. I need to make sure I don't peak too early before Boston and I'm focusing as much on speed as distance. Swimming is going good. I am now in my 6th year of swimming. Every year I add proves me wrong about me becoming a decent swimmer.

I'm thinking of changing the name of this post, since this athletic stuff has become my lifestyle and I'm focused more on becoming a top master's athlete in both triathlon and running. Any suggestions??? I predict this will be a big year for me, as my level of experience training and racing is helping me reach new levels each year.

Here is the current race schedule for 2009:

DH Jones 10 Miler February 22nd Amherst, MA
New Bedford Half Marathon March 22nd New Bedford, MA
113th Boston Marathon April 20th
Sudbury Sprint Triathlon May 10th Sudbury, MA
FirmMan Mass Half-Iron June 7th Lancaster, MA
IronMan Lake Placid July 26th Lake Pacid, NY

Hopfully this schedule will include Kona, HI in October. That is and always will be the goal.

Rock On!

-Kyle