What’s BQ? I think you mean DQ Derek. Nope I don’t mean DQ. No offense to the fine folks at Dairy Queen, but I’m not trading Haagen Dazs Butter Pecan for Dairy Queen. But I’ve come to the realization if I want different results I’ve gotta say bye bye to Haagen Dazs and say hello to BQ aka Boston Qualify. Qualifying for Boston is hard work, for my age bracket (45-49) I need to do at least 3hrs:25min. On February 23, 2013 I said: It would be nice to qualify for Boston. After making that statement I really didn't alter my training.
Insanity, what does it mean? All together now, "Doing the same thing and expecting different results". Correct! This simple truth led me to think about my past marathon training routine more importantly my race day results. "Reflection without judgement" was my mantra in reviewing my old Facebook post and Garmin uploads. Without delving into too much detail here, I’ll share the highlights. Challenge Consistency and Commitment. Baked in the triple C's are diet and a change in lifestyle, consider it the baking soda that will make your performance rise on race day.
Introducing Benjamin Gilliam, Ben and I met one day at The Home Depot he was rocking a pair of Brooks Glycerin 9’s. Glycerin’s are Ben’s go to shoe for all his Marathon’s and Triathlons. We spent about 15-20 minutes talking upcoming races sneakers training plans and later connected on Facebook to continue the conversation.
The challenge came when Ben asked what races do you have planned for the year? Hmmm... Awwww... I really hadn’t given it ton of thought up until that moment but, I knew I wanted to do a few. I rattled off Cheshire Half, Cox Providence RI and Hartford CT.-(Providence and Hartford were Full Marathons). Ben replied Awesome with enthusiasm and a smile.
I finished the Cheshire Half at 1:46 with an avg. pace of 8:07 shaving 4mins off my previous half marathon time. Later that day I received a FB notification from Ben in which he tagged me a post. To my surprise it was a picture from the race, who would have thunk. That’s when I realized runners have a symbiotic affinity for each other.
My plan was to use Cheshire as a tune up race for Providence RI. Providence would be my first time traveling to another state for a Marathon.
I felt confident coming into Providence, We usually feel better about ourselves the morning of a test when we're throughly prepared in advance. I put the work during the weeks leading to the starting line and that helped reduce my race day jitters.
Runners take your mark, get set, go with simultaneous gun shot blast; the crowd erupted and we’re off. I’ve got my earbuds in music banging watch set its going to be a good race.
What a feeling kicking back miles on the road in the zone looking at your watch and you’re either ahead or on pace. I figured if I ran under 9 minutes for each mile I would be happy.
The first dip in my pace came at mile 5 my pace was 9:04. No problem we got this! I picked up the pace and held it for the next 10 miles; at mile 15 my pace was 9:09. At mile 18 I met the infamous wall, Hello there "How you Doin"? Panting breathing heavy I answered; who me? I'm good there's a water station ahead. Thank God for Water GU and Gatorade!!!
The last 9 miles were the most challenging Somehow we manage to muster enough energy and motivation to finish strong.
When I crossed the finish line I realized I set a PR-(Gun Time: 4:03:45 Net Half: 1:49:19 Net Time: 4:03:31 Avg pace: 9:18) Today I ran the numbers just need to trim another 38min off my time to qualify for Boston.
No comments:
Post a Comment