A Cunning Plan

2011 had a number of highlights, but now is the time to look ahead, to lay plans, to set goals for 2012. For me the next big A goal is a no-brainer.

My next big 'A' goal is a sub 3 Hour Marathon at Boston 2012.

To that end I have come up with a plan so cunning you could stick a tail on it and call it a weasel. Im going to get myself in sub 2:50 shape and then run a controlled sub 3 pace. It's fool proof I tell you.

OK So maybe there is one small issue, Sub 2:50 form is over 15 minutes faster than my current PB. Perhapes 2:50 is beyond my reach, but heck if you dont aim high youll never reach your full potential.

So over the past few weeks Ive been doing a bit of research, looking at how I trained for munster, looking at what worked, where i can improve. Where I can tweak my training to get a better result, I have put together a training plan.

The Training Plan

My training for Boston is going to be once again bassed on Lydiard. Which means high millage in the Aerobic Zone. For Münster I mistook the variance in Aerobic pace, that is in a Lydiard Plan for the effort of the workout. Its not all about running at the same pace every day. There should be a lot of variation in paces, form the slow pace of the weekly long run, right up too the Sub LT threshold runs at faster than Marathon Pace. I will be including a lot more varience in my pace in this training round.

Another big change for me will be the shift to training in the mornings. My running group meets in the evenings, unfortunately the groups normal pace is now a slower recovery jog pace for me, with 3 group runs during the week, I was simply loosing too much training time. The shift to training mornings allows me to train at my pace every day, and then use the group runs as additional recovery paced jogging. I have already given pre-dawn running a trial and it works for me

My current training break will officially end on Nov 27 when i run the Aasee Candlelight 10k in Munster. In the fist few weeks of training after that I will be building up the millage, and time spent running with the goal of follow the plan below.

Mon: AM - 75 min Easy or a Progress assesment, PM - Recovery Jog
Tue: AM - 120 min Medium Effort Pace, PM - Cross training
Wed: AM - 80 min Easy, PM - Recovery Jog
Thur: AM - 130 min Medium Effort Pace, PM - Cross training
Fri: AM - 60 min Sub LT (Hard Aerobic Effort Pace), PM - Recovery Jog
Sat: 90 min Marathon Pace Conditioning.
Sun: 180 min Easy Effort Pace.

I will endeavour to be better about doing a proper warmup routine prior to my morning runs. I will continue to Include a core strength program in my training. I am planning to add a once weekly stretching regime, although not immediately prior or post running workout.

In February I will be running the Hamm Winter Lauf Series. 10k, 15k, and HM. These provide a really good estimate of Marathon form when you add all three results together. For example my total in 2011 was 3:24 and then I ran 3:23 in Vieena. I will not do any tapering for these races, and after them I wont race again until Boston, that way I hope to elimate the inconsistency that I had prior to Münster due to tappering for HM races.

"Knowing where you want to go is easy. Mapping out the plan to get there is challenging. Doing it requires total commitment" - Josh Cox, 

So now that i have my goal, and the cunning plan that is guaranteed to achieve it, Im 2/3rds done... all i need now is a little commitment.

 

Messenger of Run Happy.

Unter allen Bewerbern gehörst Du zur neuen Testläufer-Generation, herzlichen Glückwunsch! Nach der Auswertung aller Bewerbungsbögen sind wir zu dem Entschluss gekommen, dass Du genau der Richtige bist, um unsere Produkte zu testen und darüber zu schreiben. Deshalb erhältst Du nun von uns den Status:

„Messenger of Run Happy“.

Ok, for those that dont read German what that means is that ive been selected to take part in the Brooks Test-Runner Program. My 'brief' is to give an open and honest review of various products that will be sent to me. As you can imagine Im pretty excited about this. Not only because it means that i will have the opportunity to try out some brand new products. But also because I can be reasonably certain that someone at Brooks will be paying attention to my feedback, If that means that in some small way i can contribute to a better product then thats pretty neat too.

At the moment I have to admit that i do feel a little like Tahi, 'one lucky kiwi'  .... although given it's a (true) story about a kiwi with one leg... im not entirely sure how far I'd like to take the comparision.

Im not really sure what's coming or when it will be here, which is all part of the excitment at the moment, but what ever does arrive will be put through its paces. I have quite a bit of running planned this month, and then come December Ill be starting the rampup for next year, for Boston, and my attack on the 3hr barrier.

Boston

I have a confession to make! I applied to Boston 2012 and didnt tell anyone. Not sure why i kept it too myself, I guess incase I got rejected so I could slink off quietly.

In Munster I ran a BQ-5 qualifying time, Whilst Boston had allways been at the back of my head, I didnt realise that Münster could also be used as a qualifying race until Henning a friend from DM mentioned that he was using it to run a BQ time. Id originally planned to try and BQ in Spring 2012 at the Düsseldorf Marathon.

Ive also been planning to fly home to New Zealand sometime soon, so with a little prod from Ryan i investigated the possibility of combining the two... The plane ticket to come back via the US isnt significantly more expensive than returning over Asia... so on the spur of the moment i submitted my application.


Dear Paul:

Please make note of your Submission ID #: 2011960.

Thank you for submitting an entry to the 116th B.A.A. Boston Marathon. It is important to note that your Submission ID does NOT constitute entry into the race, but confirms that your entry has been received by the B.A.A.

September 16th

With a BQ-5 I was able to apply on the 16th. On the 19th i was happy to hear Henning had also submitted his application.


Then its a game of wait and see. I was under the impression that the last block the normal BQ times was still a first come first served system like the previous year. Unfortunately I heard via DailyMile that it wasnt, that this year the set a cutoff time of 1:14 faster than the base BQ time in each age class. Which means that Henning recieved a rejection email.... I was also sad to hear another great runner friend from DM Javier also recieved a rejection email, he missed the cutoff by 1 second. That really has to hurt.

I received a conditional acceptance, The BAA registration office needed a copy of my race certificate from Münster, with a translation of the details on it so that they could verify the qualifying details id submitted.


Dear Paul,

Thank you for submitting your application for entry into the 2012 Boston Marathon.

Upon verification of the qualifying time you submitted from an international race your application will be approved for acceptance.

September 23rd

So I emailed them the pdf certificate you can download from the Münster Marathon web site and my translation of what was on there. I still wasnt sure i was in, would they accept the Münster Marathon as a valid qualifying race? This morning my doubts have been laid to rest.

Dear Paul A. Henry,

This is to notify you that your entry into the 116th Boston Marathon on Monday, April 16, 2012 has been accepted, provided that the information you submitted is accurate.

A Confirmation of Acceptance card will be mailed to you via US Postal Service mail in October.

September 30th

So it appear that i need to start organising my travel and accomodation plans.

I have to admit that i do feel really bad for the guys I know that applied and got rejected, It would have been really great to have caught up with them either prior or post race to chew the fat and tell tall stories about our running deeds. But i know that both Javier and Henning easily have BQ-10's in them and that if they want it they will be able to qualify in the coming years, tighter qualifying times or not.