Sunday, April 13, 2014

One More Week Until the Boston Marathon

The hay is in the barn.

The first time I heard that phrase was getting ready for the District Wrestling Championships in 1994. Not being to agriculturally minded, it didn't penetrate my hard yet what exactly my coach meant.

"You've worked your butt off, done all you can, now just go out there and wrestle."

That made more sense.

Good miles, not just mileage are what make up the hay for marathoners. Years ago, as a newbie, to me all miles were miles and it didn't matter too much how I ran them as long as I ran them. Then I had a friend suggest running more miles and different types of runs. That worked to make me fast but now necessarily happier. Rather serendipitously, a coworker suggested I try running less miles and make every single mile count. Quality over quantity in a very targeted, specific way.

For the last 18 weeks I have been doing just that. Have I done exactly what the plan says for each and every day? Nope. Pretty sure I even missed one or two workouts but I never let that get me down. The Run Smart Project by Coach Jack Daniels is what has trained me to my fastest marathon time and more important than that, my most enjoyable 18 weeks of training ever. I would recommend this plan to anyone. Please see the plan below and remember that this was specifically designed based on previous race times.

In one week and twelve hours I will be towing the line in Hopkinton.






















 











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