Marathon Quest-Week 9

Week #9
I much appreciate the weekly Marathon Quest Emails. I am not following a program instead running a series of Ultras from 50K to 100miles. It works well for the mind set and endurance but I don't do as well as I could in the speed department. I am trying to incorporate a bit of the program into my weekly running. I have been doing the long one , the tempo runs and generally a pretty decent volume. The one thing I have been missing is the intervals but I think that the rolling hills that I am constantly running make up for that short fall.

Last year’s STWM and Marathon Quest were my ticket to my first Boston and I really want to BQ again. I have been blogging every run since 2007 and I often look back on what I was doing l right or wrong to try to recreate those magical days. Last year I injured my left Knee at ITT mid August. It was a sharp pain that would come on 5-10 minutes into a run. At first I thought it was just something that I could run through but it was persistent, painful and darn right scary. I figured that I really messed something up and it wasn’t going to go away without intervention. It’s funny but the very thing I was afraid of was the leading contributor to my SWTM BQ. Looking back at 2010 my volume dropped off big time in the weeks leading up to STWM. Two weeks before the race I did 50 Miles at Haliburton. Got to the half way point Ok but coming back the pain came on every downhill and I ended up walking all the hills and there were allot of them. My 10 hour goal quickly became trying to get it done in under 12 hours. With STWM looming the goal of running Boston the year I turned 50 seem like a pipe dream.

Last year was STWM magical from start to finish. Being a part of the Marathon Quest was a big factor in my BQ that day. I remember running into a rough patch and thinking to myself that as a “Quester” I didn’t wasn’t to be the poster child “ how not to prepare for Marathon”.

So once again I will be looking for a little magic in “Hog Town” in October. Originally I was thinking of racing the Toad but now I have decided it will be my last LSD Run. I will do a few shorter runs at my race pace leading up to the STWM and make sure I am rested and ready for the big day. Will my plan work or will I blow up? I will just have to wait for race day and if I am not successful , no big deal, Road to Hope is only a couple of weeks away!

Oh yeah , the knee… dropped the LSDs in Nov/Dec had Bronchitis in Jan and didn’t run for a month. Knee was OK after that ...PHEW!