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Back home after a very long plane ride from New York. Went to see J at Ascend Physiotherapy for treatment on my left quad - this seems to be an issue with the femoral nerve - this explains the fact that the soreness seems to travel around the upper leg and caused the knee to buckle a few times through the marathon. It's probably caused by an inflamed TFL and muscle around the knee which were excruciating when J put the elbow in... My recovery has been pretty good considering the evening of and day after I couldn't really put any weight on the left leg, and I seem to have escaped the plane trip without further aggravation. It's helpful that the return journey is a few hours shorter..

Looking forward to getting back to running, probably Monday. I am resolved to racing Rottnest now to try to redress the failings at Boston. Hopefully the running out of fuel limited the damage to the endocrine system and I won't take as long to recover as I did from Perth.

Stay tuned for more exciting installments in the sequel to this saga - The Ride to Rottnest !

The Boston Marathon

A bit of a horror story - finished in 3:02:13.  Went well for most of it but ran out of fuel/something towards the end. Actually lost my vision in parts after 40k and had to be taken by wheelchair to the med tent after I finished. Looking forward to the finishing photo. 

The day started just after 5 as Sas & I (with Kim provided brekky) had to leave the apt. to get to Boston Common for the bus ride to the start. There were lots of people but lots of busses too. We managed to get on one pretty quickly and soon we were on the road to Hopkinton. The ride was comfortable and took just over an hour. It was pretty mobbed at the athletes village where bagels, bananas, gatorade and coffee were on offer. It was absolutely firdgid though, no more than a few degrees above freezing. At was all fairly well organised but the Q's for the toilets were horrific - although there were maybe 450 portaloos, there was 30 minute wait at least, so when I needed to go again I just went to find a tree...   

At 9am the call went out for the wave 1 runners to get to the start, so we dumped our clothing on the prescribed busses and headed off to the start. It was a bit of a walk but probably good to get the blood circulating.  We parted at Sas' corral # 6 and I headed up to corral #2. I was feeling pretty confident at the start line - it wasn't as packed in the corrals as I had feared and there was plenty of room on the course pretty much from the start. A guy next to me decided that peeing in the corral was a better option than waiting in line - too bad I was down-camber...

There was a fly past of two F111's and then the singing of the Star Spangled Banner and then we were off...

The first couple of k's were quite sharply downhill, and I knew pretty much from that point that I was in trouble as the left quad started singing. The pain ramped up to a fairly constant level and I just tried to go through it. I was moving very well and the pace felt easy with no strain on the cardio system at all.  I managed pretty well for the first half with constant on-target splits. I was really taking it easy down any hills to try to protect the legs, but felt pretty good up the hills.

The crowd support was really amazing - there was barely a spot on the course that wasn't lined with people yelling support. There were singers, bells by the million, and you could hear Wellesley (literally) a mile off ; my ears were ringing by the time I got past! 

The leg pain was getting worse and by half way I was suffering on both sides and the tfl's were starting to get a little tetchy. The hills were actually a relief but I couldn't take advantage of any of the downhills which really sucked. I also had to keep focussed so couldn't really get into the crowd either, I just had to slog it out. 

I as the splits bear out, it was getting harder and harder to keep moving - I had lost any comfort factor at all by the half and it was a slog thereafter. Heard Kim on the course at the 19mi mark which lifted my spirits a bit but soon thereafter hit 'heartbreak' hill - which really wasn't so bad. The crowd noise was ramping up and I tried to feed off it - I knew I was in trouble so I walked through a couple of Gatorade stations to get some extra fuel. I started getting spots in my vision around 37k and had a few dizzy spells which passed. I thought if I could maintain 4:30 pace I'd sneak in under 3. I saw the Citgo sign in the distance and felt like I was almost home. Problem is, it's a big sign and it took a while to get there along with the magic '1 mile to go' post at the side of the road. The easterly headwind really started to kick up as well.

Around the 40k mark, the piper decided that he wanted to be paid and my legs pretty much started to sieze. I started losing my vision and almost lost my bearings as I went down the last underpass. I knew it was only a k to go and the crowd was screaming. I was getting passed left and right as I turned into Boylston for the last (and longest) 600m. I saw biscuitman go past with a couple of 100 to go to hit his target of the sub-3. 

I hit the line and started to stagger - some guy spotted me and helped me into a wheelchair and the got me to the med tent. I have to say they were fantastic - they took my BP (110/60) and HR (85) and fed me up on Gatorade and I sat for a while to regain my strength. I was anxious to get going to meet Kim - I knew she would have seen my time and been a little worried as to what had happened... 

5k 20:16 

10k 40:39 (20:23)

15k 1:01:8 (20:28)

20k 1:21:59 (20:49)

HM 1:26:30 

25k 1:43:17( 22:18)

30k 2:05:26 (22:08)

35k 2:28:22 (22:56)

40k 2:51:17 (22:55)

M 3:02:13 

Very proud of Sas 115th overall in 3:06:28 - she ran the raced I had hoped for her, also carrying a quad injury and had to guts it out.

Biscuitman had a good one too - 2:59:58 ; nearly blew it by stopping for a snog at Wellesley ;-)

On reflection I'm disapointed with the way things turned out - but proud of the way I pushed through to salvage something from the wreckage - but I definitely want to come back and do this again. With healthy legs, this is not such a tough course and the crowds are phenomenal. It's a fantastic event and the whole city gets behind it on a scale I couldn't imagine.

Week of 13/4 ; Last week

Final week - keeping the workouts short - 35% of normal and trying to maintain the intensity of a normal week in keeping with the idea of peaking rather than tapering which usually feels like a long slow death...

Monday: 5.24km Tempo @ 3:49 HR 171 Ca90 1°C 42% NW14/20. Set on on a frigid morning for a short tempo effort up past the art museum to the end of the famous row houses and back (map). Felt a little stiff at first because of the shortish warmup and the fact that it was very cold - the first half was run into a stiff breeze which made it feel icy cold. Felt good on the way back with a tailwind and more downhill. I have to say there are a lot more 'joggers' out here - by that I mean folks who are out running but move barely faster than walking. In Perth we get runners and walkers but don't tend to see too much of this strange hybrid. I also get a few strange looks out in my shorts and short sleeves and all the local runners are rugged up in trackpants, hoodies, etc. All up 8km today.

Tuesday: No running today ; it was cold and wet outside and all I wanted was a short recovery so I went for 20 minutes on the gym bike with a couple of intervals instead. I've been having a few problems with my right sartorious/vastus medialis so a rest day isn't a bad idea anyhow. Wierd thing yesterday, I got a black nail on my left index toe. What happened ? All of a sudden my shoes are too small ? I know you get all sorts of phantom 'injuries' in the taper but this is driving me nuts!

Wednesday: 6.11km @4:24 HR 154 Ca87 8°C NE25. Short progression run (easy to MP) on a miserable rainy, windy morning from the hotel to the Art Museum & back (map). Didn't feel the toe too badly which is good, but the left quad is still niggly - I'm a little concerned but am hopeful yet that it will sort itself out by Monday. Felt really good otherwise and was cracking along very comfortably.


Thursday: Still experiencing sharp nervy pains in the left quad and the piriformis is acting up (they are related) ; stretching, massaging, stretching to try and get it all ready. It's a bit of a downer because apart from this I'm feeling raring to go, the best I've ever felt in a taper week. Didn't run today because I want to give this the best chance to heal. I'll play it by ear tomorrow. Forecast for Monday ain't great .- temp is perfect, but the wind....E33/53! PS. See Epi's 'Taper madness' entry - it applies here.

Friday: 5.31km @4:21 HR 153 Ca89 4°C 32% N13. After a bit of self-debate I headed out on a chilly but lovely morning for a short one to test out the sartorius etc. (map). Felt pretty good apart from the frustratingly persistent niggle. Did about 4k's of MP pretty comfortably after a warmup. I may not be able to fit in a run tomorrow because we're up to Boston on the Amtrak, meeting Sas on the train at NY. Then it's off to the expo to pick up the number and to try not to melt the old credit card. The butterflies are starting to flutter.... BTW I've decided I don't like Accuweather, I'm going with weather.com - much better forecast...

Saturday/Sunday: Last two days ; decided not to run to give the body a chance to heal before the big day. The expo was great - lots of samples (some good, some not so good - Clif jellies- yuck!) and good deals.  Atmosphere was tense but pretty happy - it felt great to get the number and there's a poster for the race that has every entrant's name printed on it wich is pretty cool! There are blue Boston/09 jackets everywhere around town and a lot of folks with jackets from other years too - some big names at the expo - Grete  Weitz, Frank Shorter, Kathrine Switzer, Ryan Hall, to name a few. Getting nervous now - it's going to be cold and windy but the crowd's going to be great and I'm soooo looking forward to this.....

Week of 6/4 ; 2 weeks and counting..

We leave for Boston this Friday - no going back now... Really cutting back this week, with the half interval session on Tuesday and MP run on Thursday and 16k on Friday being the main events. Given how crap I felt on Saturday after a rest day I think I'm not going to take too many days off from here on in - i'll just keep the runs very short in the last week.

Monday: 8:5km recovery @4:52 HR 138 Ca86 15°C 67% E20/28. Ran a recovery circuit around King's Park with Sas on a nice cool morning. Enjoyed this one - it's very scenic, all the tempo's and hard running are behind us, and we could bask a little in the afterglow of our (minor) success yesterday at the Bridges. In a big plus, the resolution to hold back a bit yesterday meant that the legs felt fine today - no damage done.

Tuesday am: 9.59km recovery @ 4:42 HR 141 Ca87 17°C 56% ENE28/37. Ran the Mends loop clockwise for a change to minimise the effect of the pretty strong NE wind. Legs felt a little bit sore - funny, they felt better yesterday. I'll be glad when the easterlies die down, my allergies really kick up when they blow for a while...

Tuesday pm : WAMC Intervals. 27°C 28% S7/11. Session was (15s;15sJR)x2 ; 30s ; 30sJR ; 1min x 5. I did three of these and just did them comfortably. It was pretty warm with no wind to speak of, but I was happy just to do the three efforts and then cooldown. I won't be back at intervals for a while, but it's nice to 'earn' a short session - it's almost a victory lap to celebrate the end of the marathon training before we steel ourselves for the main event.

Wednesday am: 8km recovery @ 4:48 HR 137 Ca 87 18°C 47% ENE15/20. Ran an abbreviated Maylands loop with Sas. It was pretty nice when we headed out but did warm up. Good easy run to shake out stiffness from last night. Not a great sleep last night so felt a bit tired but as always felt better as the run went on. Nice coffee from Cobalt afterwards though... I think that's why I like this run ;-)

Thursday am: 13.32km Easy @ 4:25 HR 151 Ca 86 18°C 50% E7/11. Ran the loop down to UWA up and over King's Park - no loops this time- and back to Mends street on Sas' MP run. Pretty disgusting morning - the air quality was terrible and my throat feels a little inflamed from all the smoke and other gunk that's in it. We haven't had the Freo doctor blasting away for a while now and the difference is palpable. I guess the good thing is we're having a sneak preview of the air quality in the NE of the US. Legs again felt a little sore at the end... Said our au revoires to the Mends gang and also bumped into GC by the Mends jetty.

Thursday pm: 7.92km MP @4:08 HR 161 Ca 88 31°C 22% SW13/17. Well, it ain't getting any easier. Legs felt a little sore and heavy as I ground out this short MP loop from home. It was pretty hot and dry and it's been a fairly stressful day, with packing and last minute preparations. The stats don't look too bad - I think I just tired rapidly, because it didn't feel too bad at first. Looking forward to running inthe US where it'll be 25 degrees cooler hopefully.

Friday: 16.04km @4:45 HR 145 Ca85 18°C 66% E20/28. Ran with Sas from Zamia to Nedlands and back. This was the last run in Perth before Boston - legs a bit sore and heavy again, niggles everywhere - it's all good! Met up with Herbs and Joe doing some of their last work before Canberra and ran back with them for a while. HR was up a bit on the return leg because the wind was pretty strong, and there also seemed to be more hill that way. Had a nice takeaway from Zamia before I said my goodbye's to Sas - we'll meet up on the Amtrak into Boston next Saturday.

Saturday: Well, we made it in one piece ; 34 hours door to door. Flights were comfortable, especially Stockholm to the US where there were maybe 40 people in the whole economy section, so managed to get a whole row and have a good sleep. I sleep pretty well on planes anyway and the legroom on Malaysian was definitely better than on Emirates. The food was OK - but I'm glad I took extra. Philadelphia is a little cool and wet - a bit different to the weather we left behind. Did 25 minutes on the treadmill working up to marathon pace. Legs felt heavy and sore - from the plane I guess. It'll be nice to have a few runs this week where I feel good !

Sunday: 7km @ 4:24 HR150 Ca85 3°C 39% NNW25. Ran from hotel up Schuylkill river path to the Art Museum, up the 'Rocky' steps (because you just have to!) to check on Kim where shes was meeting some locals, up around the back a bit and then back to the hotel (map). For the first time in a few days the legs didn't feel too sore and the conditions were just beautiful as was the scenery. Wore a hat and gloves but I wasn't prepared for my feet getting a little numb from the cold. The wind-chill was about -5°C but I felt OK once my ears went numb. Started out slowly and did some MP towards the end. Really enjoyed this one - a good confidence booster.

Thanks to everyone for the good wishes - may you all be successful in your endeavours over the next few weeks, particularly Epi and Biscuitman in the quests for the sub-3. You guys are looking so strong, all things being equal you are a shoe-in. All the best and see you all in a few weeks.

Week of 30/3 ; 3 weeks to go

3 weeks to go. Taper time.... will cut the mileage to about 80% this week. One change will be a 3k at the track on Thursday evening instead of the 'MP' run. Midweek long run is a few k's shorter, Friday is a rest day and the long run on the weekend will be 24k and no second run that day. Easy/recovery runs will stay the same, maybe make Wednesday's a little shorter. Had a flu shot Tuesday morning - I've felt this has boosted my immunity (not just to flu) for the last couple of years and have had minimal side-effects. Hopefully this year will be no different. Got the number pickup card in the mail on Wednesday... game on!

Monday: 13.58km Tempo @ 3:51 HR 167 Ca 91 18°C 72% SE11/19. Ran the usual course in King's park up and over to Lovekin Dr and back (map). Did not feel like doing this today, but once I was out there it went very well.  Speed was up and that's a great HR for the course. Did it on green tea and sustagen. Another tick in the 'done' column - I won't be doing this run again for a while (next week's 'tempo' is the Bridges 10k) so it was nice to finish on a good one. All up 16.33km.

Monday pm: Sports massage with KD - pretty good, not too many hotspots which is pretty encouraging considering what my legs have been through in the past 4 weeks...

Tuesday am: 9.59km recovery @ 4:42 HR 139 Ca 86 15°C 90% S 6/11. Ran the Mends bridges loop with Sas ; nice morning, it definitely makes a change to be starting at sunrise and actually have some light! Legs felt quite stiff and sore from the massage yesterday - more so than usual which is odd considering it's the least painful sports massage I've had for a long time -  and took quite a few k's to loosen up. This run is one I always look forward to as a really easy effort but it's never quite as easy as I think it's going to be!

Tuesday pm: WAMC Intervals. 20°C 60% SSW33/46. Quite(!) windy this evening  but nice and cool - the session was 10x400 with 75seconds SR, so it was over pretty quickly. I felt pretty good and had a last push to get my legs speed going before I rest intervals-wise for the next couple of weeks. I think the track was probably a little short but I was happy with the effort and the pace. I also wore my Inspires which are a heavier shoe in an attempt to protect the calf a bit (and they actually felt great!) - it was a little niggly toward the end of the set but I've had it much worse, so I'm really encouraged by that. Held back a bit on the last couple. Splits were 76, 72, 70, 70, 70, 70, 71, 71, 70, 72. All up around 8km.

Wednesday am: 10.21km Easy @ 4:26 HR 144 Ca87 12°C 77% S19/24.  Headed out on the Maylands loop solo this am - it was cool and windy but pretty decent conditions - somehow the wind on this run is never that bad. Cut the normal 12km back a bit and it felt good to get back 'early'. Finished up with the traditional stretch and 4-shot macchiato at Cobalt. Tempted by the bread and butter pud (which I had on Sunday - mmmm....), but managed to resist in favour of 'proper' breakfast food.

Thursday am: 16.65km easy @ 4:24 pace HR 145 Ca 87 11°C 76% SSE15/19. Ran the usual loop from Mends St to UWA up the western path of King's Park and did a shorter loop back to May drive past Sticky Beaks again and down Malcolm back to Mends. For once we had a bit of a headwind going out (usually we have a nice easterly) but it was pretty crisp this morning so perfect conditions really. Had a good run although started to feel generally a little leg sore by the end - I'm glad it was a bit shorter! Very happy with how I felt though and a good HR - didn't feel like it took too much out of me.

Thursday pm: 7.92km MP @4:03 HR 159 Ca 88 21°C 51% SSW35/44. Transport issues prevented me from doing the 3k at the track so I did my home river loop MP run. Went very well - the Elixir 4's that I have been finding a little hard suddenly seem to have some bounce to the ride. I felt very good on this run after being a little reluctant to get out the door as I had felt tired all afternoon. I think I may finally have got my MP run right - a little fast perhaps but I felt very comfortable at this pace, and the conditions weren't that kind.

Friday: Rest

Saturday: 23.72km @ 4:40 pace HR 154 Ca86 11°C 70% E30/46. Ran the Darlington Park Rd run (map) with Sas this cold and blustery morning ; felt a pretty tough run the whole way. The strong easterly going up the hill to John Forrest did not help! I don't know what it is about rest days, I always feel crap the day after... this is never an easy run though - its uphill pretty much from Midland to the crest on Lionel Rd - that's about 16k. I'd been going pretty well up to this point so it's a little disappointing, but this always seems to happen in the taper. It's almost like my brain and body didn't come to the party this morning at all!

Sunday: 10km @ 3:42 pace HR 178 Ca 92 16°C 64% E28/37. ASICS Bridges 10k race - held back a little because I didn't want this to be a 100% effort and stuff myself for Boston. Felt pretty good for most of it - the headwind in South Perth made it tough going for the middle section of the race - picked it up a bit from the causeway and eased into the finish. Sas had a good run - 3rd female and big PB, breaking the 40-minute monkey with a nice 39:52. Biscuitman also finished with a massive PB in 37:15- team 'Going to Boston' winning the open team medal :-)

Splits were 3:27, 3:38, 3:38, 3:47, 3:46, 3:47, 3:51, 3:54, 3:38, 3:35. Pretty happy with this run after yesterday's downer.

In summary, 103km this week, all good except for the tough one on Saturday, but conditions probably had something to do with it. Pretty happy with the way things are. Next week we cut the mileage down again to about 80km.