T minus 2 days

Two days out, still carbo loading. Thankfully, my wife made a great meal - Chicken Assagios and chocolate walnut brownies with Haagen-Dazs ice cream - seen below:



If you're wondering if I finished all that food, I did, plus a little more dessert. Needless to say, I feel all carbed up. One more high carb meal mid-day tomorrow, and I'll be nutrionally set.

As far as training for the race is concerned, all systems are go. I checked my heart rate yesterday for my pace training run and it was about the same as the NYC marathon, which indicates similar fitness. My racing HR will average in the 160's. I'll just have to make sure I hydrate properly throughout the race to prevent cramping.

The only thing I (and the other 9000+ participants) will have to watch is the weather. There looks to be a decent chance of rain. Praying and crossing my fingers for a rain-free race.

T minus 3 days

Started the carbo loading at lunch today with the plate below.


Yep, I'm surprised by the plainness also. Usually, I have almost as much dessert as I have pasta. But eliminating desserts from my meals last week took away my craving for sweets. Let's see what clean fuel will do for this race.

Also went on my last run before the race. My main objective was to feel the pace at the start of the race at 7:25 or so. I'm planning on starting off my first five miles like this:

8:00
7:45
7:45
7:30
7:25

I've never planned out my first few miles before, but this is a pretty flat course so I think it's a good idea to try.

Back From Vacation

If there was a perfect time for a vacation during marathon training, it would be during the taper week. I'm now back from spending time with my brother and his fiancee here in the city and my in-laws in Virginia Beach, and have to return to some...uhh...hard tapering? I've definitely enjoyed the last week or so with family, but I'm also happy to feel that I'm back on my schedule. My plans are still sort of loose until Sunday, but it goes something like this:

Thursday: short run (4-5mi) with intervals/begin carbo-load
Friday: rest/carbo load/shop for race goodies
Saturday: packet pick-up/last meal early afternoon
Sunday: qualify for Boston :-)

And there you have it.

One Week To Go

One week to the NJ marathon - where do I stand? Here's a current brain dump of my mental checklist of to do's and do not's:

• Pacing - I think I should be okay here. I don't think I have a problem keeping a 7:25 pace throughout the race. The challenge will be the hydration.
  
  
• Diet - I nearly made up for my lack of dessert this week in one night. My brother and his fiance are visiting. I can't NOT enjoy my time with them. I'll just have to be a little more diligent about my diet the first few days this week.
  
  
• Mileage - About 3 miles short each week of my tapering mileage last fall for the NYC marathon, which I think should be okay because I have run lower mileage to train for this marathon.
  
  
• Runs this week - Probably will do about 3, none of which will be more than 5 miles.
  
  
• Challenges - Driving down to VA Beach and seeing family. These get together's, although lots of fun, always include eating unhealthy foods. Will have to find time to sneak in a run.
  
  
• Other thoughts - Continue to stretch out this week and do crunches in a much lessened capacity.

I'm sure I've missed quite a few from this checklist, but that's all about I can come up with for now. Have to prepare for the road trip tomorrow after a long day eating and walking all around the city.

Tapering activities - 1k crunches/day and a revised diet

While I'm tapering for the NJ marathon, I thought I'd get even more disciplined about my conditioning. Since I'm reducing miles, I wanted to do the 1000 crunches (various positions) per day again. Luckily I have friends at work who were willing to join me in the endeavor. In addition, I've decided to cut out desserts until the carbo-loading.

The 1000 crunches per day isn't hard. I'm willing to endure the pain. I've even added push-ups, stretches, etc, to add variety. What I'm having a hard time with is cutting out the desserts. Those that know me know I have an incurable sweet tooth, having dessert after nearly every meal. Thankfully this goes for only another 8 days.

We'll see how these tapering activities help me out for the race. Obviously I'm hoping it'll carry me to a Boston qualifying time. When that happens, I guess I can stop documenting about my Boston marathon efforts.

A Little Less Tapering

In the past, I'd start cutting my mileage in half starting three weeks out. That would mean 25 miles this week. But as I've stated in previous posts, I'll be tapering differently as an experiment. I figure my mileage this week will be in the low 40's. The following week I'm planning to do 30's, and finally, something in the teens the week before. I haven't logged the miles this early season for a drastic taper, and I don't want to go through the physical aches of mileage withdrawal that can knock my confidence.

My running this week has been really easy. I did a Tabata set yesterday in between easy miles. Did core workouts and stretching this evening. Tomorrow, I plan to run some pace miles during lunch. Saturday, doing a long run of 16. Sunday will be a race in the park.