My training for the Boston Marathon has been interesting - I have definitely made adjustments and adaptations to the initial plan.
From December until mid-February, I was feeling pretty good. At that point, I figured I could get back to the running shape I was in last year in late spring/summer as long as I followed my plan, so I was doing most of my training runs with a goal of 8ish mins/mile or 3:30ish based on translating my last half marathon time (1:39) to a projected marathon time.
As I indicated in my last post, in February, I went to a retreat for a week and then to Boulder to visit my brother. Upon my return to Boston, I was feeling strange during workouts. Usually - especially when coming back from an altitude - I feel really good, but this time, I felt like I had altitude sickness…at sea level. I was also getting sick any time I would put in a hard effort in running and even in cycling a few times combined with annoying abdominal pain..or if I ate too much.
Last Monday I went to the hospital and got a CT scan. Thankfully no appendicitis, but I am having some internal bleeding which is what is causing the pain and also inflaming tissues in the surrounding area, which explains the sick feeling. The drs said it would go away after a few weeks with anti-inflammatories. The bleeding is making me lose iron, so I am also anemic which is what’s been causing the altitude-sickness like feeling (as well as having to go slower in workouts and having my heartrate jacked-up).
So, I have adjusted my Boston plans. At this point, I would like to do the race to finish and will do the best that I can, but I will not be upset if I get a slower time than what I originally planned. I will simply enjoy the race that I have always dreamed of doing.
Yesterday was the North Shore 30k, which is basically a training race for the Boston Marathon. I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I started taking some iron pills a week ago, but not sure how much of a difference that would make as far as feeling more “oxygenated”.
I started off at 9mins/mile, then lowered my pace by 10 seconds/mile until I got to the 8:25-8:30 area. I held that until around mile 10-11 and my heartrate had settled okay, so then I kept dropping the pace (8:20, 8:10) the next few miles and then the last 10k I was able to do 7:50’s-8s. Although it is by all means not where I was last year, I was pleasantly surprised that it went better than I expected. According to the race site, I ended up with 8:18s (my garmin had me at 8:21) but close enough.
Last year the pace I did at this race was the same pace I did at the National marathon (8:30) and this year they made the course more hilly. The Boston marathon is definitely more challenging and I definitely respect the course, but the training race definitely gave me more confidence as far as my capabilities. I have 4 weeks left until Boston and am looking forward to it.
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