More on Boston

Found this interesting discussion on Lance. I still have one up on him.

Interesting Website

After running the Boston Marathon last week I came across this very interesting website.

I found this website to be almost humorous. Why would someone want to do this to someone who has accomplished so much and second of all beat cancer. This person has way too much time on his or her hands. If they want to investigate doping talk to this man. I just find it hard to believe that people still do not lance. He is an accomplished athlete and there are no signs that he cheated so I do not see why people still try and take him down.

I just wanted to make this post in response to this website.

Whats Next

Well now that Boston is over it is time to begin to focus on other things.

June 14th is my wedding. You can check out our page on the Knot.

Next Sunday May 4th is Broad Street.

Sat May 24th is a new triathlon in sea isle city, NJ.

So this is my schedule for the next couple months.

Boston Pics

Boston Marathon 2008

My Race Report

Category	Number Entered	Number Started	Number Finished	Percent Finished
Runners
all	25283	22375	21963	98.2%
male	14844	13263	13028	98.2%
female	10439	9112	8935	98.1%
Wheelchairs
all	18	16	16	100.0%
male	13	12	12	100.0%
female	5	4	4	100.0%
Handcycles
all	18	12	12	100.0%
male	14	11	11	100.0%
female	4	1	1	100.0%
Runners by Age Group
Open 18-39
all	11109	9791	9592	98.0%
male	5351	4780	4684	98.0%
female	5758	5011	4908	97.9%
Masters 40-49
all	8676	7711	7624	98.9%
male	5219	4690	4644	99.0%
female	3457	3021	2980	98.6%
Veterans 50-59
all	4227	3762	3682	97.9%
male	3192	2854	2799	98.1%
female	1035	908	883	97.3%
Seniors 60-69
all	1134	989	955	96.6%
male	958	829	801	96.6%
female	176	160	154	96.3%
70 & Over
all	137	122	110	90.2%
male	124	110	100	90.9%
female	13	12	10	83.3%
Runners by Sub Group
Visually Impaired
all	19	17	17	100.0%
male	15	15	15	100.0%
female	4	2	2	100.0%
Mobility Impaired Aided
all	12	12	10	83.3%
male	8	8	7	87.5%
female	4	4	3	75.0%
Mobility Impaired Unaided
all	0	-	-	-
male	0	-	-	-
female	0	-	-	-
Wheelchairs by Division
Open
all	16	14	14	100.0%
male	11	10	10	100.0%
female	5	4	4	100.0%
Quad
all	2	2	2	100.0%
male	2	2	2	100.0%
female	0	-	-	-
Top of Page
Geographic Breakdown
US States and Territories Represented	57	57	57	100.0%
Countries of Residence Represented	64	63	62	98.4%
Countries of Citizenship Represented	84	83	82	98.8%

Count Down is ON!!!!

Well today was my last run until Boston. I took it really easy this week and only did like 8 miles. I used my days off to rest. I am ready. The best way to describe it is like a drag race car on the line waiting for green. I feel rested and ready to go. People ask what I want to run. I would love to go sub 3 hours and even better I would like to beat my man Lance. Either way I am going to have fun and enjoy the race. My bib number is 4489.

Miles	Time
7.52	0:54:57
	Distance	% change	Time (hours)
Week 1	44.37		5:27:46
Week 2	49.59	11%	6:07:21
Week 3	50.16	1%	6:15:34
Week 4	46.04	-9%	5:44:26
Week 5	24.68	-87%	3:09:39	Sick
Week 6	53.15	54%	6:44:48
Week 7	63.55	16%	8:07:16
Week 8	54.19	-17%	6:58:40
Week 9	64.7	16%	8:12:59
Week 10	56.4	-15%	7:10:55
Week 11	74.41	24%	9:39:08
Week 12	55.24	-35%	7:06:35	Easter Sunday.
Week 13	58.34	5%	7:19:02
Week 14	42.32	-38%	5:20:33	Taper Week 1
Week 15	25.11	-69%	5:03:52	Taper Week 2
Week 16	7.52	-234%	0:54:57	Taper Week 3
Total	769.77

Less then a week

Boston is less then a week away. Tapering is going well. Trying to rest as much as possible. Probably do a short run either tomorrow orThurs and that will be it. Rest Fri, Sat and Sun and be ready to Mon morning. Wanted to give a quick update.

Also I found this cool site. I guess its how you can help reduce your carbon footprint.

http://www.terracycle.net/brigades/

Boston Week 15 (taper week 2)

Miles Time

25.11 5:03:52

Distance % change Time (hours)

Week 1 44.37 5:27:46
Week 2 49.59 11% 6:07:21
Week 3 50.16 1% 6:15:34
Week 4 46.04 -9% 5:44:26
Week 5 24.68 -87% 3:09:39 Sick
Week 6 53.15 54% 6:44:48
Week 7 63.55 16% 8:07:16
Week 8 54.19 -17% 6:58:40
Week 9 64.7 16% 8:12:59
Week 10 56.4 -15% 7:10:55
Week 11 74.41 24% 9:39:08
Week 12 55.24 -35% 7:06:35 Easter Sunday.
Week 13 58.34 5% 7:19:02
Week 14 42.32 -38% 5:20:33 Taper Week 1
Week 15 25.11 -69% 5:03:52 Taper Week 2


One week til the race. Going to have a easy week running.

Change

I changed the blog around. Let me know what you think.

Where can I Watch

For all those who cannot be there in person. Check this out.


The Boston Athletic Association is proud to announce that the friends and families of all 25,000 of this year's entrants will be able to watch the 112th Boston Marathon live, from start to finish, locally on WBZ-TV (CBS Channel 4), nationally on VERSUS, and online, for subscribers, at WCSN.com.
8 a.m. to 3 p.m. ET
9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. ET
9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. ET

What is a taper?

I'll see you in Boston.

This is what a taper is in a nut shell. This example comes form someone who was doing the LA Marathon.

Enjoy

You made it. All the long runs, intervals and sessions on the track, and don't forget those enjoyable second runs Sunday afternoon, are now behind you. Now comes the best part of training. The Taper. Or is this the hardest part of training. A properly tailored taper can make or break your race. A taper may vary from 3 days to 3 weeks depending on the length and importance of a competition. A longer race such as a Marathon requires a longer preparation phase and will thus require a longer 2-3 week taper to be rested and ready to go on race day. A 5k usually has a slightly lesser overall workload during training and may require a taper of only 5-10 days in length. You may want to training through a particular race and in this case three days of easy training before the event may be all you need to feel rested.

During the first few days of a taper you may feel good due to the immediate decrease in training, but you will probably then feel sluggish for 2-5 days due to the change in your training (your body has to have time to adapt to increases and decreased in training). Once your body starts to recover, and catches up, you will then start to feel better and rested, anxious to race, just wanting to start the race and get it going.

The Taper is something you slowly ease into. You will not one day start to taper and automatically feel great. The basic concept is to slowly decrease the duration of training while keeping the intensity and frequency of workouts the same allowing the body and mind to rest and be prepared for that important race. Nutrition also plays a big role during a taper and how it will effect your race day performance.

The reduced duration of training sessions is the first important part of the taper. A very basic training principle, but sometimes hard to do. For a marathon you should start to cut back the duration of your training session three weeks before race day. The sessions should be reduced in duration by about 30% each week. An example of this would be your long run on Sunday the 15th of March. The previous weekend you should have run 135-150 min then on the next Sunday the 15th of March cut the long run back to 90-100min.

While decreasing the duration of the training sessions the key is to keep the intensity and frequency of workouts the same. If the intensity of runs is decreased, along with fewer runs per week, you may feel lethargic come race day. A good example of this would be the Interval session on the 16th of March. The duration of the session is decreased from 6x 5-min intervals to 6x 3-min intervals, but at the same intensity of 80-85% max heart rate. The three-minute intervals will feel much easier than the 5-min intervals and not tax your system as much. This will still keep you fresh and feeling light footed allowing you to recover quickly. You will also notice that during the week of March 16th the total number of training sessions is still six.

The nutrition during a taper is always tricky. If you start to decrease the length of your runs and keep eating the same volume of food you may end up on the starting line a few pounds heavier than you wanted. Keep track of your caloric consumption during the taper and be careful not over eat. The type of food you eat the week prior should be the same as when you were training. Any drastic changes the week or night before a race may be to big of a shock to your system and damage your race day performance. If you have trouble relaxing during the taper, and are a caffeine addict, try to decrease you caffeine intake. This should help you relax and get some good rest at night. If this does not work try reading something not associated with sport or watch some mindless movies.

With all this said, it must be mentioned that a taper is not always straight froward. What works for one person may wreck another person's race. I still remember my college swimming days and a teammate we called Big Butt Williams. The night before a duel meet with another College I watched him drink more beers than I thought humanly possible and then the next day, two hours before the meet started, he scarfed down three quadruple mushroom cheese burgers. The whole time he was eating I was telling him how I was going to lap his big butt several times during the 1650y. As it turned out he ended up setting a meet record of less than sixteen minutes and lapped me twice. It quickly taught me that individuality is key when it comes to tapers and that each person needs to find that magic formula for them.

Taper Week one:

Week 1 - 6.2hr to 8.2hr
30-40min Easy	Day off	60-70min Intervals	60-90min Xtrain or 40-50 min easy	50-70min Track	60-90min Xtrain	90-100 min long 2nd run- 20-30min

• The first week of the taper usually feels good as you decrease the overall duration of the training sessions.
• These are your last serious interval and track session while decreasing the Thursday and Sunday runs.

Taper Week Two:

Week 2 - 4.6 hr to 6.2hr
Day off	50-60min Intervals	60-90min Xtrain or 40-50 min easy	20-30min Easy	40-50min +accel	45-60min Xtrain	60-80min long

• The second week of a taper is always the toughest. You start to feel tired and sluggish due to your body finally catching up to you and feeling the effects of a change in the training regime. The first reaction is training more thinking you are getting out of shape. DON'T! Stick to the plan. More tapers and races are messed up by doing too much two weeks before a long race then for any other reason.
• The interval session on Tuesday is decreased while keeping the intensity the same. The track session on Thursday is substituted with an easy run followed by accelerations.
• The long run on Sunday is once again reduced.
• If you feel like an extra rest day is needed, then this is the week to do it.

Taper Week Three:

Week 3 - 2hr to 2.5hr
Day off	30-40min +accel	45-60min Xtrain	20-30min +accel	Day off	20 min easy	L.A. Marathon!!

• The last six days before the marathon.
• Reassure yourself positively that you have done the proper training and taper to meet your goals on race day.
• Relax, stay hydrated with water and electrolytes, stay off your feet as much as possible, and try not to overeat.
• The accelerations after the Tuesday and Thursday runs will keep the snap in your legs.
• Enjoy and have fun on race day.

Boston Week 14 (taper week 1)

Did 14.10 today. Last long run of the training. Taper continues. 2 weeks until the race. Here are the stats

Miles	Time
42.32	5:20:33
	Distance	% change	Time (hours)
Week 1	44.37		5:27:46
Week 2	49.59	11%	6:07:21
Week 3	50.16	1%	6:15:34
Week 4	46.04	-9%	5:44:26
Week 5	24.68	-87%	3:09:39	Sick
Week 6	53.15	54%	6:44:48
Week 7	63.55	16%	8:07:16
Week 8	54.19	-17%	6:58:40
Week 9	64.7	16%	8:12:59
Week 10	56.4	-15%	7:10:55
Week 11	74.41	24%	9:39:08
Week 12	55.24	-35%	7:06:35	Easter Sunday.
Week 13	58.34	5%	7:19:02
Week 14	42.32	-38%	5:20:33	Taper Week 1
Total	737.14

Who else famous is running Boston

Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee Enters 112th Boston Marathon®
     Former Arkansas Governor will be running his fifth marathon

BOSTON, Mass. – Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has
officially entered the 2008 Boston Marathon, the Boston Athletic
Association announced today. As has been reported in the media, Huckabee
has been training while on the campaign trail. He will join Team Hoyt, a
local charity which strives to integrate the physically challenged into
everyday life. Dick and Rick Hoyt are a father and son team that has
completed 25 Boston Marathons, with Dick running and Rick in his
wheelchair.

In 2003, while serving as Governor of Arkansas, Huckabee was diagnosed with
Type II Diabetes. As a result he began running and gradually lost 110
pounds. In 2005 he completed the Little Rock Marathon in 4:38:32, a
performance which earned him the honor of USATF Athlete of the Week. Since
then Huckabee has completed three additional marathons: the 2005 Marine
Corps Marathon, the 2006 Little Rock Marathon, and the 2006 ING New York
City Marathon. His personal best, coming in 2006 at Little Rock, is now 4
hours, 26 minutes, 05 seconds.

Following stints as Lieutenant Governor (1993-1996) and Governor
(1996-2007) of Arkansas, Huckabee entered the 2008 presidential race.
Huckabee's campaign scored a victory in the Iowa Caucuses and placed third
in both the New Hampshire and Michigan primaries, making the former
governor is a strong contender for the 2008 Republican presidential
nomination. He was the runner-up in the South Carolina Republican
presidential primary on Saturday, January 19.

The 112th Boston Marathon will be held on Monday, April 21, 2008, Patriots'
Day in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The race follows a 26.2-mile
point-to-point route from the town of Hopkinton, Mass., to Boston's Back
Bay. The race begins at 10:00 a.m.