The Plan

Ok... this morning I ran a very easy 3.5 with Andrea Piekarski and her friend Lilla. We did the BU Bridge to Mass Ave loop, which is a great short run. I felt pretty good.

So, here's the plan for the race. My goal going in was to run under 2:50. I do not see this being much of a problem. My training has gone well, I'm healthy, and it isn't supposed to be too warm on Monday. Granted, this is my first marathon, and I don't know how I'm going to be feeling after the 20 mile mark or so. 2:49 works out to about 6:28 pace. I know I can run 6:28 for a while and feel very comfortable. Having plugged in my half marathon race time (1:12) into a bunch of time predictors, they've come out to 2:31 to 2:36. Now, I don't think these times are impossible, but it would be very risky for me to run the first half of the race at this pace. The plan is to go through 10 miles between 63:00 and 64:00 (between 6:18 and 6:24 pace). The first 5 miles of the race are very downhill, so I think going through 10 at this pace should feel very comfortable. At this point I'll see how I feel and maybe pick it up a little. (Which will happen at Wellesley whether I like it or not). Even though I might be feeling great from 10-17, I still have the Newton Hills to worry about. I've run these a few times, and they are pretty serious. Hopefully I can continue to run about 6:20s until I make the turn on Comm. Ave.

At this point, the race starts to get interesting. You've run 17 miles, and you need to deal with about 4 miles of tough uphills. I think it would be very easy to get super pumped up by the crowd and really hammer all the way to BC (21 miles). I could do this, but I might be totally spent for the last 6 miles of the race. I think I'm going to run relatively conservatively through this section, as I don't want my legs to fall apart.

Once you crest Heartbreak (where the Tufts crew will be), it's pretty much downhill or flat all the way to the finish. At this point, I'll see how I feel. I hope I feel good. If I do, I'm going to really start pushing/racing. Ideally I'd get down close to 6:00 pace at this point, but again, I really don't know how my legs will be doing. I may have to slow down to close to 7 minutes a mile, or I might be able to drop 5:50s. We'll find out!

I predict I run right around 2:46.