Boston Marathon Training–Day #1

Today was my first day of training for the 2014 Boston Marathon use the Runners World Boston Bound program! Having a schedule to follow versus trying to just go out and run to try keep in shape is much easier for me to stick with the program.  I very rarely skip a day of training when it is on the schedule unless I am sick, work gets into the way, or family activities. Today I was off work, kids were preoccupied, and my wife was at work, so all the stars aligned!
The first few weeks of this training program are going to be fairly easy as this is the base building phase, and although I haven’t ran much in the past 10 – 12 day I still have a strong base. Here is a snapshot of the Runners World Boston Bound training program that I imported into Sport Tracks 3:


Today I ran four miles at a target pace range of 7:24 to 8:24 min/mil.  I need to makes these ranges to be within 20 seconds of the target instead of 60 seconds, but I ran at about 8 min/mil today, including the climb up to Good Sam.  Weather was cold but sunny. I felt a bit sluggish after spending the last few workout on the treadmill or elliptical during the really cold weather.  I am now glad to be in the building phase!

2014 Boston Marathon Training–Day #1

Boston Marathon Pre-Training Session #8–Indoor / Outdoor

Today I decided to do some cross training at the HP gym while watching my Denver Bronco's beat the Kansas City Chief 35-28!  Our smaller gym in my building has Comcast and two 50” plasma TV’s to view while running on the treadmill, working out on the elliptical, rowing, or lifting free weights. My warm-up was the 1.25 miles from our house to HP.  I then continued my run on the treadmill for 60 minutes on 6 MPH.  I don’t like running on the treadmill, however the game was a good distraction.  Even though the treadmill stated I was running 10 min/mil it felt more like my standard slow run at 8:30 min/mil.  Time for a change of pace!
Near halftime I started doing some sit-ups and lifting free weights.  My goal for weight lifting is to get toned and not be build too much bulk, work on my core strength, and strengthen my quadriceps as I’ll need that strength for the major downhill sections in the Boston Marathon.  I did some sit-ups, push-ups, and  lateral raises. As the first half of the game came to an end, I walked down to the our bigger gym that has more equipment.  I did some leg extensions, lat pull downs, and curls.  Time to head back to the other gym, second half is about to start!
I made it back to the the gym just in time to see the broncos receive the kickoff.  I stepped onto the elliptical machine for a 60 minute aerobic session.  Several years ago I weighed almost 270 pounds.  I was working from home in Houston, and we had an Precor elliptical machine that we brought with us from Oregon.  I was used primarily as a clothes hanger until I decided to do something about my weight! I started working out on the elliptical everyday during downtimes at work, and I played a XBOX 360 game called Fight Night Round 3 while completing my workout as a distraction.  It really worked, and I lost about 30 pounds in a few months by doing the elliptical workouts and lifting weights. Why the long story? Working out at the HP gym while watching the game was reminiscent all of the rounds of boxing I did on the elliptical!
The game was going back and forth during my workout, which kept me distracted enough to complete my second 60 minutes cardio workout.  I continued watch the end of the came while I stretched.   It was about 4:30pm and getting dark, and time to run home.  I jogged home at a nice easy pace while listening to the Adam Carolla show