Signed Up for Portland Marathon
I’m officially signed up for the Portland Marathon on October 10 (10-10-10) and kicked off my 16-week training plan with a 4-miler on Monday. I’m sticking with the same program that I used to prepare for the Yakima River Canyon Marathon in March, with only one slight modification: I’m upping the pace.
My goal is to qualify for the Boston Marathon. Do do that, I need to eke out a time of 3:15:59 or faster (that’s the time for the Male 35-39 age group). This is achievable, but I will have to run a little faster in training than I did for for Yakima, where my main motivator was getting to the starting line injury free and finish with a respectable time. Thus, I took a fairly conservative training approach and willed myself to run slow in training. With one marathon under my belt, I feel it’s time to up the ante.
The training conditions should be considerably more pleasant this time around. We typically don’t get a lot of rain in Portland from July through September, so I don’t expect many long runs on cold, windy and wet days. If anything, I’ll probably have to pay more attention to staying hydrated and properly fueled.
My only concern is a quirky left Achilles tendon that has bothered me off and on since just before Yakima. It has never interfered with my running but it’s always making its presence felt and I’m afraid that any serious speed or hill-work will make it flare up. I’m hoping that lots of stretching and icing, plus strength exercises, will keep it in check. Only time will tell.
I’m pumped about this. It feels great to train with a purpose again. On top of that, my buddy from Sweden (Ola P) has signed up and is planning to join us a week before race day!
Time for my first “long” run tomorrow. 8 miles.
Finally, a shout out to my occasional training buddy, Brian Strohl, who’s competing in the Coeur d’Alene Ironman tomorrow. I’m confident he’ll pace himself to a strong finish.
Surfing in Bali.
