Boston planning for an injured old guy who hasn't run in 3 months

Good luck with that.

Your plan seems solid,but it seems like it would be a big challenge to be that competitive and with that much time off at that age. Plus, it doesn't sound like you really know if you're gonna be able to run in the near future in any event.

Well my training was delayed because it had taken forever for scar tissue from procedure to go away. Had 3 cortisone shots and had my follow up appt today. There is still scar tissue, but I decided to start running again any way and try to fight it with continued PT.

I have stuck with the plan, my weight is down in the 151-152 range (150 this morning). Over the last 10 weeks I have cross trained 6 days a week. I added in the elliptical starting last week - 3 days last week and 3 days this week - maybe a 4th day on Sunday.

Most importantly, I ran my first mile since mid-May today. It was only 1 mile after 40 minutes on the elliptical, and it was at 8:20 pace, but it's in the books and I'm icing as I type this.

Yep, top five in age group at Boston.

wow, awesome man

Hurtful, gentlemen. Hurtful.

I definitely think you've got a shot. I've heard so many stories of older athletes with decades and decades of experience able to actually come back quicker than many younger athletes. Train smart and I think you'll be good.

What kind of stuff are you doing to get rid of the scar tissue? That sounds tough.

Cortisone shots and Grastin from my physical therapist.

I won't lie. It's daunting right now. My hope is that as a guy who won some good masters titles recently, being one of the youngest in the 45-49 age group gives me a punchers chance.

Managed 2 miles today with no discomfort. Will go 3 tomorrow and stick to 3 or 4 miles per day for 3 or 4 days this week assuming no new pain.

Troll

Boring, yes. Trolling, no.

Personally I think you are setting yourself up for a letdown with a fairly lofty goal. Why not just run Boston and be happy with any result considering your surgery. If you do really well then that is icing on the cake.

I will adjust my goals as appropriate, but if I don't think I can break 2:38 or so, I will probably just not race. I'm not much of running a race for the experience; I like to race. Maybe I'm not capable of what I was and 2:40 or slower is going to be the new normal; if I think that's the case, then I'd be okay with that too.

Figured I would update this thread a little.

I got started running a little later than I wanted, with my first week of running coming the week that spanned the end of September to the beginning of October.

My weight loss is also a little behind schedule. I wanted to be down under 150 before October, but I just broke through that barrier at the end of October.

On the flip side, I did hit my goal mileage of 40 miles for the last week of October, and I am a little ahead of schedule on my quality days, getting in a couple of lactate threshold workouts in over the last three weeks. I have totaled about 150 miles in the 5 weeks since I started running again after a nearly 5 month lay off.

And I am not too concerned about my weight, because I would be comfortable racing at 145 or so, which is where I was for my last marathon, so I have 24 weeks to drop about 5 pounds - plenty of time.

By my best guess, I am in just barely in sub 17:00 5k shape right now. Not great, but given how long I took off and how little work I have done so far, I think this is actually a decent place for me to be given my goals.

With a goal to place in the top 5 for my age group at Boston, I would need to be in about 2:37 shape to feel confident about my chances. I would need to be in 2:33 shape for a realistic chance at top 3. So, the next steps are to take that down to about 16:00 shape (the VDOT equivalent of 2:33) over the next few months while building up my base for marathon training. From there, I will see how much fitter I can get while transitioning to pure marathon training.

I still have a long way to go and need to stay healthy for 24 weeks, but at least the current phase of the plan has been satisfied.

Q: When is the last time you ran 2:38?

If you are a 2:33-2:38 guy at your age, why the heck would you need the help of the wieners on LRC?

I never have run 2:38. I ran 2:35 in my first marathon in 2014, then 2:30 in my second in 2015.

I don't need there help - I just started the post for purposes of laying out my plan in writing. I thought some might find it interesting to watch the progression as it happens to see if I can actually come up with and successfully implement a plan form 8 months out with no training to race day. Kind of a way to put your money where your mouth is.

"their"

You are correct, I am interested. Seen enough of your other posts to know you're legit if you're who you've claimed to be.