4 wks to Boston but sidelined last 3 wks -- what should I do?

It is hard to tell. I would recommend you do around 10 mile tempo around your desired Marathon pace to see if your achilles holds up. If it does, there should be no reason why you shouldn't run. The 3 weeks of missed training will definitely hurt you a little bit, but if you were on your way to a 2:45 Marathon before this injury, you should still be able to run around and hopefully under your PR.

When it comes to what kind of training you should do, I think you shouldn't change that much from what you were planning. It has obviously worked for you in the past given that you run a pretty decent Marathon on not that many runs a week.

I was in a similar situation about 10 years ago, with similar times. Training was going well for Boston, had to take 10 days off for an injury, but got about a month of running back in before the race.

All I'll say is it was the most painful experience of my life. I was a walking pile of mush for the last 6-7 miles. If I had to do it over, I would have cut my losses and planned to do one in the fall instead.

I think your low mileage training will hurt you in this case - you don't have a deep well to go back to. Prediction: if you go and pace to run 3 hours you'll run 3:30.

You might consider the possibility that your low-mileage, high-intensity program got you injured. Your times are pretty slow to be doing work on the track. I know that the current mantra is that less is more, but not for the marathon. I wouldn't race a marathon given your injury. Maybe run to 15 or 20, max.

Just do it! 3 hours is so shameful to Letsrunners but in reality you will finish in the top 6-8 percent of the race and it will be a very memorable weekend.

I'm (somewhat) in the same boat, just trying to run off of low mileage without getting injured and I'd be thrilled to break 3 hours.

If you're worried about finances, that's a different story. AND most importantly, if your running between now and race day doesn't indicate that you'll be able to even finish, of course you'll have a bad time dropping out and it will probably be frustrating.

But if you can dial it back and finish, I think it will be worth it. Maybe go out in 1:28 and see how you feel - it's not unrealistic to negative split if you're in deceptively good shape and you've saved a lot of energy coming into Wellsley/Newton.

Hope it works out.

Mojo Jerkin wrote:

I was in a similar situation about 10 years ago, with similar times. Training was going well for Boston, had to take 10 days off for an injury, but got about a month of running back in before the race.

All I'll say is it was the most painful experience of my life. I was a walking pile of mush for the last 6-7 miles. If I had to do it over, I would have cut my losses and planned to do one in the fall instead.

I think your low mileage training will hurt you in this case - you don't have a deep well to go back to. Prediction: if you go and pace to run 3 hours you'll run 3:30.

Yeah, this is basically exactly what I'm afraid of. You're probably right that the smart move to bail and shoot for fall.

But, just to play it out some more, realistically I think I might be able to work up to about a 16 mi long run the weekend before the marathon, with a progression something like the below (assuming MP = 6:45/mi; easy = 7:15/mi):

W5: 3 mi easy, 5 mi easy, 7.5 mi w/ mid-5 at MP + 15

W4: 5 mi easy, 5 mi w/ mid-3 @ MP - 5, 10 mi @ MP + 15 sec

W3: 5 mi easy, 7.5 mi w/ mid-5 @ MP - 10, 13 mi @ MP + 10

W2: 5 mi easy, 7.5 mi w/ mid-5 @ MP - 15, 16 mi @ MP + 5

W1: 5 mi easy, 5 mi easy, 26 @ MP

Thoughts? If I can't do any part of this, I think I'll call it a day. If I can, any shot?

You should jog it wearing a silly costume.

Since you returned to training, have you run in the shoes you would wear for the race? You may want to play it safe and stick to a higher drop shoe.

So you're running a grand total of 12.5 slow miles from Monday through Saturday and then doing 16 miles at marathon pace on Sunday morning? Is this the type of philosophy you've been training with?

I wonder how your Achilles got hurt?

I would not attempt that 16 miler at race pace +5 right before the race. You'll be fine without it.

If you've only been running 3 days a week and only plan to run 3 days a week until the race then you should bag it. You won't hold up over the marathon distance. Why pay all that money for travel etc. ? It's a big price to pay for an "experience".

Marathon Training Expert wrote:

So you're running a grand total of 12.5 slow miles from Monday through Saturday and then doing 16 miles at marathon pace on Sunday morning? Is this the type of philosophy you've been training with?

I wonder how your Achilles got hurt?

I would not attempt that 16 miler at race pace +5 right before the race. You'll be fine without it.

No, the mid-week runs are usually faster and/or farther. I've dialed it back somewhat due to the time off, on the assumption that the quality long run will matter most. Keep in mind too that my race pace is only 30 sec faster than my easy pace. I'd say I "naturally" run at about 7:00-7:05/mi. Aside from dropping the 16 mi, what would you suggest?

also an expert wrote:

If you've only been running 3 days a week and only plan to run 3 days a week until the race then you should bag it. You won't hold up over the marathon distance. Why pay all that money for travel etc. ? It's a big price to pay for an "experience".

I'm local, so no new expenses involved. Entry fee is a sunk cost.

ripple wrote:

also an expert wrote:

If you've only been running 3 days a week and only plan to run 3 days a week until the race then you should bag it. You won't hold up over the marathon distance. Why pay all that money for travel etc. ? It's a big price to pay for an "experience".

I'm local, so no new expenses involved. Entry fee is a sunk cost.

In that case, you'll have decide if you want to run if you won't run your best. Would you be OK with it if you crashed and burned? A lot can go wrong if you don't have real marathon training under you.

Have you practiced on the downhills and uphills?

The downhill running can be forgiven (somewhat) if you have a lot of mileage in your weekly runs. You do not, unfortunately. Thus, your quads may not have the stamina to handle 16 miles of downhill running, before 5 miles of climbing and another 5 of descent.

My suggestion to you would be to have someone drive you to hopkinton (or Ashland) and try to run to mile 22 or 23. And between say 11 and 21, get in your goal marathon pace. You'll know pretty quick how your legs are working.

I didn't read where you ran your PR marathon. Boston is a much different marathon than the others though. The hills, both up and down, will damage your legs differently than a flatter marathon will. 3 days a week may get you to the finish in Chicago in 255. But that does not mean you'll get there anywhere near 3:15 in Boston. The difference is that significant.

Best of luck though, and let us know how you make out.

This is an interesting idea. FWIW, I ran my 2:54 on a hilly course (including a long gradual downhill from 18-20, followed by a sharp 0.5 mi climb), but its obviously not equivalent. My pre-injury training incorporated some hills, but probably not enough to matter. If you had to pick a 13 mi stretch to try this on, what would you do? Maybe mi 8 to mi 21?

Since you already paid the entry fee and are a local, I would just give it a try unless you think you might hurt your achilles even more. I think you have a realistic chance to run sub-3:00 if you were in 2:45ish shape before. It is, however, possible that your legs can't handle the pounding (Boston hills) and you will die hard but that shouldn't hurt your plans to run a fall Marathon.

I ran last year after getting hurt at the end of February and completing a total of 5 runs in March. Ended up running pretty well too. Don't count yourself out yet, just keep working at it and adjust your goals accordingly.

I can really only relate my own experience, which again, seems similar to yours. I tended to run 60 miles a week leading up to marathons I ran, with a long run every weekend. In my case, when I got going again, I was able to get my long run up to 15 miles, and I felt reasonable. That convinced me I could still do it, and I was shooting for 3 hours as well.

Compounding this was the Boston course. It is pretty much impossible not to go out too fast there. So, I went out in 1:27 I think, and got to halfway feeling fine. The wheels completely fell off at about 18, and by 20 miles I was begging for my mommy to come and get me (and I was about 40 years old at the time). I ended up doing the second half in over 2 hours if that gives you any indication of how it went for me. I had broken 3 hours in the fall, so again, I convinced myself I could at least take a crack at it.

I can't tell you what to do, but it is very easy to convince yourself you can do this at your target pace. I just think the interruption in training makes this unlikely. I guess if I had to do it again, I would have gone in planning to run 3:30 and just tried to enjoy the experience of running Boston.

anonymouse wrote:

I ran last year after getting hurt at the end of February and completing a total of 5 runs in March. Ended up running pretty well too. Don't count yourself out yet, just keep working at it and adjust your goals accordingly.

had a similar experience while aiming for a 2:52. mine was way closer to the race though - basically the last 4 weeks up to the race i probably only ran 10-12 times. i decided to still run even though i had zero confidence and decided just to take it easy and only aim to break 3:00.

i hit the half way in 1:27:30 and finished in 2:58:30. just temper your expectations for the first half and then give it all you've got with ~3-4 left. keep waiting and be patient.

Karl Hungus wrote:

You should jog it wearing a silly costume.

Costumes are banned at Boston now. Try to keep up.