Less than a week to the Boston Marathon: Last week's training

It's hard to believe the 12 weeks of marathon training are coming to an end. I started packing for Boston today and the light pings of anxiety have begun as reality sets in. My runs consist of me thinking about my last few months of training over and over again wondering what I could have done better, but it's too late to improve fitness. Fortunately I'm quite proud of this marathon training block. The injuries of 2015 and 2016 put me in a place where I wasn't sure I'd be able to train at a high enough level to be competitive again, but I was able to get back to 140 miles per week and run faster on some of my key workouts than I ever have before. I am fit enough; now I need to execute a tough and intelligent race plan.

The weather forecast seems to be changing every few hours, so I'm not going to get too worked about that at this point. Two days ago it showed a strong tailwind and dry, but as of right now (Tuesday afternoon) I am seeing a 21 MPH headwind and rain. In the end it doesn't matter. Boston is about competition, not times. I am going to pack and plan a race strategy for both scenarios. Plus, we have had a wet and cold spring (even by Portland standards), so not much can phase me at this point on the weather front.

Last week was kept to just two threshold type workouts. I felt quite well rested for the 4 x 2 mile coming off a fairly easy long run, so while it was certainly challenging, I had a little left in the tank which was the goal being so close to the race. The overall weekly mileage was significantly lower, but that includes a planned day off. I hadn't taken a day off since Gate River, so now seemed like the right time to let some of the training and 3 straight weeks at 140 miles catch up.

The fields for the Boston Marathon are set and they are very strong. I would love to make this my 4th top-10 Marathon Majors finish, and I'm confident I can do so. I'm going to race as I always have: Be conservative early, run tough when it counts, and beat guys I probably have no business competing with. 

I somewhat disappointed that I won't get to see the epic women's race live, but I'll catch up once I cross the finish line. If you can, tune into the race on NBC Sports Network.

Thanks again for reading and feel free to check out last week's training below. Follow me here on Twitter for more updates.

	Monday	4/2/2018	AM: 12.5, PM: 6
	Tuesday	4/3/2018	AM: 4 miles easy + 4 x 2 mile (9:25, 9:23, 9:23, 9:19), 2 min recovery +4 miles easy, PM: 4.5
	Wednesday	4/4/2018	Off
	Thursday	4/5/2018	AM: 12.5, PM: 6
	Friday	4/6/2018	tempo runs 3 mile, 2 mile, 1 mile + 1 hour
	Saturday	4/7/2018	AM: 12.5, PM, 6
110	Sunday	4/8/2018	100 min