Mileage totals so far

So far this year, the mileage has been decent, I think. Especially considering I typically take a few days off from running after each marathon. While I'm still putting on mileage on my feet, per se, it's on the elliptical - and I don't include those miles in my running totals.

January: 218 (including 1 marathon)

February: 188 (including 1 marathon)

March: 196 (including 1 marathon)

April: 185 (including 1 marathon)

May: 197 (including 1 marathon)

June: 209 (no marathons)

YTD: 1,193 miles

I'm now 6 weeks into my current training cycle, with my next marathon scheduled for early September. The mileage should keep on going up from here until I hit about 240 or so in a given month before tapering.

Looking back at last year's total, 2329 miles, I'm certainly on pace to surpass that, though my mileage in October will definitely drop, given I have two (and possibly three) marathons I'll be running that month. Those "recovery" days will certainly eat into the ultimate total.

Good change of diet

Several weeks ago after reviewing some bloodwork results with my doctor, I made a couple of shifts in my diet, which have had a couple of positive effects so far.

First: I dropped having a muffin as part of a "second breakfast" at work most mornings.

Second: I added having a handful of almonds as a mid-morning snack (as opposed to the aforementioned muffin)

Third: I am taking fiber pills with dinner. The purpose is to help absorb some of the LDL cholesterol, which is what had been more elevated than should have been the case.  Given some follow-up bloodwork (mostly intended for other numbers that were out of range), it is clear that these changes have helped, since my LDL has dropped 10 points in just 2-3 weeks. Hopefully there will be a decent continuation at my next workup -- either 6 months or 1 year from now. I certainly have zero desire to be put on any statins. Not only do I generally hate taking medicine, I don't like the list of side effects that are common.

Nice side effect of both the almonds and the fiber pills -- sorry for the TMI -- I'm even more regular.

All of this has contributed to my stable weight range being 5 pounds lower than it was previously, certainly much closer to my goal weight to maintain. Obviously, by carrying less weight around my midsection, my running is easier.

Even with the above changes of diet, I still have the occasional cheat. And I haven't cut out having something for dessert nightly -- whether it's ice cream or a few ounces of semisweet chocolate morsels. So, while the diet mostly cuts out the "bad" stuff, there's some in it to help maintain my sanity.

News from Across the Pond, Part 2

It took several days, but I finally got a reply from Guinness. But not one of the sort I was expecting. 

When I applied for consideration of a record title back in March, the outside timeframe to hear back was 12 weeks. Well, sometime between then and now, the outside timeframe expanded to 20 weeks. So, it looks like I will need to wait as long as August before I am able to even submit my evidence. :-( Hmph!

News from Across the Pond, Part 1

I have two pieces of news that I've been waiting on for weeks now. The first part came in, as it did for approximately 1.1 million other individuals -- the result of the lottery for entry into next year's London Marathon. And, just like virtually everyone who applied, I got the rejection e-mail. I miss the days where it was at least "commiserations" that were sent to us. :-)

Since I'm not planning on submitting an application for a charity bib, I have one other possibility available to me -- the pacer team. I've already expressed my interest. Not sure what the rest of that process will be like, let alone what my realistic odds are of getting onto the team. But those odds are likely much better than the lottery.

The other news that I'm still waiting on? The rules from Guinness on my proposed record title from Boston this past April. Until they approve the application and send me their official guidelines, I can't submit my evidence for their adjudication. It's been over 12 weeks, so they're due to reply soon. Fingers crossed what they're looking for aligns with what I did.

Huge Boston News!

Boston Athletic Association (BAA) made several huge (for the marathoning community) announcements earlier today. See them at https://www.baa.org/2026-and-2027-registration-updates-boston-marathon-presented-bank-america

1) No more "double-dip" races! 

For years, registration for the Boston Marathon took place over the course of two weeks, because they had successive waves of registration that would open for people with times progressively closer to their Boston Qualifying (BQ) standard. So, during that timeframe, people were still permitted to run a qualifying race. But given the varying dates of the races where people were getting those BQs, there was no reasonable way to cut off which could be used or not. So, there were always two weeks where a race could be used not only for the immediate registration period, but for the following year's registration, too. Some races surely put themselves on specific dates to maximize the number of times they could be used as double-dip qualifiers.

For the last several years, however, BAA has changed their registration method so that everyone applies during a single week. (Most have their times pre-verified, but that's not required.) BAA then slowly but steadily works their way through from the fastest qualifiers to those right on the standard, cutting registration off after a set number of slots are filled. Yet, they kept the two week double-dip window.

Today's announcement, effective starting with registration for the 2027 Boston Marathon, changes the window to establish a more set pattern:

• Registration starts on Monday after the 1st Sunday in September and goes until that Friday.
• Qualifying period starts Saturday after the 1st Sunday in September, and goes through the 1st Sunday in September the following year.

2) Time adjustment for certain "net downhill" races.

Lots of people seek out races where the finish line is at a considerably lower altitude than the starting line (net downhill) since, generally speaking, running downhill is easier and faster than flat and certainly than uphill. Count me among their number preferring downhill races. Hell, my personal record -- and only sub-3 marathon -- was set on just such a course, in Mesa, AZ which features 866 feet net loss. The vast majority of that net loss is during the first half of the race (with a single long uphill stretch in the middle of that). Boston's net loss is 460 feet (despite having a total of 1250 feet of loss across the whole course).

Starting with registration for the 2027 Boston Marathon (at least for two years), BAA will make time adjustments for certain net downhill races to try to level out the playing field a bit:

• Those who have verified qualifying times on courses with 1500-2999 feet net downhill will have an extra 5 minutes added to their submitted times.
• Those on courses with 3000-6000 feet net downhill will have an extra 10 minutes tacked on.
• Those on courses with more than 6000 feet net downhill will be ineligible.

IMO, the most important part of this new time adjustment policy (which people haven't been focusing on yet) is the fact that if the time adjusted result lands a runner above the BQ time, they will be ineligible to register using that result. (As opposed to allowing all of the BQs the register, then doing the adjustment and filling slots, with the possibility that some people with adjusted times above the standard could still get in.)

Hard Day

Today's run did not go well at all. While the first 6 miles or so was ok, my legs really were not having it at that speed much beyond that. (And the pace really wasn't all that unreasonable at all.) I wound up taking a couple of walk breaks at 7 miles and 9 miles, coming back at a slower pace than original each time, and then just walking my last mile to hit the planned 11. And in that last mile, it wasn't just my legs, but my HR which was noticeably elevated.

Hopefully I'll be able to recover well enough before my next run tomorrow, which is at an easier pace. Definitely like using these NormaTec boots.

Global Running Day

I don't typically pay over-much attention to Global Running Day because it just seems so forced. It's not something that I need for the motivation to do my run (assuming it isn't otherwise a scheduled rest day), though I recognize that some people need that kitschy rationale to finally get off the couch, lace up the sneakers, and do a run - whatever the distance.

Today my plan called for doing 6 miles "as you feel" -- meaning that the pace was unimportant, but was also not supposed to be a strenuous pace (as those are several of the other days in any given week). So, rather than bother with setting a single pace on the treadmill in the air-conditioned gym, I decided to brave the high heat (it was about 85F when I got onto the path) and run without paying attention to the time displayed on my watch. The goals: 1) maintain an even effort across the whole distance, making the obvious adjustments for the hills, 2) keep it a comfortable pace (don't push, especially because of the heat), and 3) look to stay within 8:30 - 9:00/mile, and not exceed 9:20/mile. Why the 9:20 limit? I'll be pacing at that speed for the 12-Mile training run that NYRR is hosting in mid-August. Being able to stay well under that speed without even trying and in this heat is very encouraging. I definitely need to repeat this multiple times until then so that I am reasonably acclimated, as I expect it will be pretty toasty in Central Park in mid-August, even at 7am.