Boston 10K medal, B2VT finisher glass, Boston Dragon Boat 2nd place C Division medal |
Boston Dragon Boat Festival
Date: June 8-9, 2024
Location: Boston / Cambridge, MA
Distance: 2 x 200m Sat; 3 x 500m Sun
B2VT
Date: June 15, 2024
Location: Massachusetts, NH & VT
Distance: 142 miles
Goal Time: 12:00:00
Actual Time: 12:27:20
Boston 10K
Date: June 23, 2024
Location: Boston / Cambridge, MA
Distance: 6.2 Miles
Goal Time: 52:42
Actual Time: 54:25
“Wisdom hath builded her house,
she hath hewn out her seven pillars”
~ Proverbs 9:1
I made the right onto Exeter and
then left onto Boylston. The rain; the
heat; the humidity; the lack of running for a week – had clearly taken a
toll. But, I was still within an
acceptable pace. We crossed the Marathon
finish line and had a little more than 1 km to go. The calculations in my head said I would have
to average a 7:15 mile for my last kilometer.
(SPOILER ALERT: That wasn’t going to happen). I sped up a bit over the final stretch but
definitely didn’t put myself fulling into the red zone. Across the finish line, I got my medal from
McKenzie and headed to the DM tent for a ceremonial 9:15am Sam Adams.
Living Root getting our awards |
The Boston 10k finished up my 3 races in 3 sports in 3 weekends. I reached my B goal in each of the 3 events: Boston Dragon Boat Festival, B2VT and Boston 10K. This success was because of generally consistent generalist training over the past 6 months. Between running, lifting, cycling and paddling, I did the bare minimum to achieve my non-spectacular B Goals.
Where do I go from here?
I have about 12 weeks until my
next big block of events in September 4 events in 3 Weeks:
9/8 - Bike Not Bombs 105 miler, JP
9/14 – Spartan Beast Race, Killington
9/21 – Lake Winni Dragon Boat
Race, Alton Bay, NH
9/22 – Lone Gull 10K, Gloucester, MA
Vermont along the B2VT route |
With this in mind, I plan to build a training structure around two main goals
Training for life
Some specificity for events I am registered for. (I need to be able to run 13 trail miles with obstacles, bike 105 and paddle 4 races in a day over 3 weeks – plus Lone Gull.)
Rough Draft of 7 Pillars of
Generalist Training
I need to start somewhere. I will start with a draft using guidelines of health from DHHS while adding two more – accountability and recovery – that are required to achieve the other 5
Accountability – I need to be accountable to myself, my wife and my teammates
Strength – Commit to continued strength training
Cardiovascular Endurance – Continue and increase my running / cycling
Muscular Endurance – add more endurance strength to my workouts
Flexibility – Mobility and malleability are often limited when strength and running are practices. Need to add to this
Body Composition – cutting fat and gaining muscle. Exercise is one step of this; calories and quality thereof is another step.
Recovery – sleep better and more. Also commit to hobbies that can help relaxation.
I know many people will find the idea of slowly building a program as the lazy way out. And maybe that’s true. Maybe I’m just lying to myself. Or maybe trying to create a strong foundation, I can do this I like for longer. We’ll find out which one it is.
And the Celtics had their parade - Tingus Pingus |