Long Run with the BAA

Time: 121:05
Distance: 30.82 km
Pace: 3:56/km
Map

Meagan and I drove into Boston this morning to run long with some members of the Boston Athletic Association. We had exchanged emails with Terry and Carly Shea who both used to run for the Hanson's and now are key members of the training group with the BAA. Terry was doing a progressive long run with a couple of the other guys and I was game to partake in the effort.

Whenever Meagan and I have run with the BAA they have looped the same 4.2 mile route. Terry apologized for the monotonous loop, but I don't mind running the same course because it eliminates surprises. The goal for the run was to run the first loop easy as a warm up, run the second loop around 3:45/km as part of Melissa's tempo, run the third loop around 3:35-3:40/km and the final loop could get a little aggressive in the 3:15-3:20/km range.

Splits:
4:55.0, 4:30.9, 4:27.3, 4:21.7, 4:10.9, 4:15.6, 4:14.6;
4:08.0, 3:46.2, 3:49.9, 3:47.3, 3:44.4, 3:42.4, 3:35.8;
3:31.3, 3:36.0, 3:36.6, 3:32.7, 3:25.0, 3:27.1, 3:21.6;
3:23.6, 3:30.9, 3:56.4, 4:03.0, 4:07.6, 4:19.9, 4:16.2;
4:14.7, 3:39.7 (for .82km) = 30.82km total

The warm up lap was the warm up. The second lap was relaxed as we chatted about spring marathon plans. The third lap had us running steady but in control. I made a move to the front around the 18-19km mark and dropped the pace. Soon after, I tired and started to struggle around the 22km point. I was going to back off for a kilometer and then rally for the rest of the loop, but just when it was time to start running hard again, I saw that Terry had ended his workout and I decided to run back easy with him. I got in a solid effort and was pushed through the middle portion of the run.

Getting down to Boston once a week this winter and spring will become a priority if I want to run as fast as possible. The BAA has some very talented guys that will push me on tempos that I generally struggle to do on my own.