My first marathon was Boston, for charity in 2009. Over the last 11 years I have now run 40 marathons: 21 Marathons (3:18:30avg), 15 Ironmans (3:44:36avg), and 4 UltraMarathons (up to 51.4Miles). (13% decouple from marathon to Ironman, 11% is the goal).

In 2016 I ran 25.3 miles on a treadmill in 3 hours (7:07/mile Pace). This helped me run a 3:38 at IRONMAN Cairns and qualify for my first IRONMAN World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. And in the early days of my running career, I once ran 28.18miles on a treadmill over 4 hours back in March 2010, Hudson, Massachusetts where this all started for me, two weeks after running a 3:18 at the Hyannis Marathon on Cape Cod.

On Friday May 1st, I left work early, came home, and did a 2hr Ironman Race Pace session that included Alpe Du Zwift at 257avg/264NP watts. It was a strong session that saw 286 watts for 1 hour, and 272 watts for 90minutes. Then, I went on Facebook. I had taken the entire month of April off of Facebook, my longest stint since signing up for it nearly 17 years ago back in Boston, when it all started, I saw my Australian friends Amanda and Rob having signed up for the “42.2km in 42hrs” challenge. Well, challenge accepted. It also helped that this was the weekend I was supposed to be competing in IRONMAN St. George.

Now with “marathon-veteran” status, I knew I could do it. But with a date-night involving a bottle or two of wine and a week of miles that would finish at 57.5, how would I go? I knew from the Shamrock Half Marathon of 1:29:28 a month and a half prior and that Jack Daniels’ Vdot Running Calculator at http://www.runsmartproject.com/calculator that I was in 3:06:40 shape. My initial intention was to run sub 3:10 but early into the run I backed that off after running a 1:38:31 half. Interesting aside was that after 3.3 miles I had to change out of my brand new Altra Torin Plush 4.0 as they were constricting my foot and losing feeling. So I quickly through on my Altra Instinct 4.5 (which I’m loving). The next hiccup was at 100minutes when my Bowlfex Treadmill hit’s its Max time and I need to reset. It was here that I then backed it off of the 7:26/mile down to 7:55mile. With 2 miles to go I picked up the pace to the 7:30’s and HR climbed from 129 zone 2 to 135 zone 3 tempo intensity. Mile 23-26.3: 7:53, 7:51, 7:36, 7:31, 7:09.

My moving time was 3:20:45 but the fairer time would be net time of 3:25:27 for the shoes, and a #2 stop. Having watched a lot of Tiesto, Martin Garrix, Paul Van Dyk, and my own hit list. I had good energy. My training room here in Sahuarita, Ariona A/C kept it cool with around 74F and 30% humidity. My avg HR of 129 was a bit lower than IRONMAN Hr of 133 but I was a bit zapped, not carbo-loaded, and mentally not prepared to run a HARD marathon. Regardless, there is no faking a marathon. By 16-18 miles my legs started to tighten up and by 20-22 miles the legs were really fatigued. But once you get to this point, you just have to persevere. I broke this run up into segments: 10miles, 13.1miles, 2hours, 10K to go, 2 miles to go.

The next day I ran another 4 miles (to get the total miles up for the week) and then I did a flat ZWIFT IRONMAN 112mile ride in 4:57 at 223avg/226NP watts, just nice and steady Zone 2. (Race Pace is 250-260 watts).

I’m here now, a week later on Scotch Sunday, ready to get my season going again. I’ve been building a base of 49.7miles/week on average for 18 weeks now with the goal of getting run-fast and having plateaued my fitness with 17.2hours/week I am ready to get serious again by limiting my meat in-take to 1%, and drinking 1x/week until I hit 11weeks to go where I will try and cut out all alcohol.

Final Message:

This year, my 61 year-old mother will compete in her first Marathon. She is terrified and doesn’t believe she can do it. While I didn’t hold these same emotions 40 marathons ago, I will never forget the tears of happiness running down my face on Boylston Street or the 1 million fans that lined the route from Hopkinton to Copley Square. More importantly, I will never forget the Wineglass Marathon, my 3rd and 3:08 that officially got me to Hopkinton for the 2nd time Officially. This October, two weeks after IRONMAN St. George, I am going to return to the area of Corning, NY with my wife, my mom, and my friend who got me into this sport 12 years ago with one goal: SUB3. Anyone can run a marathon, you just have to decide, commit, and persevere.

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