Level Legion: Boston Marathon Edition

February Race Recaps: The Level Legion has been hard at work training through one of the toughest and coldest winters of late. Fitting then that the Legion be equally tough and ice cold on the start line of their February Boston tune-up races. Whether one is trekking through the New Hampshire snow, winning a debut 20-miler, representing the home team at a local race, pushing along a 5 month old companion or simply putting in the steady work, this past month has brought along some great races. You have already heard from Scott, who decided that if you can’t beat this winter, might has well don the snowshoes and have at it. Now we bring you some more perspective on just how racing has been fitting in to the training plan as Boston inches ever closer.

Aly Millet

Black Cat 20 Miler (Salem, MA) – 1^st Place, 2:11:18 (6:34/mi)

I decided to run the 20-Miler back on New Year’s Day when I was working on my race schedule in preparation for Boston. I knew I wanted to do a race longer than a half at some point, and the picking is pretty slim with that requirement alone. I had heard good things from some friends about the Black Cat and the timing was right, so it was a go!

My initial hopes were just to run a decent 20 mile run: go out more or less like a long run, (7:15ish pace) and pick it up the second half if I was feeling it. I actually haven’t gone over 16 miles yet in my training for Boston, so really the initial intent was just to get a good day of mileage in. The race however, played out a little differently than expected.

I had a bunch of my GBTC teammates racing with me; a handful of 20-milers and a couple 10-milers as well. Alyse Rocco was running her first 10-miler and said she was just going to start out at around 7:00 pace and pick it up after a couple miles. I decided that sounded good to go out in, and we ended up right around 6:50 for the first mile or so. Alyse went off as I expected her to do and as I got warmer, (it was very cold out that morning) 6:40′s started feeling just as easy as the 6:50′s felt in the beginning.

I stayed right around 6:40 for the majority of the first 10 miles, with a couple of slightly faster miles but nothing crazy. I made a mental note that I would not speed up a huge amount until at least the halfway point. Right at the 10 mile mark is where I hit my runner’s bliss. It started feeling effortless speeding up to 6:30′s and 6:20′s. I felt as strong as I could have felt for miles 10-18. The effort was at least even (possibly lesser) compared to the first 10 miles while going 10-15 seconds faster per mile. Even miles 19-20 were pretty great, I just felt the tiniest bit of fatigue in my right hip flexor which slightly affected my stride. All and all though I finished out the last two miles right at 6:40ish pace and was very happy with the win and clocking in at 2:11.

One of my teammates always tells me how much she loves 20 mile races and if a marathon was 20 miles long she’d be awesome at them - this was my first 20-miler and I have to agree - 20 miles is just the right distance to not hit that horrible wall that is the marathon…I also learned that I am more aerobically fit than I thought - 6:34 pace felt what I thought 7:15 pace would feel like! My next race is the New Bedford Half Marathon where I hope to PR (current is 1:21:07) and if I go under 1:20, I’ll be a very happy runner!

Good luck to Aly in New Bedford! We’ll be there to cheer her on.