The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-335 – Neely Spence Gracey Breaks out at Boston!

(Audio: link)

[audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4335.mp3]

Link epi4335.mp3

Team Hoyt Boston 2016 Campaign -> https://www.crowdrise.com/teamhoytbostonmarath/fundraiser/christopherrussell

MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks – http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/

Intro:

Hello and welcome to episode 4-335 of the RunRunLive Podcast. Bear with me, we are going to get to the great show including a piece on the re-emergence of effort based training in the poplar zeitgeist and a really good interview with Neely Spence Gracey who is making her professional marathon debut at Boston this year. And I’m capping it off with a super-thoughtful post on mistakes not to make in life that is just in time for graduation season.

But – before that -This week I’ve got another milestone announcement for you. I’ve been toying with this idea for years and I finally got the breathing room to put it into action.

When I looked at the value of this podcast to you over the last 8 years and 300+ episodes it is in the content, meaning the words and the interviews, and the audio I create from them. That’s my value add in the process.

The revelation I had is that even though I am perfectly capable of it, there is no unique or differentiating value to me twiddling with my website or editing the audio or the countless other admin tasks that something like this takes.

So I asked myself, “Hey, Myself, how can I do less of that stuff and more of the good stuff?” and the answer was to automate the rote stuff. I had some down time at the beginning of this year and pulled together a great team of virtual assistants to do some of the time consuming production work for me.

We’re about 3 episodes in and it’s working fairly well.

The next phase of this project to automate is now ready. I had my website redone to support a membership option. I wanted to give people who had the ability to and wanted to a chance to help me cover the costs of all this stuff without having to resort to cheesy commercials or half-hearted sponsorships. I also didn’t want to take anything away or put existing stuff behind a paywall.

Bottom line – there’s a membership option to get extra cool stuff and support the content but we’re not charging for or taking away any of the existing content or archival content.

Here’s the pitch…

Remember RunRunLive is and always has been free and listener supported. To keep it that way we now are offering members’ only content.

By signing up for a membership, you will get…

Access To Exclusive Members Only audio
- Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you!

(This week I put up my Stu’s 30k race report! <audio clip here>)

Exclusive Access to Individual Audio Segments from all Shows
- Intro’s, Outro’s, Section One running tips, Section Two life hacks and Featured Interviews – all available as stand-alone MP3’s you can download and listen to at any time.
We will consider other benefits as they are requested by you, because when you’re a member it’s all about you!

Become a member

On top of that, consider how much it costs: $4.99 a month. That’s roughly the price of a couple Expresso Luv Gu gels a month. And unlike GU, we won’t give you a sugar overdose or rot your teeth. So not only will you be part of the RunRunLive community and be getting cool extras, you’ll also be healthier and happier.

But the real value is that you will be helping this community continue to provide the content you love. And as a member you can directly influence the stories we tell, the research we do and the people we interview. We’re all in this together.

So if you like what we’re doing here at RunRunLive, please consider becoming a member. Membership is cheap, for a monthly donation that breaks down to roughly around the price of 1/25^th of a pair of running shoes each month you can help keep RunRunLive free and independent.

Go to my website and click on the subscribe button.

I’m glad to say my training is still going well. I had another big build week that capped off with a 3 hour long run. I’m in a good place mentally and physically because instead of ruing the run I was quite looking forward to it.

I queued up my favorite podcasts and ran 4 loops of my home 5 mile loop. Another good sign was when I got to the last loop I realized I’d be about 10 minutes short so I decided to run up to the top of the telephone tower hill –the driveway is on the course. So, yeah, 18 or so miles into the run I decide to throw in another big hill to make up some time.

Then when I got to the end of the run, near my house I had the 3 hours but was about a 1/3 of a mile short of 20 so I kept going for another 3 minutes to get the 20. Wasn’t sore or chafed or damaged at all after. All very good signs.

This weekend I’m racing one of my favorites – the Eastern States 20 Miler. Coach has gone easy on me so I can have fresher legs going into it and treat it as a pacing exercise. I’m confident I can negative split it and beat my target marathon goal pace. It’s a flatter course, but there’s always some wind coming off the ocean. It will be a good test and I’m looking forward to it.

Then I taper into Boston. I got my bib number and coral placement and I’m all the way in the back and that is going to be a challenge. I’ve got 4,000 charity runners to get around to get my BQ. That’s probably worth 4-5 minutes of race time before I can break free. I’m so far back this year that I’m considering just waiting before I cross the start mat and giving everyone a 10 -20 minute head start.

Whatever happens it will be an adventure.

…

I’ve always said that training well does not guarantee your race time. Training well only gives you the opportunity. Doing the work is not a guarantee of success. Doing the work is how you buy the ticket to get to the starting line with the potential to have a good or even a great day.

There was a baseball movie in the 90’s called “Major League”. The storyline was a team of reprobates, misfits and has-beens comes together to beat everyone’s expectations and win. One of the characters was the has-been pitcher Eddie Harris (played by actor Chelcie Ross).

I think about Eddie Harris when I’m racing now. He had lost his power and speed but he managed to strike people out with the tricks and veteran guile.

That’s where I am now. I don’t have the power or speed. I can’t recover as fast. I can’t afford to skip any of the ancillary activities like strength training and stretching. I can’t skip workouts and expect to just ‘show up and race’.

But, I know my machine. I know how to race. I’ve got the confidence and poise to coax good performances. And I’m ok with that.

On with the Show!

Section one – Running Tips

Effort based training – https://runrunlive.com/why-should-you-try-effort-based-training

Voices of reason – the conversation

Neely Spencer Gracey – Elite Marathoner

Eight time division II national cross country champion and professional runner…

Runner’s World article -> Neely Spence Gracey Skipping Olympic Trials to Debut at Boston Marathon

Email: getrunning@outlook.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/neelyruns
Twitter: @neelysgracey
Instagram: NeelySGracey
Garmin Connect: neelysgracey
Map My Run: neelysgracey

PROFESSIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

Runner-up at USATF Club XC Nationals 2011
4^th at the BUPA Grand Prix Edinburgh, Scotland 2012
Runner-up at USATF 5k Road Champs 2012
Third at USATF 10k Road Champs 2012
USATF Athlete of the Week 11/14/12
Chiba Japan Bronze Medal Ekiden Relay Team 2012
First ever American Zatopek 10k Champ 2012
5^th at USATF XC Nationals 2013
Top American and first non-African (13^th) at the World XC Champs 2013
5^th at USATF 5k Road Champs 2013
Queen of the Mountain and 6^th overall at MRR 2014
5^th and top non-African at Campaccio IAAF XC 2015
Runner-Up at Gasparilla Half Marathon 2015 (Olympic Trials qualifier)

Section two

9 Mistakes you don’t have to make – https://runrunlive.com/nine-mistakes-you-dont-have-to-make-in-your-career

Outro

My friends, members or not, you have reached the end of yet another free and listener supported RunRunLive Podcast – Episode 4-335 has made its successful professional debut.

The coming 3-4 weeks are just going to be a blur for me and it’s going to carry through May and into June. I’ve got a multi-day meeting in Chicago next week. Then April 18^th is the Boston Marathon and I’m in the best shape and have the most confidence in my training that I have had for about 5 years.

You’d think that would make me less nervous. Just the opposite. When you haven’t trained well there’s no stress because there is no expectation. I have trained well and now all I can do is screw it up! There will be some full on sleepless nights and psychotic episodes over the next couple weeks!

April 24^th is our 25^th anniversary Groton Road Race. We’ve set up the virtual race if you want join from afar – just go to GrotonRoadRace.com – Hope to see you there.

Rolling into May I’ve got a multiple conferences and meetings in New Orleans, Atlanta and Phoenix. I’ll be on the road a lot and looking to run the canyon while I’m in Phoenix. Not sure what my next goal will be. I’m feeling a bit achy from road racing. Whatever it is it won’t be road racing! Unless, of course I blow my qualifier try at Boston. Then I might have to lift that heavy bag of training to my shoulders again, but I’m getting good at that.

I got some pushback on my dog joke from last time. Apparently the goldens and labs were insulted by my comments. I apologize for that, but I never would have thought they had the mental capacity to be insulted. I’ll try to be my sensitive.

…

Closing comments

Buddy woke up limping around the house today. He has something wrong with a front paw and I’m going to take him to the vet in a bit. I want them to look at that other fatty lump on his hip and maybe get that taken out because it seems to be really getting in the way of his running.

We’re a pair of old guys limping around the house complaining about aches and pains. I don’t have any muscle or tendonitis problems this cycle. Coach gives me enough rest and I’ve been attentive to my yoga and care strengthening.

I do have some goof pain. I caught a toes in the dark on the trail one night. I was emerging from the trail into a parking lot and the snow plows had pushed an unexpected piece of curbing into the path. I came down on my palm and tore a nice hole. Palms don’t heal well.

Then coach gave me a recovery bike spin workout. It was one of those nice days so took Fuji-san off the fluid trainer, pumped up the tires, greased all the moving bits and headed for the rail trail. In the process I had to swap the skewer on the back wheel because the trainer requires a specific skewer – it’s the rod through the axles that has a quick release lever on it.

Well, I must not have clamped the back wheel on well enough. There I was in traffic, balancing at a stop sign, I stood up in the peddles to go and the back wheel comes out of the frame and seizes. Of course I’m clipped in so I do that embarrassing death roll into the bushes. I took a piece of gravel and tore a nice hole in my knee!

Fast forward a couple days and I’m out running in Los Angeles. I decide to try to make it to the beach and turn my 1 hour run into a 2 hour run. Now since it was only supposed to be a 1 hour run I didn’t put any lube on. It’s hot for me in LA so I was sweating and I wore all the skin off of a part of my body that sticks out.

There I was last week. In the best shape of my life and no running injuries, and I managed to manufacture a hole in my hand, a hole in my knee and a super uncomfortable bit of personal chafing.

So, yeah, the universe is in balance… – and l’ll see you out there.