Genius Hour Reflection #2

Genius Hour Reflection #2

Hello everyone and welcome back to my Genius Hour Blog! I hope last weeks post was informative and enjoyable. I know that I enjoyed reading and learning more about the Boston Marathon.

 

Last week after doing all my research I decided to follow the twitter account for the Boston Marathon! Feel free to do the same! The have a ton of information about the upcoming race on Monday April 15th. They also are constantly posting training plans, tips, nutrition information and more!

This week my goal is to:

• Analyze my running statistics & take note of how much I need to improve my time
• Research Boston Marathon Training Plans
• Test out a training plan

Who am I as a runner?

Rewinding back even more, I became aware of long distance endurance running through Cross Country in grade 4. My elementary school had a cross country team and I joined every year. I loved to run long distance. I can recall such clear memories of my family always coming to support me, my teachers cheering me on and that glorified feeling of crossing the finish line. I continued to run Cross Country in high school competing in 5,6 and 7 kilometre distances. Here are some photos from my time on Cross Country teams.

In grade 11, my friend and I decided to try and take our running up to the next level. We signed up for a running race outside of school. We joined  Running Club and trained with other like-minded individuals for a 10km race (my longest distance yet). The race was run through the Toronto Zoo! It was awesome. 

Ever since my High School days I have kept up with running as my favourite form of exercise. There is nothing as comparable to that feeling of putting in my headphones, zoning out and completing those long distances. I raced in various 5km and 10km races. Last year, I trained and completed my first half marathon (21km). What a crazy experience that was! Here are some photos:

              
Check out this video for more details on the AWESOME race I ran!

Now... Lets review my results

I have an Apple Watch which tracks all my running statistics. The statistics then sync to my phone so I can review my results after each race or training session. Lets rewind back to October 22, 2017. Here are my statistics from that race:

Here you can see my total calories burned, my distance, my elevation, my average heartr rate and my kilometre splits. Now, let's focus in on my time. It took me 2 hours and 12 minutes to finish 21km...
The time needed for the Boston Marathon (42km) as a 23 year old female is: 3 hours and 35 minutes. Although I am trying to stay positive, that time seems pretty impossible to achieve just based on my average running results. A marathon is double a half marathon. If I ran a half in 2:12 that means I would run a full in:

2:12 x 2 = 4:24 

Unfortunately, that time would not qualify me... But now I go back to my Genius Hour question... How can I, one day, qualify for the Boston Marathon?

Can I shave off minutes from my time?

Can I ran faster?

Can I run longer?

What are the tips and tricks I need to acquire to get me there?

Let's Dive In

I want to examine a Boston Marathon training plan for females and compare the targets to what I am used to running.

During my research I found this chart which compares your 5km race time to how that would pan out for a marathon. Here is the chart:

The last 5km race I ran had my finishing at around the 26 minute mark (which was fast for me). Unfortunately, based on these statistics, I still would not make the qualifying time.

Let's Review this training plan:

Here is a sample training plan. This plan calls for training 5 days a week.

The distances seem attainable but lets review the pace that is needed...

In order to run a sub 3:35 race I would need each KM to be around an 4:58 pace.

In all honesty, I have never ran a 4:58 pace... Here were my pace splits for my 21km race.

As we can see, my pace never fell below 5:09. I would need to shave quite some seconds off my pace. How can I do this?

I will explore this issue in deeper depth next week on my 3rd reflection.

In the mean time I would like to test out a plan. This Sunday, I am running with my run group 18km. Let's see how my results align with a 3:35 training plan. For 18km distance, this training plan suggests running a 4:20 pace... I guess we will see how this turns out...

Talk to you next week!