20 Miles w/ Boston Hills Simulation

I had a great run today. Kind of like a dress rehearsal for Boston. It was my last 20 miler of the training cycle and I'm very happy with how it went. I even wore the running garb I'll be wearing for the race, as long as the weather cooperates. I found the following TREADMILL hill workout on RunningTimes.com. Another Boston runner developed it to simulate the Newton Hills. Here's how he wrote it out:

"The method may not be terribly precise or fancy, but I figure it prepares me a in general way. I looked at the course profile and attempted to determine the length (to the nearest 0.1 mile) of each of the 4 uphills and the intervening downhills. (Also known as the Newton Hills). Using the same profile, I calculated the approx. average slope of each hill. I then added 1% to all slopes to account for the lack of air resistance on the treadmill. (Some people disagree with that procedure, BTW). I rounded all slope percentages to the nearest integer.
Allowing myself a 3 mile warmup, I arrived at the following schedule (the 1% slopes would actually be the downhills on the real course). I added goal speeds for my workout, running the uphills at approximate lactate threshold (hillrunner.com has a treadmill chart that was helpful for the purpose), and the recoveries at target marathon pace. I then taped a piece of paper containing the schedule to the treadmill, so that I could adjust slopes and paces as I arrived at each uphill or downhill."

My Lactate Threshold pace is 7:16/mile. To find out the recommended paces for each incline, I used hillrunner.com's treadmill pace site. Remember, I ran 3 miles warm-up first at a 9:00 pace. Then I got into the schedule:

Key:
Mile Marker - Incline % - Speed Setting - Pace per mile:
3.0-3.7 - 3% - 7.6 - 7:53
3.7-4.7 - 1% - 7.5 - 8:00
4.7-5.0 - 6% - 6.8 - 8:49
5.0-6.4 - 1% - 7.5 - 8:00
6.4-6.8 - 4% - 7.3 - 8:12
6.8-7.4 - 1% - 7.5 - 8:00
7.4-7.8 - 6% - 6.8 - 8:49

I did the above hill schedule two times during the 20 mile run. The first time beginning at mile 3 and the last time at mile 15, when I knew it would really be a challenge.
From mile 7.8-mile 15, I ran between an 8:12 and an 8:19 pace on 0% incline to simulate downhill as much as possible.
This is what the hill workout looked like the 2nd time:

Key:
Mile Marker - Incline % - Speed Setting - Pace per mile:
15.0-15.7 - 3% - 7.6 - 7:53
15.7-16.7 - 1% - 7.5 - 8:00
16.7-17.0 - 6% - 6.8 - 8:49
17.0-18.4 - 1% - 7.5 - 8:00
18.4-18.8 - 4% - 7.3 - 8:12
18.8-19.4 - 1% - 7.5 - 8:00
19.4-19.8 - 6% - 6.9 - 8:41 (I increased the speed a little to push it on this virtual "Heartbreak Hill."
19-8-20.0 - 1% - 7.6 to 7.7 - 7:49-7:53

I was feeling every step of that last set of hills and to get through them I repeated, "Almost over Heartbreak Hill." It hurt, but it worked. I can see why everyone says to stay conservative up front so you don't crash and burn on the hills.

My goal today was NOT to run the entire 20 at marathon goal pace, but to be no more than 20% slower than goal pace except during the hilly portions. I feel I succeeded and I am very happy with the run. Thank God I got through it in one piece!

Time to relax with the family now. :)

TOTAL MILES: 20
WEEKLY TOTAL: 47.5